Week 7

Thursday, November 1

Making a Comeback

Dan Browne is back in form

On Monday, October 22, 2007, Olympian Dan Browne had already decided to get out of San Diego as the massive wildfires continued to char thousands of acres and consume hundreds of homes. He had driven down from Mammoth Lakes on Sunday night to begin his adjustment to sea level for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Men’s Marathon. But when he arrived at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, he found nightmarish conditions.

“Ash was falling, my eyes were burning, and you could feel it coming into your lungs,” he says. “If I didn’t think I was ready to do something at the Trials, I’d stay. But no one is training here. They’re all wearing masks. I’ve worked too hard for the last three and a half months with Meb to come down with a throat or lung infection in the last 12 days.”

The desert Santa Ana winds had spread the fires much faster than authorities had anticipated. Now not just Browne but all the Mammoth runners had to reschedule the timing and destination of their descent from altitude. Such are the vagaries of life that intrude upon, indeed put into perspective, the tightly focused world of professional sports.

For 32-year-old Browne, the expectation that he’d be anywhere near ready for these Trials would have seemed unthinkable at this time last year. But Browne is a man of faith who believes in resurrection. 

After two years spent recovering from surgeries on both knees and an emergency appendectomy, the 1997 West Point grad has come back to life just in time to rejoin fellow 2004 marathon Olympians Alan Culpepper and Meg Keflezighi as a legitimate contender in `08. 

“There has been a resurrection,” he concurs. “I feel more healthy now than in my entire life. I feel 10 years younger, like a 22-year-old again. I haven’t come full circle. The last five to 10 degrees is the Trials themselves, but we’ll see.”

Cool Change

The turning point for Browne came in June at the AT&T USA Outdoor Championships in Indianapolis. After a 10th-place finish in the 10,000 meters—a championship he won in 1998—Dan met with his coach of five years, Alberto Salazar, the legendary runner and coach of the Nike Oregon Project.

“It was hot,” Browne recalls of Indy. “I wasn’t ready, and I’m susceptible to warm weather, but there comes a time in your career when you need a change. I love Al, but there had been a lot of water under the bridge. We’d gone through our problems and resolutions, and come to conclusions. Things just weren’t working, and it fell on both ends. I decided I needed a change, and he agreed.”

When he considered where to go next one place came instantly to mind.   

“I called Josh [Cox] from nationals,” says Browne of his friend, the seventh-place finisher from the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Men’s Marathon. “I said, ‘We need a plan.’ We decided on Mammoth, and Meb and Bob welcomed us. They were really focused on the marathon.”

Actually, Team USA California coach Bob Larsen didn’t instantly welcome Browne and Cox at all. Not because of who they were, but due to their timing.

“I spoke with Alberto before Dan came up,” says coach Larsen. “I told him I didn’t think it was a good idea to change in the Olympic year. But Dan wasn’t getting it done in Oregon.”

When Browne joined Meb in Mammoth in early July, coach Larsen instantly identified problem areas and recommended solutions. 

“He looked awful at first,” says Larsen, who didn’t want to do any hands-on daily coaching with Browne. “He couldn’t run more than 80 miles per week in Portland because both his hips hurt. His stride efficiency and stride mechanism had changed. I said, ‘Let’s slow you down, and boost your mileage.’ And we did gym and core work six days a week to strengthen his body. We began to introduce fast stuff near the end of August. Now there’s no pain, and he started looking surprisingly good.”

One thing that was in Browne’s favor was that he had worked with Larsen and Keflezighi in 2000 in San Diego before signing on with Nike and moving to Portland. It was in 2002 that he began his relationship with Salazar, and quickly they produced career highlights. 

High and Dry

Browne debuted in the marathon by winning the 2002 Twin Cities Marathon in 2:11:35.  Then prior to the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Men’s Marathon in Birmingham, Alabama, he notched PRs at both 5000 and 10,000 meters, which earned him a spot on the Olympic 10,000-meter team as well as the marathon. In Athens, he ran 12th in the Olympic 10,000 final. 

“But he made some mistakes in the Olympic marathon,” explains Larsen. “He missed a couple of meetings on fluid replacement, couldn’t digest his fluids in the marathon, and bonked. He had to be hooked up to IVs, and hasn’t raced well since.”

Some physiologists believe that after an athlete cooks himself once, he never runs the same again. Salazar’s own Duel in the Sun victory versus Dick Beardsley at the 1982 Boston Marathon was the beginning of the end of his time on top. But for Browne, the disappointment of his 65th place in the Olympic Marathon was only the psychological beginning of his unraveling.

“You learn a lot about yourself,” says Browne of his long recovery. “You don’t learn during the highs. You learn what you’re made of in the valley when nothing looks good, and only those who love you are behind you. I told myself in 2005 that no matter what, I’ll finish my career on my own terms. It’s been a winding road to feeling good again, but I’m committed to it. Separating from Alberto and going to Mammoth, my career has gone through an awakening.”

Climbing Back up

After two months of solid training in Mammoth, Browne competed in his first Trials tune-up, the USA 20K Championships in New Haven on Labor Day. This was an event he had won twice before (2001 and 2002). Closing the final mile in 4:31, Browne bested Trials qualifiers James Carney and Jason Lehmkule to take his first national title in two and a half years. Two weeks later, he battled Carlsbad 5000 champion Simon Ndirangu and Richard Kiplagat at the USA 5K Championship in Providence, Rhode Island. Though he was outkicked in the final 300 meters, Browne’s 13:47 time won him his second national road title of the month.

“I never lost my heart,” says Browne. “I just wasn’t doing the little things. Meb, Ryan [Hall], and Bob have helped me a lot. I’m with guys I trust and love. I’ve never been with a more diligent group. In the last four months I’ve glued myself to Meb as tight as I can. I’ve hung on to him for dear life. Now I’m at the point where we can trade back and forth a little. I’m not quite as good as Meb, but I’m ready.”

Browne did have a rough patch at the USA 10 Mile Championship in Minneapolis on October 7. He went out hard with Abdi Abdirahman through the first three miles before fading to 21st at the finish. He blamed that on the hot, humid conditions.

But in his last marathon simulator before descending into the San Diego inferno, Browne hung within 30 to 60 seconds of Meb Keflezighi the entire 20 miles.  If he can do that through 26.2 miles in New York City…

“The guys from Mammoth are prepared,” Browne declares with conviction. “If I could make the team in `08, I’d be twice as proud as in `04. More from what I’ve been through, and that this team will be three or four times harder to make because of the field. Yet I would not be surprised if two out of three guys who make the team come from Mammoth. I wouldn’t be surprised if all three come from Mammoth.”

You could say Dan Browne is fired up.