http://bouldernews.com/bdc/other_sports/article/0,1713,BDC_2416_1519184,00.html
Silvio fourth in last year's race By Michael Sandrock, For the Camera November 2, 2002 Even Olympic marathoners get the blues, as Boulder's Silvio Guerra discovered earlier this year. Fortunately, the native of Ecuador kept up his 150 miles a week of training and recovered his confidence in time to be ready to run with the leaders in Sunday's 33rd annual New York City Marathon. Guerra, 34, placed fourth at New York last year after running near the lead through 16 miles. That is when Tesfaye Jifar of Ethiopia threw in back-to-back sub-4 minute, 40 second miles to break up the field. Guerra dropped back into the second pack before gradually moving back up and picking off the runners who had tried to run with Jifar. This year, Guerra might be joined near the front by Boulder native Scotty Larson. The Fairview and University of Colorado graduate recently returned from a stint training in South Africa; Larson hopes training in a new locale will be enough to help him repeat as the top American at New York. Last year, Larson won the U.S. national marathon title at New York. While Larson was off in South Africa, Guerra stayed training in Boulder, where he hooked up for several long runs with Alan Culpepper — the pair's 22-mile runs started at 6-minute-per-mile pace and ended as fast as 5:10 or 5:20 per mile. Guerra said Culpepper's 2:09:41 marathon debut at Chicago last month was not a surprise. "I knew Alan could run that well," said Guerra. "Now he knows the pain of the marathon, and I believe he will run faster in the future. His race at Chicago gave me a lot of confidence." On Sunday, Guerra will face a deep field that includes defending New York champ and course record holder (2:07:43) Jifar, as well as 2002 Boston marathon winner Rodgers Rop of Kenya. Boston marathon champ Margaret Okayo of Kenya is back defending her New York women's title. She clocked 2:24:21 in winning New York last year, also a course record. U.S. Olympians Meb Keflezighi and Marla Runyan will be making their marathon debuts, and Bolder Boulder elite runner Milena Glusac is expected to be one of the top Americans. The men's and women's winners will each earn $80,000, plus a Pontiac Vibe. Guerra said he plans on running with the leaders in New York, just as he did last year. "There are many strong runners, but when you go into a race you have to run with confidence. You can't be worried about names or what they have done before. You just have to go face everyone and see what happens." According to Guerra, who has been an international runner for 14 years, 2002 has been "an OK year, not great, because I was having a hard time getting the motivation. I don't know why. Part of it is the many years I have been training and running; you just get to the point where you lose motivation. But I have had it back for the past four months and am feeling good for Sunday. I am ready to do my best." And that best means not letting Jifar or another runner get too far ahead. Last year Guerra and the leaders were on course-record pace, which caused him to back off even though he was feeling strong. "That was a mistake I made," Guerra said, "but sometimes you have to do what your body tells you at that time ... I really like racing in New York. The people were spectacular last year, with all their cheering. That was a special race for everyone, to escape the fear from 9-11. This year I want to be in the top five again. I am at the age now where I have to take advantage of my fitness. I don't have too many years to go in my career." =========== "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." Ralph Waldo Emerson _____________________________________________________________ Sign up for a 6mb FREE email from http://www.spl.at Join the buzz, chat with us! http://chat.spl.at _____________________________________________________________ Select your own custom email address for FREE! Get [EMAIL PROTECTED] w/No Ads, 6MB, POP & more! http://www.everyone.net/selectmail?campaign=tag
