Desert Challenge Games: A Recap

Don’t worry; I didn’t forget to post the results of the Desert Challenge Games.  Since I wasn’t there I had to wait for Matt to give me his thoughts on the two races.  Also, I am pleased to be able to include video of Matt’s awesome finish during the 1500, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.  Before we can get to Saturday, we have to talk about Friday.  I’m going to give you most of Matt’s own words.  In case you haven’t been able to tell from all of my posts, I’m Matt’s biggest fan and  I would describe Matt’s run on Friday as just one more step towards Rio.  The time didn’t matter as far as his chances of making the U.S. team.  It was hotter than hot at gun.  But that would be my inner cheerleader.  So instead, I’m going to give you Matt’s raw emotions about having a tough race and a final time that he doesn’t like. 

First, a few pictures from the week:

Matt’s own words on the 5K:

Disappointed is the only word to describe how I feel tonight. Tonight was supposed to be my breakout night and show the world I was ready for Rio and my spot on the U.S. team.  But tonight I only flopped.  What when wrong?  I’m not sure. It was 100 degrees out for the race and so far this season I have only trained in the mid-70s.  That can be my excuse.  But excuses don’t get me to Rio. Excuses are what other people have. I did a good bit of warm-up.  It takes me awhile to get lose nowadays. It is just part of getting old, I guess.  So now  the race. I took the lead from the start. At half mile I was on 5:00 pace and going to transition to something more comfortable.  Then at the one mile mark, the two Mexican runners in my heat came on my side and passed me. I try to coaster and stay with them but something was off.  I was only 5 laps in and was already sucking wind bad.  It was hard to breathe.  But even more than that, something was off.  Normally I should have been able to duck behind them and follow.  I keep trying to figure out what was wrong.  I do weigh a few pounds more now after a week in Disney World and another shorter trip.  Was it the heat? Not sure. But for the next two miles I had trouble finding a groove and keeping a good pace.  My final kick wasn’t even that great, and it usually is very strong.   I finished in 17:34.  I was the first place American.  The two Mexican contenders finished in 16:49 and 16:54. Even those times are not fast enough for Rio.  There was so much time and effort put in to this race and now only for such a crappy result. I got home and took an ice bath. I forgot how much ice baths hurt.  On a brighter note, I made a new visually impaired Canadian friend and finally got to meet Donald Balcom who lives in Maryland.  I found out that Dave Dobbins, my fraternity little brother is in the Phoenix-area for a dental conference and may come out for the 1500.  It would be great to see an old friend. 

Matt’s own words on the 1500:

Saturday was the day to just find something to do.  I got up early since I was still on East coast time and got a light breakfast downstairs.  Still had 11 hours to kill.  I went to Walmart for some Advil and then went and saw the new Captain America movie.  At 5pm, I went over to the track.  It was still hot – about 103 degrees - but at least tonight there was a slight breeze.  I was able to fit in a light warm up and then they were already calling last call for the 1500. I picked up my spikes to go check in.  They even measured them for the race which doesn’t usually happen.  There weren’t too long, thankfully.  On the walk to the start I heard Dave.  There was still a little time to kill so we did warm ups in the javelin area.  I requested the starter to provide us splits since everyone in my heat was visually impaired, but he did not have a watch. The first lap was hard and fast.  There was a lot of bumping going on, which I haven’t experienced since college.  Of course, most of my competitors are still in college.  There were six in my heat (three from Mexico, one from Canada, and two including me from the U.S.).  I had trouble getting around the T11 Mexican runner and his guide because he kept swerving.  In laps two and three, I was in last place but still holding an ok pace. With one lap to go I kick with everything I had. I was able to pass the other U.S. runner with about five yards to the finish. I was happy with my kick at the end, but not the time. Afterwards, with the two races behind me, I went out with Dave and his friends to a micro-brewery to catch up.  So glad he could be there!

Matt and Dave after the 1500

For the first time ever on the blog, and thanks to Dave, here's a video of Matt's awesome finish!

