THE BROOKS BLOG

"I hope runners and running fans across the country will join me this week in a long, loud salute to Brian Sell. Few American distance stars deserve it more. Ritz and Teg and Meb and Abdi and Alan and Ryan have lifted our spirits in recent years, and we needed that.

"But Sell punched us in the gut, took our breath away, and won our hearts when he achieved the Impossible Dream. In the decades to come, his story will be told, as it should be, to more young American runners than any number of sub-3:50s, sub-13:00s, and 2:06s. For this simple reason: Sell had to scrape his way to the top mile by teeth-gritting mile. You think he’s got an Alter-G in the basement? An altitude tent upstairs? Maybe, but I doubt it."

>>Read Amby Burfoot’s full post on Runner’s World here

Check out the latest interview with 2008 Olympian (and Hansons-Brooks athlete) Brian Sell, over at The Cassidy Feed. Brian talks about how he balances running with family and work… how every day is “try to beat Sell day”… and why he thinks hard work and dedication trump natural talent.

Check out Brian’s post-race interview over at Flotrack…Thank you Brian - you did the USA and Brooks proud!

Beijing- Day 7
Marathon Day!!  Today was the Men’s Olympic Marathon and team USA ran well.  The young Kenyan stole the show by breaking the Olympic record by three minutes on a warm day here in Beijing.
Ritz, Hall, and Sell moved up throughout the race to end up 9th, 10th, and 22nd overall.  Sell was in 66th place at 10k and around 40th at halfway.  The team ran tough and no one left anything out there on the course!  This was the deepest marathon field ever assembled and the US should be proud.
The Hansons-Brooks ODP has come a long was since starting their partnership in 2003 and so has Brian Sell!  Congrats to both on their first Olympics and here is to hoping for many more!!!
Tonight we are off to watch the closing ceremonies and try some Peking Duck.  It has been a great experience here in Beijing and one none of us will ever forget.  I hope to see many more of our athletes running down the dream in London 2012!  Run Happy, Run London……….

Beijing- Day 6
Today we headed out for an early morning 10 miler and talked about all the possible outcomes of tomorrow’s race. I wouldn’t put anything out of reach for our team!! All three are very fit and from what I have heard all three have different race strategies which should make it all very interesting.
After our run we headed to the great wall of China! This was such an amazing site and we saw many other athletes there including Shawn Johnson from the US Gymnastics team. Such a small girl!!
The wall was so amazing and believe it or not….so was the lunch we had afterwards at a family style Chinese eatery. I find myself eating more healthy here than in the US, minus the occasional McDonalds run.
We are headed over to the stadium tomorrow at 6am to watch Brian’s race! There are 15 of us in the cheering section but pretty much the whole Ludus Tour group of 300 will be behind Brian and the US team! Can’t wait…..make sure you all watch and cheer for the team!
On a completely unrelated note I would just like to tell you that my bathroom has no tub. I pretty much shower in the bathroom itself and the water just runs all over the place. The water stays there all day and it is just kind of gross. You have to wear shoes in their the rest of the day so that you aren’t walking into puddles. Anyway, just FYI.

Here are two more updates from our Brooks track fan (Jesse Williams) in Beijing!

Beijing- Day 3
Here is a quick video from last night at the track. Ludus Tours does a great job here and they were nice enough to give us tickets to their suite!! We were like little kids in a candy store…

Beijing- Day 4
Woke up for a 6am and had my first Beijing rainy run! It actually felt really nice and we also found a great park to run in today as well. Has some breakfast with the Sell family this morning and they told me that Brian was doing some interviews today with NBC for their marathon coverage.
Yesterday the weather was pretty nice all day (just mid 70’s) but the forecast is still calling for marathon day to be much warmer. That is great news for Brian since he seems to do so well in harsh conditions!
Tomorrow we are off to do a little souvenir shopping and hit the track meet again. The US track and field team has been having a horrible Olympics! Hopefully the marathon team can end this games on a high note!

Our man on the ground in Beijing, Jesse Williams, sent along this latest update via email. Sounds like a blast - GO BRIAN!

Beijing- Day 2
Went for my first run this morning and it was a hot 10 miles but it felt nice to sweat! After the run we headed to The Forbidden City for a tour of this ancient treasure. Pretty unbelievable!! I guess the Emperor had like 3000 wives and pretty much built a city to house them. Not sure if that is true but that is the part I remember from the tour.
Brian has quite a group out here to watch him run! His parents made it from rural Pennsylvania, his wife is here with her sisters and their husbands, and the whole Hansons crew made it out as well! We are planning our strategies for how to see Brian the most in this Sunday’s race. I think we will hit the start since they run back by there again around mile 8-10 and then head to the stadium to watch the big screen and final 500m. Keith and Kevin usually break all known laws rolling over the course with any type of transportation possible and will end up seeing Brian about 30 times. I kind of want to ride with them but I kind of don’t want to end up in a Chinese prison.

I am sitting here in Vancouver, BC where my flight will hopefully leave for Beijing in about an hour. I just had some Subway and I made sure to stuff myself since it could be last “normal” meal for a while!! Here is a video from flotrack.com to keep everyone excited about the marathon this Sunday!

We are a little over a week out from the final and most daunting event of the summer Olympics! The Men’s Olympic Marathon will be a great display of fitness, talent and above all perseverance over the oppressive Beijing heat and humidity! I know Brian Sell has been down in Florida for some time now and is running in 90+ heat for his workouts with 80% humidity most days. According to his coach Kevin Hanson he has been nailing his workouts and is ready!!
Well, the bag is packed and I am off tomorrow morning after a quick run. I will get there just in time to catch the men’s 1500m final on Tuesday night. It just got a lot less interesting with Lagat not making the final?!

The guys at Flotrack stopped in the Rochester Hill Home Depot, where Hansons-Brooks athlete Brian Sell works in the Garden Department. Watch him help customers and see what he does on the job: