Being in Seattle, I'm fortunate to get some great indoor track action each winter as UW hosts a number of events at Dempsey Indoor. Two weeks ago they held the UW Indoor Preview and yesterday was the UW Invitational.
I was there yesterday and being a fan of distance running, was excited to see that Olympians Galen Rupp, Chris Solinsky, and Jen Rhines were all scheduled to run. Flotrack and Runnerspace were there too and had some good coverage and videos. But I have my own video of a few races from a different angle (see below). Flotrack's are better, but hey, I was there and took it so you get it too.
First up was the men's mile with Rupp and Solinsky. Both of the headliners started out mid-pack but moved up so that they were at the front with a lap to go with Rupp leading. Coming off the turn with just the straight to go though, Solinsky had taken the lead and would go on to hold off Galen 3:55.75 to 3:56.22. An outstanding early run for both as they do some under distance racing in preparation for the outdoor season.
In the women's 3000, Jen Rhines and Amy Hastings were the class of the field and went to the front and alternated taking the lead up to 1 lap to go. With a lap to go, Rhines took off and gapped Hastings, but at the top of the straight, Hastings started to gather her in and with Rhines moving out into lane 2, Hastings had an opening and was able to eke by winning in 8:58.45 to Rhines' 8:58.47. A great race.
Last, and less than 2 hours after finishing his mile, Rupp came back in the 3000 set to face Scott Bauhs and Aaron Braun. The three of them separated themselves from the pack mid race and with a lap to go it was the three of them right together. Braun got a bit of a gap on the back straight, but then Rupp and Bauhs made their move and as they approached the finishing straight Rupp had pulled alongside Braun with Bauhs close behind. In what may have been his one mistake, Bauhs tried to get in between his competitors but there wasn't room and he had to make a second move outside and came up just short to Rupp's 7:51.48 in 7:51.65 with Braun just 0.03 back at 7:51.68. Another great race!
From the interview with Galen, it sounds like he'll be in Boston next week to run the 5000 against Lagat and others. And there will be action back at Dempsey in 2 weeks and I'll try to be there again and post another report.
Here is the video with highlights from all 3 races:
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