So these were not the result I was looking for this weekend. But I am not out yet of Rio contention.  My workouts show I have the capability.  I need to keep pushing.  I’m not giving up.  Next up is the StarKids 5K on June 5^th.  It is a road race, but one I really love running.  I’m down, but not out.

Here are the official results for the two events.

Results 5000:

First Place T11:  1 Alejandro Pacheco Sr. 25 Mexico 16:49.55

First Place T12 (Matt’s classification wasn’t updated): Matthew Rodjom 36 United States 17:35.10
Donald Balcom 42 United States DNF

First place T13: Isidro Tavera Sr. 19 Mexico 16:54.88

Results 1500:

First place T11:Alejandro Pacheco Sr. 25 Mexico 4:26.07

First place T12 (Matt’s classification wasn’t updated) Matthew Rodjom 36 United States 4:44.07

T13 order of finishers

1 Isidro Tavera Sr. 19 Mexico 4:18.69
2 David Garza 21 Mexico 4:21.30
3 Nick Neri 18 Canada 4:33.14
4 Michael Kinoshita 20 United States 4:44.86

The kids loved getting Daddy's medals.  He only won two, but the race volunteer gave him an extra for Zachary. :-)  

Reclassification - Mixed Emotions

Yesterday, Matt had his appointment for his International Paralympic Committee reclassification.  It is valid for two years.  Matt was originally classified in Arizona during the Desert Challenge Games in 2014 as a T12 athlete.  As I mentioned in my post earlier in the week, it would be detrimental to Matt's Paralympic dreams if he were to be reclassified as a T11 athlete since he has not trained with a guide on the track and he has never raced (or even worn) blackout glasses.  He was so concerned, but as it turns out he was reclassified.  Only he wasn't reclassified as a T11 athlete, but rather a T13 athlete.  Until this year, there were different standards for T11, T12, and T13.  This year, the qualifying times for T12 and T13 are the same.  This is good -- otherwise, Matt would have had harder qualifying standards to meet.

So what does it mean that Matt is now a T13 athlete?  We have no idea.  We should be happy that he is a T13 because it should mean his vision has improved, except that isn't true.  Sixteen years of testing by highly renowned neuro-ophthalmologists has never revealed an improvement in his vision.  After the initial period of onset that lasted several months, Matt's vision has been stable and that's okay.  Matt has learned how to navigate life with Leber's.  The "T" designation is the international classification.  The United States uses a "B" classification, but it has three categories, too, B1, B2, and B3.  Matt is a B2 athlete so that should marry up to the T12 classification.  Yet still, the doctors yesterday said that his left eye was improved since his testing in 2014.  The only thing we can think of that is different between his testing in 2014 and yesterday is the guidance they gave him during the testing.  In 2014, he was not allowed to move his blind spot, which is his entire central vision, to help him see during different aspects of the test.  In 2016, he was instructed to move his blind spot.

We do not know if this will impact his chances of making the U.S. Team.  The standards are the same, but how does Matt stack up against other T13 athletes, compared to other T12 athletes?  We won't know until July 3rd when the U.S. Team is announced.  But for now, we have mixed emotions about the new classification.

On a brighter note, Matt is scheduled to race at 7:15 pm (10:15 EST).  There is a high of 102 in Phoenix today, but it should be around 95 at gun.  I know it is a dry heat, but that's still hot!

Stay tuned for updates!

A picture of Matt nearing the finish line at Nationals last year.  

The Desert Challenge Games and I'm Not the Only One Writing About Matt

On Wednesday, Matt will depart for the Desert Challenge Games, which will be held at Arizona State University, May 11-15, 2016.  This event is part of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Athletics Grand Prix, and the only event taking place in the United States.  Matt needs to attend to renew his IPC classification, which expires this year.  Two years ago, Matt was classified as a T12 athlete.  In order to receive his classification appointment, we had to provide lots of updated paperwork on Matt's vision.  Unlike some visual impairments, Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy is not degenerative.  That doesn't mean that age won't negatively impact his vision one day, but it does mean that since he was diagnosed in 2000, his vision has been stable.  Every year Matt goes in to see his Neuro-Ophthamologist for what Matt calls his annual "I'm still blind appointment."  We expect that Matt will once again be classified as a T12.  Matt does not run with a guide on the track because his peripheral vision, the only vision he has, allows him to see the track lanes.  If he were to be categorized as a T11 runner, he would be required to have a guide and to wear blackout glasses so he would not have an advantage over the other T11 runners.  Both would be detrimental to Matt -- he's never trained on the track with either and he would have no guide with him to compete.  But again, we expect he'll be reclassified as a T12 athlete.  His classification appointment is on Thursday.

