Job Done
August 9th, 2010 | 
Author: 
Meet Maggie and her miniature friend Lauren.
Photo by Björn Bergman http://www.photo2be.com
I want to write about how great my trip to Stockholm was. How fun it was to spend time getting pedicures with Maggie; how nice it was to meet my new teammate Bridget for the first time and know after a 20 minute run that we’ll get along; how intimidatingly gorgeous the Swedish women are and how glad I am that I don’t have to walk among them daily; how I worked up the guts to sit with my track hero Carolina Kluft at lunch and got through a 30 minute conversation only having peed my pants a little bit.
And if I could spend the next 20 minutes writing about those things, it would present a much more accurate picture of my Stockholm experience as a whole. But the sucky thing is, I can’t. Its been two days, yet my mind keeps wandering back to the race the way fingernails subconsciously gravitate to a mosquito bite.
There was another pacer from Poland as well, and she was meant to take the first mile and then I was to take over to 2k or as far as I could go. We coordinated our efforts for 68.5′s and went for it. Poland went for extra credit through 2k, and I took it another 200 meters. When I stepped off the track, we were within a second of world record pace.
And then they immediately slowed to 71′s, 72′s, 74′s.
Poland and I stood on the sidelines and watched the carnage. The track was like a battlefield with bodies strewn all over the place, our fast early pace effectively eliminating all of Defar’s competition save one (Bekele). Bekele and one 16 year old Kenyan set PR’s but everyone else had that “oh man that was a long race” look on their faces. No one else set so much as a season best.
I left the track happy with my physical effort, since it showed I’m ready to run a decent 5k this coming weekend, but other than that, I was a bit down.
Some Swedish dancing was in order to perk me back up.
The "Ice Bar"
It worked. Mostly.
Posted in Journal
7 Responses to “Job Done”
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Great blog/journal Lauren! My hope is (as a die-hard T&F fan who is, like millions of others, deeply frustrated by the US medias’ disinterest in the sport) that you will be involved with this sport long after your competition days are over. Commentary? HINT, HINT. Desperately needed and your combination of passion and humor…YEA!
omg, very entertaining journaling again! Know,Lauren that several of us out here also peed ourselves (just a little bit) reading your blog. Love the stories, and the candor.
Philbert
[...] 'Rabbit' Fleshman Does Her Job Well … to No Avail Lauren Fleshman's blog at "More" is worth reading for her vivid and amusing description of her entire Stockholm experience – including how she "worked up the guts to sit with my track hero Carolina Kluft at lunch and got through a 30 minute conversation only having peed my pants a little bit." But Fleshman, the 2010 USATF 5000-meter titleist, does talk about her rookie efforts at rabbiting a purported world record attempt in the 5000 by Meseret Defar. Fleshman did her job quite well for 2200 meters, but then she watched the carnage. The track was like a battlefield with bodies strewn all over the place, our fast early pace effectively eliminating all of Defar’s competition save one." Nothing close to a world record has achieved, but Fleshman came away encouraged at her readiness for a 5000 she'll run in London this weekend. (photo of Lauren Fleshman by Lisa Coniglio/Photo Run) More [...]
Good job rabbiting! Looking at the results of this race, I was surprised that it was quite a bit slower than WR pace, so thanks for explaining a bit about it. Was it hard to drop out without disturbing the other runners?
Thanks for the European updates! Very entertaining, as always!
Lauren, congratulations on the Stockholm experience. What places of interest will you return to as a full-fledged tourist in the future? Hope you caught some of the entertaining shot-putting in Kungsträdgården.
You’re a very funny girl and a very good writer, keep it comin’!
And keep up the great running, I’m pulling for ya!
Did you have an idea that they might not keep the pace after you dropped off? I know it’s not your place as a rabbit to judge whether or not they can actually get the WR but you had to be wondering if it was even feasible. Just curious if you maybe saw that coming.
btw, LOVE this blog and your commentary. I’m not a diehard track fan – but I’m slowly becoming one because of you!