PU grad competes at XC Worlds

Spence happy to represent country, Tigers in Kenya

By: Justin Feil
   Since finishing as the top American at the World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa, Kenya, on Saturday, Mike Spence has been catching up on congratulatory e-mails.
   "It’s been great," said the Princeton University graduate who finished 55th in the world. "That’s the best part — hearing from the guys I ran with. I’ve had so many e-mails from the guys I ran with from the team when I was there. And I’ve gotten e-mails from people I didn’t know.
   "It’s nice to get the e-mails. I feel like I’m still out there, even though I don’t have the Princeton jersey on any more, I’m still representing Princeton. It’s a great feeling that those guys follow it and are so passionate about it."
   A steeplechaser who finished seventh at the 2006 U.S. Track and Field Championships, Spence had not run a cross country race before last month’s U.S. Championships since his senior year with the Tigers due to various injuries. In 1999, he finished 36th at the NCAA Championships to earn All-America honors.
   "My best cross country race in college was nationals," Spence said. "One of the reasons was that was the most painful race I ever ran. I finished 36th and was All-American, but from 4000 (meters) on, I was in serious pain. I wanted to die. It was a tremendous mental effort to keep myself moving at that pace.
   "I still think of that as my best race in college. It was such a battle. I’ve never forgotten that feeling. Maybe in your mind’s eye you start to think, I wasn’t hurting as bad as I thought. But that one has never faded. I remember distinctly how much I hurt in that one. That was 10,000. At the senior level, it’s 12,000. I was apprehensive based on what I remembered from college. These last two were nothing like that."
   Spence lined up at the U.S. Cross Country Championships in Boulder, Colo., the second weekend in February for the chance to test himself against the country’s top runners. He wanted to use the experience to better prepare himself to line up against the best steeplechasers. He surprised many by finishing fifth to qualify for the U.S. men’s team that was going to Kenya.
   "That’s the thing about track," he started. "If you have a good performance, you had to put the work in before you got there. It’s not like the guy who goes out and plays golf once a year and happens to hit a hole in one. You can’t have a fluke in track. I’ve been training a lot without interruptions. My coaches and I knew what kind of shape I was in.
   "I went in with every intention of making the U.S. National Team. It was something we’re hoping to do. It wasn’t a sure-fire thing. I went in there with the expectations of finishing in the top 15. We knew some guys wouldn’t choose to go (to the Worlds), so if I was close to the top 10, I knew I’d have a shot. We thought Top 15 was a good race, top 10 if everything went right. Top 5 was even beyond where my coaches and I expected. It was beyond even the perfect scenario. We had put in a lot of work to get here. I raced with a lot of confidence that day."
   Spence’s steeplechase background paid off at the nationals in Boulder. He was able to attack a part of the course cut through by a stream.
   "The biggest thing is not being able to hurdle, but just being able to change pace and deal with disruptions to pace," Spence said. "The more disruptions, the better for me. The more ditches, the better. That stream at nationals was a huge benefit to me. I thought of it very much as steeple barrier as I went around. I really went after that part."
   In Mombasa, Kenya, Spence would deal with a far different challenge. A resident of Ogden, Utah, Spence was welcomed home from Kenya to snow and freezing conditions.
   "I decided," he said, "I’m not complaining about cold weather again."
   It was in the 90s in Kenya, and on race day the heat was oppressive, if not intimidating. The race was six 2,000-meter laps of a golf course that was hardly pristine by the time Spence took to it.
   "I stepped to the line pretty scared," Spence said. "We were the last race of the day, so we had seen the effects the heat had. I had seen girls in complete delirium. People from places like Canada and even Kenyan and Ethiopian racers, we seen them suffering from heat. I saw them in bad, bad shape. Everyone went to the line pretty unnerved.
   "I went out pretty hard. I went out hard for 400 meters then backed off. I settled in, but then at about 2,000, I was starting to feel it already."
   By the 2,500-meter mark, Spence was taking water. He wasn’t drinking much of it though it was the first chilled water he had in a week in Kenya.
   "It was a complete dust bowl," he said. "It was dirty sand and it billowed up in clouds as everyone ran through it. They ran us through 10 sand traps, but most of the course was sand. The footing was worse than cross country nationals at Boulder. I was choking on dust. First, I was taking it to cool me and to get the grit out of my eyes. Then, from 4,000 to 6,000, it really started to hurt. I began to think I wouldn’t finish if I kept that pace up. I was on the verge of overheating, I felt. At 4,000 I slowed down some. I had no idea what was going to happen. The next 4000 went by in that state."
   Spence started to feel better with 4,000 meters to go. There was a buzz when the world’s top runner, Kenenisa Bekele, dropped out ahead of Spence with 1,000 meters to go. Bekele had won the last five world championships.
   "When I heard Bekele dropped out, that gave me a little boost," Spence said. "I thought, the world’s top runner dropped out of the race and I’m not feeling too bad. I began to push a little bit. I felt good, but there’s such a small margin of error. They ran out of water on the course at about 8k. I was kicking, but I was very cautious. Most of people who dropped out, over course of 200 meters went from feeling fine to red-lining. It wasn’t something you could feel coming on. I was cautiously increasing my pace with 2k to go. I went all out with 600 to go and passed four or five guys and finished up well with an all-out sprint.
   "It’s tough to know how much you had left. I had a little left in the tank, whether I could have sprinted for 100 yards or 200 or 400 more yards, I don’t know. If I misjudged it, I could have ended up an ambulance and in a Kenyan hospital. I’m glad I finished with a little left."
   His conservative approach helped him survive a grueling day. It was a plan that he had worked out with his coaches, steeple legend Chick Hislop, and his running coach, former American marathon champion Paul Pilkington. Spence, who works for the Princeton-based International Business Research company, also has had the chance to train with the Princeton men’s team when he returns on business.
   "If guys are training, I’ll run with them," Spence said. "It’s really been nice. For a few years, I was detached from the team. It started to make me feel old. I didn’t know any of the guys on the team around 2005. Now that I got to run with them, I’ve reconnected with the guys and got to see Coach (Fred) Samara and got to get to know Coach (Steve) Dolan more. It’s fun to work with them and see their results."
   Spence was happy to show well for the Tigers in international competition. He was joined by PU alumna Cack Ferrell, who finished 30th in the women’s senior division. While Spence had not competed in a cross country race since 1999, it had been even longer since he ran in an international field. As a freshman who won the U.S. junior steeplechase title, he represented the United States in the 1997 Junior Pan American Games. The World Cross Country Championships was a step above it.
   "That was just the Pan-American countries and just juniors," Spence said. "This was everybody. This was a new experience.
   "I’m feeling pretty comfortable. It’s amazing how quickly your body adjusts. That was a reason I first ran cross country nationals was to get ready to run against bigger names in the country. It doesn’t take your mind long to get used to some big accomplishments."
   Having achieved some big goals in a return to cross country running, Spence is back into training already for the track season. He will compete in the Mt. SAC Invitational in two weeks in his specialty, the steeplechase, and he’ll do so looking to continue to make Princeton University proud.