Friday night, he'll race the 5,000 meters.  There are currently five runners registered for this event so he will have competition.  This will hopefully push him to run his fastest.  He needs to shave 79 seconds off of his 5K time to meet the Rio standard.  The Desert Challenge will give us a good indication on whether that is possible.  I hope it is.  

Saturday night, Matt will race the 1500 meters.  It is less likely that Matt will meet the Rio standard in this event, but he will race it anyway.  It is a long way to travel to only do one event.  Twenty people are scheduled to race this event.  
Neither of these events at the Desert Challenge Games will impact his chances to make the US Team.  The sole determinant for that is his times at Nationals in June.  But as I have said before, we are expecting that he'll close in on that 79 second gap.  I plan to have several posts between now and Saturday giving you updates on the Games and Matt promises to take lots of photos since I won't be there with him.  However, the whole family will drive down to Charlotte in June. Who doesn't like a cheering section, right?!

I'm not the only one who is writing about Matt these days.  There is an article on Matt in the Summer 2016 edition of Run Washington.  If you're local, you can pick up a print copy in your local running store.  I plan on picking up a lot.  For those out of the area, here is a link to the digital copy (his piece starts on page 41).  The photo was taken a few weeks ago on a freakishly cold day in April on Braddock Road, about a quarter mile from our house.  

And finally, I'll put in another request for you to consider making a tax-deductible donation to Matt via the U.S. Association of Blind Athletes here to help offset Matt's travel expenses for this final push to make the U.S. Paralympic Track and Field Team.  Other than a free Brooks running outfit and set of racers, we have funded this journey ourselves.  

More soon...

And That's How You Do It!

On Saturday, March 26, Matt competed in two events at the Gallaudet University Invitational, the 1500 and the 5000. Field events started in the morning, but track events started at noon.  We arrived shortly after thinking we had some time since the first event was scheduled to be the 10,000; however, there must not have been any runners because it was no longer on the schedule.  That meant Matt had about five minutes to change and warm up before the 1500.  Our friend Matt and his son Sean arrived just in time to see the race and help cheer.  

There were five runners in the 1500, including Matt.  One of the other runners, Alex, remembered Matt from the StarKids 5K.  Matt and Alex (briefly) warmed up.  There was only one heat.  Matt didn't want to go all out for the 1500 since he still had the 5000 to race.  He was worried he'd have lactic acid buildup in his legs.  According to Matt, he ran at about 80 percent effort and finished in 4:36 (a second slower than his time at Nationals last year).  He only needed to complete the 1500 in 5:00 to be able to compete at Nationals so he was pleased with his time. The winner completed the event in 4:27.

Matt had some recovery time after the 1500 so that he could properly cool down and sit a bit before the 5000.  Due to the number of runners, they decided to combine the men and women (there were only two men including Matt and one woman).  It all happened so quickly so I didn't get my stopwatch started at gun, but was able to start it when he crossed the finish line after the first half lap.  I yelled splits and Matt took photos every lap.  Gallaudet was very accommodating to us.  Everyone remembered Matt and they even made sure to call out the laps since Matt could not read the lap sign.  We had one exciting moment about halfway through the race.  Sean was playing with a ball and somehow it managed to roll under the fence and on to the track.  I don't think it could have happened twice.  Luckily, one of the timekeepers saw the ball and was able to pick it up before the runners reached us.  Mishap averted.  

