July, 2005 - Doug Speck
Travis Prejean (white top/red shorts) races along in the Young Men's 1500m Finals with one
foot bare!! - (rt) a lonely shoe sits inside the curb on the homestretch
Into the homestretch (left) Travis looks to challenge for the win -
(rt) at finish with fried foot ends 3rd!
A little help from the trainers after!
One of the interesting "personal interest" stories of the recent USATF National Junior Olympics was in the Young Men's 1500 meter finals. While video-taping the contest on probably an 85 degree late morning I noticed a shoe laying on the track in the middle of the home-stretch, and with no field event happening in the infield sensed that one of the athletes in the 1500 event may have lost a shoe early in the contest. It turned out that as I panned the field, New Yorker Travis Prejean running in red and white was noticeably racing with just one shoe. The mondo track and the heat had to make the situation more than a tad uncomfortable, but this was a National Finals, a good field, and Travis was racing along strongly, regardless of the situation. As the group headed into the final 300 meters it actually appeared Prejean had a chance to win and was mounting a very strong finishing kick. Based upon what he relates below the condition of the bottom of his feet after a couple of laps of such running had to be taking its toll, and Prejean ended up third in a time of 3:59.53.
1) When did the shoe incident in the race happen and what seemed to you to take place that caused it?
Ok here we go.. - starting at the 1500 meter mark I was tripped up at about the 500 mark or a little before that where the heel of the shoe slipped under my foot I ran with it like that for about maybe 100 meters from there I knew it was definitely not going to be possible to run like that and it would fall off eventually,so I had no choice and I kind of tossed it the rest of the way off. The pack was def tight and as you might see pretty physical.
2) What was your reaction when it first happened?
I would have to say my reaction was I guess shocked a little bit. I mean I came into the race planning on winning or at least having a reasonable shot at it , then I end up with one shoe with 2 and a half laps to go. I tried to stay calm but it kina of screwed with my head and mental racing strategy.
3) How did it feel to be running with one shoe on and one shoe off - did it stay the same or gradually get worse as the race went along or???
Definitely I felt ackward, it was like one leg was longer then the other (lol). Actually when it came off It didn't hit me that it was probably going to hurt that bad. I felt nothing untill maybe 400 meters left with no shoe and I felt it burning. Mostly I kind of felt slower but maybe mentally I just did.
4) Do you think you could have done much better with the shoe on?
Here's the thing--going in the race I felt I had a really good shot on winning. Me and my coach had been training to run 3:55 and after prelims I was sure it was going to happen as long as the race went out fast and IT DID. I think where I made my mistake was on the third lap it was very slow like 67 if I remember right. I knew the third lap was going to be slow and I really wanted to pick that up to run fast, but instead of taking the lead on lap 3 as you see in the video I just sat behind a few leaders and went at there pace, I sat there thinking of what I was going to do with 300 left instead of taking the lead like I was going to do, Then the bell lap came where I through in as good of a kick as I had.
5) How was your foot after the race - seemed that you were limping a bit - what was done if anything by the trainers or since that time?
Well right after the race I took a step and I def knew something wasn't right. I looked at it even though I was exhausted from the race, but anyways all I saw was blood on my toes and I definitely saw some skin hanging from them. That was enough for me to see and the trainers helped me to the tent. They told my coach I had 1st degree burns on my foot and well I was there when they put peroxide on the open blisters that had popped during the race. My two middle toes pretty much have no skin right now and right below that the ball of my foot hurts like brush burn bad. The trainers also had to dig out the dirt and I guess little mondo crap out but it hurt because he used some metal little gadget (lol). Actually I am going to take a visit to the doctor to make sure of no infection probably in the next day or two.
6) Have you ever had any experience like this in the past or raced under pretty bad conditions that you think would have prepared you for something like what happened in the JO's in Indy?
An experience like that? NO (lol) well I mean through pain maybe but I am sure every runner has had there races through injuries and stuff. Actually during the 2004 CC season I had state qualifers and I always get bad shin splints, well I was sure I had a stress fracture but didn't get a bone scan and ran the meet. With about 1 mile to go I was in like 3rd where my leg kind of gave out. I had to stop and i grabbed my leg yelling but no one was really around. I was totally in shock because I HAD STOPPED RUNNING (lol) I have never done that... well I said hell with it and jumped in the race somehow finishing in 10th place and because the winning team had 5 kids in front of me I took 5th and made the last cut to my first state competition. Well I did get it checked out later and I had a tibial stress fracture but it wasn't a good season.
I was feeling awesome before that 1500 race. Once my shoe came off I just almost lost hope because it felt like guys were pulling away from me. At about the 200 mark i felt myself closing in and seriously I said to myself "I'm going to win JO's with one shoe." I ended up 3rd but my coach came over and hugged me and made me feel like I was the winner.
Other then that I guess I just remember sitting in the tent and hearing I still broke 4 which kind of put a smile on my face. Even though I do think I could have ran faster I am not putting down the winner or anyone else though. He ran good and was hard to close on. I definitely give him credit for winning that one.
Thanks for noticing though because I wasn't sure if people really had any clue
Travis Prejean
Young Men's USATF JO 2005 Race Video
is published by 