Sunday marks a new chapter in the life of Jorge Torres, when he makes his marathon debut at the ING New York City Marathon. Torres has been one of the United States’ top runners since winning his first NCAA cross country title in 2002 while competing for the University of Colorado. He finished third in the national championships at 10,000m in 2008 and earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic team. His 10,000m personal best is 27:42.91 and his 5,000m best is 13:20.57. So Torres’s first marathon has been long anticipated.“It’s a little nerve-racking because everything has gone so smoothly,” Torres, 29, said by phone from his home in Boulder, Colo. “That has never really happened in any other preparation I’ve done. So the hay is in the barn, and now it’s time to race.”
Sunday’s marathon is the USA men’s championship, and the loaded field includes other Olympians such as Ryan Hall, Meb Keflezighi, Abdi Abdirahman and Brian Sell.
Torres has been quoted as looking for a time of 2:10 in New York, but he clarified those reports. “That’s just the pace I intend to start out with,” he said. “I don’t plan to deviate from that pace, and if I end up going a little faster or slower at some point, that’s okay. But I’m not planning to hit the wall.”
While his preparation has gone well, Torres’s life in the past several months has been anything but predictable. After a disappointing ninth-place finish at 10,000m (28:42.13) in the national championships in June, Torres prepared to turn his attention to a fall marathon. But first, he attended to personal business – his wedding to Emily Oates.
The next order of personal business was tragic, as only eight days later, his mentor and former middle school coach, Greg Fedyski, was critically injured in a car accident while driving home to Illinois from Torres’s wedding in Colorado after vacationing in Colorado following the wedding.
Torres’s mother, Maria, also in the car, was critically injured as well; both were on life support, and Fedyski died when that support was later terminated. Maria Torres has since made a nearly complete recovery. Torres’s sister-in-law, Maria, also in the car, suffered minor injuries.
“It’s one of those things that happen,” Torres says. “'Fed’ was a big part of my life. He kept me focused. He went to Beijing with my family; we all celebrated my 28th birthday there. I’ll always have great memories of him, the last ones from my wedding. He was happy.
“My regret is that he always wanted to see me do a marathon. I know he’s still behind me, in spirit. I’ve learned that life is precious, that every moment counts.”
Torres marathon preparation didn’t begin in earnest until the end of July, and then with the joy of a new marriage tempered by the death of a friend. Coached by former marathon world record holder Steve Jones, Torres has persevered and tallied weeks of around 135 to 140 miles.
“From Day 1, when Coach Jones and Fed met, Fed approved of him,” Torres says. “So I know I’m in good hands. We started working together in 2008, and we clicked really well immediately, especially in the marathon. I’ve done everything he’s asked me to do, at that level or better. Coach Jones always says, ‘Be consistent,’ and we’ve done that. Now it’s time for me to perform.”
Tragedy keeps Tune home – The New York Road Runners were set to announce a couple of weeks ago that Ethiopian Dire Tune, the 2008 Boston Marathon champion, would be added to the elite field in the 2009 New York City Marathon. But about an hour before the group planned to circulate the announcement, Tune called them to say she would not be running.
Tune cited the murder last month in Ethiopia of her mother-in law and father-in law as reason for withdrawing from the race.
Marathon man - Yes, it’s overused, but if anyone deserves the accolade, it’s Brian Boyle from Welcome, Maryland. In 2004, a month after graduating from high school and on his way home from swim practice, Boyle was involved in a near fatal auto wreck with a dump truck. He spent two months comatose on dialysis and life support and underwent 14 major operations. Miraculously, Boyle survived, and three years later completed the Ironman triathlon in Hawaii.
On Oct. 10, Boyle, 23, ran the Baltimore Marathon in 4:05:03. On Sunday, he ran the Marine Corps Marathon in 4:33:07 and this Sunday he’ll run the ING New York City Marathon.
“This story has a happy ending,” exclaimed Boyle’s father, Garth, just after Brian crossed the finish line in Washington, D.C.
For his part, Brian Boyle was pleased with his Marine Corps effort.
“I’m feeling tired from Baltimore,” he said, “and I’m trying to save a bit for New York next week. In Baltimore [where he spent most of his time in recovery], I wanted to say thank you to the doctors there who saved my life. Today is in honor of my grandfather, a Vietnam War veteran.”
Boyle, 23, is a student at St. Mary’s College in Southern Maryland, where he competes on the swim team. Aside from that training, school work and running three marathons in one month, “he’s trying to qualify for Kona” [the 2010 Ironman World Championships in Hawaii].
Ladies night - Joan Benoit Samuelson and Grete Waitz will be joined by Deena Kastor on Thursday as part of the TimesTalk series at the New York Times building. Samuelson, the 1984 Olympic marathon gold medalist, will run the New York City Marathon on Sunday. Waitz has won the race a record nine times and Kastor is the American marathon record holder.
Getting older, better - George Hirsch, the founder and former publisher of Runner’s World magazine, has idolized his friends, Bill Rodgers and Frank Shorter, for decades. Now 75 and more than a decade older than his heroes, Hirsch finds the tables have turned – he can now beat Rodgers and Shorter at the marathon.
When Hirsch ran the first five-borough New York City Marathon in 1976, he finished in 2:49; Rodgers won the race in 2:10 and Shorter was second in 2:13.
Hirsch will run the 40th New York City Marathon on Sunday with Rodgers joining him over the last few miles. Shorter had planned to join the final celebratory stretch, but a hip injury has sidelined him.
And expect Hirsch to do pretty well. He started the Chicago Marathon on Oct. 11 as a 20-mile training run, but felt good enough to finish in 3:58:42. Rodgers, 61, ran 4:06:49 at the Boston Marathon in April.
ShareThis