Matt needed to run at least an 18:30 to qualify for Nationals.  Here are his approximate splits:

Lap 1:  80 secs

Lap 2:  79 secs

Lap 3:  81 secs

Lap 4:  80 secs

Lap 5:  81 secs

Lap 6:  83 secs

Lap 7:  83 secs

Lap 8:  84 secs

Lap 9:  85 secs

Lap 10:  86 secs

Lap 11:  84 secs

Lap 12:  72 secs

He completed the 5000 in 16:59 -- a new personal record (by 3 seconds).  The other male runner in the 5000, a freshman from Gallaudet, kept up with Matt for the first five laps, but then couldn't hold.  He completed the event in 17:07.

Matt went into the track meet with the goal of qualifying for Nationals and he did that.  Next up is the Desert Challenge Games in Arizona.  Thankfully the two events will be on different days with the 5000 being first so that he can race all out and get his times down. We're getting a lot closer to our destination!  

Crossing the finish line

My cheering team

This past Friday, Matt picked up my bib for me at the Cherry Blossom 10-miler expo.  While there, he got a photo with Olympian Meb Keflezighi.  I knew he was going to be there so I sent Matt with a photo album from the 2010 Boston Marathon that had pictures of Meb and Matt on the winners podium after the race.  He signed it -- so cool.  Maybe both will be on Team USA in Rio?  I hope so!  

Matt and Meb at the Cherry Blossom expo

Race Time!

This Saturday marks the first of three track events that will determine whether Matt will represent the United States at the Rio Paralympic Games later this year.  On Saturday, March 26, Matt will be racing in the 1500 and 5000 meter events at the Gallaudet University Invitational against Division III athletes.  Last year, Matt was the only non-student who raced in the 5,000 and he came in third.  I wonder which place he'll finish in this year?  I plan to be out there cheering him on and yelling splits.  Come and cheer for Daddy's Blind Ambition and keep me company!  The weather report has Saturday's high at 61 degrees and sunny -- great racing and spectating weather.   

The track events start at noon and will be on a rolling schedule.  The point of this race is to qualify for Nationals, which will be held at the end of June.  He'll need to run the 1500 in 5 minutes and the 5000 in 18:30 to be allowed to race at Nationals.  We know that neither of these times will be a problem.  Since this race and the Desert Challenge Games in May are Matt's only races before Nationals, he plans to race them to get a more accurate estimate of his fitness level and capability going into Nationals.  In Mesa he'll run both events, too, but he'll have the benefit of them being on different days.  This Saturday he won't have much of a break between events.  Fingers crossed that the events will be on separate days in Charlotte, too.

Saturday's event location:

Gallaudet University

Berg Track & Field

800 Florida Avenue, NE

Washington D.C. 20002 - 3695

Saturday's Schedule:  (Field events start at 9:30 and track events start at noon with a rolling time schedule.)

                       

10,000 meter run   

4x100 meter relay

1500 meter run

100/110 Hurdles

100 meter dash

400 meter dash

3000 meter run

800 meter run

400 IM Hurdles

200 meter dash

5,000 meter run   

4 x 400 meter relay

I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and post the results for all those that won't be able to make it.  It will be a long afternoon so the kids will stay with Granma. Here are a few pictures from last year's race.  Boy was it cold!

Saturday's race is sandwiched between the twins' fifth birthday on Friday and Easter on Sunday.  We're looking forward to a wonderful, albeit exhausting weekend!

Race Recap by Matt

What a treat!  Matt did a short write-up of his race on Valentine’s Day so I get the blog post off.  

Here you go…in Matt’s words:

On Sunday Feb 14, I ran the run your heart out 5k in Fairfax Corner. I was getting the itch to race because I haven’t done much racing since November. My mileage has been averaging about 50 miles per week and I was interested in knowing my fitness level.  The week before, I signed up for the race, found a guide (Chuck—who has guided me twice before) and got permission for a guide to run with me in the race in less than two hours. That never happens. I have run several races put on by the Potomac River Running Store and they have always been helpful in making accommodations so that I can run with a guide in their races.  After running so many years without a guide in road races, and missing turns and having near-miss run-ins, it is now my preference to have a guide when possible.  Also, I have to say that I feel lucky to have a good network of running guides. I know a lot of visually impaired runners and how hard it is for them to find guides.

On race day luck would have it that an arctic front came through, so it was VERY cold.  When I work up it was only 9 degrees and that wasn’t including the wind chill. Matt, my coach, was volunteering at the race so he was kind enough to give me a ride to and from the race.  Normally, Sarah and the kids come out when I race locally, but we couldn’t have the kids out there in such cold temperatures.  Thankfully Chuck, my guide, did not chicken out due to the cold. The two of us did a two-mile warm up. We thought we had more time until gun. We ran into the running  store to put on our bibs and warm up for a minute. After walking out of the store, we were probably 150 yard from the start thinking we had time to position ourselves on the start line before gun. There was no warming or countdown until gun.  They just said runners to your mark, then go. I guess with the cold, they wanted to get started, which I don’t blame them.  Unfortunately for me, I was at the back of the race when the gun went off. As a visually impaired runner this makes things hard, to say the least. The first quarter of a mile I was zigging and zagging to get to the front. I can’t see right in front of me so I had to rely a lot on Chuck to move forward in the pack.  If I was smart, I would have just waited till the crowds thinned out and then started the race with clear roads since it was a chip race. Instead, Chuck and I got out to the side of the course and passed everyone till about 1.25 mile. It was about then that I finally found runners at my pace. The first mile was 5:38 with a lot of work getting to the front – I wouldn’t have been able to do it without Chuck and I’m sure all of the calling out took a lot out of him. At mile two, some kid put in a strong surge, so I followed him. I guess he did not have the gas to keep it because I passed him not much later and never saw him again. It was then open rolling hills. With half a mile to go, Chuck got a stitch.  With open road, I started getting my kick and was able to hold it to the end. Because of his stitch, I had to leave Chuck and finish solo. I am guessing it was the fast hard first mile with all of the talking to make sure I didn’t run into anyone or miss a turn at a 5:30-5:40 mile. I finished in 18:15.   Not bad considering I was dead last and then made it to sixth overall and first in my age group.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t give me a good representation of where I am due to the cold.  It was 16 degrees at gun plus wind chill and I had 3 layers of clothes on.  I never wear that many layers and I know I will have shorts and a singlet on when I race in Arizona and North Carolina here soon. Post-race, I got some hot coffee for Matt and Chuck, which we all needed.

All in all, I had fun, but it was not by best race and I don’t know my level of fitness. Since there weren’t as many runners as expected due to the temperature, I got to take home some extra bananas and muffins.  My kids loved them!  Next up is Gallaudet on the 26th of the month.  Here’s hoping for a great race and indicator of my fitness for my qualification races for Rio!

The kids wanted to have race day pictures since they weren't there.  The girls insisted on dressing up for the occasion.

We set the timer so we could all be in the picture. 

How Do We Get to Rio?

I’m not sure how it is February 11^th and this is my first post of 2016, but here you go…

This is it!  The next few months will determine whether Matt makes the U.S. Track and Field Team for the Rio Paralympics.  He’s fast, but we know his times need to be faster to be competitive.  He’s planning on running the “Run Your Heart Out 5K” on Sunday, but with temperatures estimated to be in the single digits, it probably won’t be a good indicator of the time he’ll run in Mesa, Arizona, at the Desert Games in May, or the National Championship in Charlotte in June.  Nonetheless, it will be good to get a race under his belt.  He hasn’t competed since the Race to End Women’s Cancer in November, unless you count him running with my bib minus the chip in a New Year’s Eve race because I was under the weather, or all of his snow shoveling during Snowzilla. 

So what does Matt need to do to wear red, white, and blue in Rio?  First, he needs to update the paperwork.  He received his International Paralympic Committee (IPC) classification at Mesa in 2014 and was classified as a T12 runner (which means he does not require a guide), but it is only valid for two years.  He will need to be reclassified in Mesa at the Desert Challenge Games.  He has an appointment with his neuro-ophthalmologist on Monday at 7am (way too early for a holiday Monday if you ask me) to update all of his medical forms, which basically means we need something that says that Matt is still visually impaired, but it hasn’t gotten better in two years and it hasn’t gotten worse.  He also needs to renew his IPC license.  The next piece is the actual running.  He needs to get a qualifying time for Nationals in an approved event.  Matt is working to have the Gallaudet University Invitational approved so that he can qualify for Nationals.  This year, he’ll race both the 1500 meter and 5000 meter events at Gallaudet.  If you recall, we were banking on him running in the University of Maryland open meet to get a qualifying time in the 1500, but apparently the “open meet” didn’t extend to someone visually impaired.  So let’s break down the numbers:

To be allowed to compete in Nationals, he needs to run the following:

1500 Meters: 5:00

5000 Meters:  18:30

You may be thinking that Matt will have no problem finishing in those times and you would be right.  BUT, now take a look at what he needs to run at Nationals to make the U.S. roster:

1500 meters

U.S. A Standard: 3:56

U.S. B Standard: 3:58

Rio A Standard: 4:07

Rio B Standard: 4:12

5000 meters

U.S. A Standard: 15:00

U.S. B Standard: 15:16

Rio A Standard: 15:40

Rio B Standard: 15:57

Um, okay, those are pretty fast.  Let me be upfront – Matt has NEVER run those times.  So you may be asking what is the difference between the U.S. Standards and the Rio Standards?  Good question.  Matt must meet the Rio B standard, but he could not meet the U.S. standards and still be invited to represent USA in Rio.  No mid-distance visually impaired runners met the U.S. standards in 2015, but some were still invited to compete on the U.S. team for international competitions.  The U.S. will have 48 slots for males at the games, with a max of three per event.  I am pasting in how the 48 men (and 32 females) are selected for the team:

·         All results for each eligible athlete will be given a percentage score. The score is calculated by comparing the athlete’s result from the 2016 U.S. Paralympic Team Trials-Track and Field to the 2016 National Team A standard for each event using the following formula.

o   Track events: (2016 National Team A / result) x 100

o   Field events: (result / 2016 National Team A) x 100

·         The percentage will be provided with two decimal points (to the one hundredth of a percent) with the highest percentage compared to the 2016 National Team A standard being the better result. Slots and start rights will be filled based on the Team Selection Ranking List (highest to lowest percentage) for the medal events scheduled to be contested at these Games in the following order:

o   Athletes who have achieved the AQS between 15 October 2015 and the completion of the 2016 U.S. Paralympic Team Trials-Track and Field.

o   Athletes who have achieved the BQS between 15 October 2015 and the completion of the 2016 U.S. Paralympic Team Trials-Track and Field.

o   Athletes who have achieved the AQS or BQS between 15 October 2014 and the completion of the 2016 U.S. Paralympic Team Trials-Track and Field. Nomination will continue until either all slots, by gender, have been filled or all eligible athletes who have achieved the BQS have been nominated to the team.

We are hoping he’ll qualify by having a really competitive time that is faster than the Rio qualifying times.  There are three categories of visually impaired runners – T11, T12, and T13—and each have their own qualifying times.  This year, the T12 class (which has less vision than a T13 runner, but more than a T11) must meet the same qualifying times.  It can change from year to year.

Here’s a snapshot of his upcoming races:

Run Your Heart Out 5K
February 14, 2016
Fairfax, VA

Gallaudet Invitational
March 26, 2016
Washington, DC

Crystal City 5K Fridays
April 8, 2016
Arlington, VA

Desert Challenge Games
May 11-15, 2016
Mesa, Arizona

StarKids 5k
To Be Determined – June 2016
Fairfax, VA

2016 U.S. Paralympic Team Trials-Track and Field
June 30-July 2, 2016
Charlotte, NC -- Johnson C. Smith University

It would be wonderful to have you out there with me cheering Matt on at any of these events.  It is a long shot, but why not try, right?  As much as I joke with Matt that I’d like to say I am married to an Olympian, I’m pretty sure he’d like to be an Olympian.  Your support and encouragement has helped make this possible.  And in case you are looking for a great cause to make a charitable, tax-deductible contribution to, please check out our donation tab for instructions here.  There are a lot of running shoes that will be bought before Rio, along with airfare and lodging.  Thanks again!

To RIO!