Submitted by Ed Schlichter
USC Upstate’s Emily Tangwar competes in her first 10K at the prestigious Penn Relays; Coach Schlichter revisits the experience and gives some thoughts and insight.
April 23
11 a.m.: Emily and I (Coach Schlichter) departed campus in the roomy USC Upstate Athletics 15 passenger van, the absence of the other athletes made it a chatty ride to Charlotte’s Douglas International Airport. Emily began telling me her traveling stories, starting with her trip from Kenya to the U.S. in the summer of 2006. This made the drive go by very quickly and we were on our way to Newark, N.J. before I knew it.
4 p.m.: Our flight descended onto the busy airstrip of EWR Liberty Airport. As we taxied to our gate, I couldn’t help but let nervous thoughts of tomorrow’s race start creeping in, “how will it go?” We took what seemed to be the airport train to find our rental car station; it was much more like a ride from Disney World’s Space Mountain. After a couple loops we came to a halt and found our way to Enterprise.
6 p.m.: With me at the helm of the deep blue 4-door Nissan, we pulled up to our lodging, the Mount Holly, N.J. Super 8 Motel, courtesy of my nuvi GPS navigator and Emily calling out the turns. We were fortunate enough to have made it there without any wrong turns. I can’t say the whole trip was like that though. Our hotel put us a reasonable 25 minutes from Franklin Field, just east of Philadelphia and the Ben Franklin Bridge.
6:20 p.m.: After checking in and heading to our respective rooms we changed into our running gear and headed out to the Rancocas State Park a close six mile drive for a nice 30 minute shake out before tomorrow’s 10,000-meter Championship. When we got to the park we were totally blown away by its awesomeness -- 10-15 foot wide soft dirt trails weaved in and out of coves on this gorgeous river bank. It proved as the perfect setting as we finished up with some strides in the dimming moments before sunset.
8 p.m.: Emily’s choice of dinner was beef and rice, so we looked up the closest Chinese restaurant and away we went. Full and content is how we ended the travel day.
April 24 (Race day)
8:30 a.m.: Using the trusty GPS we were able to locate a Starbucks in downtown Mt. Holly. Chia Tea is the Kenyan choice when given a choice so Miss Tangwar enjoyed a hot cup with some banana nut bread matching her typical breakfast routine. After filling up with carbs and caffeine we went off in search of the greatest track meet in the country, The Penn Relays.
10 a.m.: As soon as you pay the $3 toll to enter Philly, you’re quickly overcome by traffic and “Northern” road ways (you make right turns to go left?). Luckily my Pa. grassroots kicked in and we descended upon the University of Pennsylvania promptly. As you carefully navigate through the city streets looking for parking, you are almost overwhelmed by the thousands of teenagers and college athletes that crowd the sidewalks.
My eyes glance as street vendors are dishing out cheese steaks by the two’s. Driving by the Palestra you get a sense of what this is all about, a celebration of sport. It’s the opportunity of being in the biggest track meet in the country. Kid’s are practicing hand-offs down alleys and across the small patches of grass spread through the campus. You can’t help but start feeling the adrenaline begin to flow through your veins. I strike up random conversation to take Emily’s mind off of the astonishing sights from our car’s windows.
“Where am I going to park?” This somewhat simple question was anything but, simple. Anyone and everyone in the track & field world seemed to have snatched up every last spot, until miraculously we saw an
open meter on Chestnut St. We dumped the change from our pockets and secured two hours of time, “plenty,” I thought as we began to walk through Penn’s campus.
11 a.m.: This meet means several things to me, firstly, the nostalgia that is omnipresent in every step, over every cobble stone. My grandfather graduated from U-Penn in 1938, stricken with polio from an early age he was forced to walk with a limp as his right leg was merely a prop, he would never get to feel the sensation that running can produce for oneself, but, he refused pity and the use a cane. He grew up on his father’s farm in south central, Pennsylvania poor and hard working, which is how he earned a full-academic scholarship to Penn. Growing up he used to tell me how he earned two degrees one in “English” and one in “washing dishes” (how he paid rent and bought books). His struggles and achievements are the backbone to every success and opportunity I’ve had.
Secondly, as a high school senior at Chambersburg (Pa.), I was lucky enough to qualify for the boy’s 3000-meter championship, and return again in college by racing the 5000-meter. It is now that I’ve come to realize that I’ve made the complete circle and returned to Penn as a coach with a great talent of an athlete. With about 10 hours till go time, we grab our passes, cruise into the stadium, watch a few relays, and head back to the car.
1:10 p.m.: The parking meter is flashing 0:00, as the overly warm April afternoon has caused me to begin to sweat from the sprint I made to ensure there wasn’t a parking ticket left on the windshield, for now we were safe. We took the “scenic” route out of Philadelphia and eventually found lunch at Perkins, Salmon, mashed potatoes, and rice was going to be Emily’s fuel for the 25 laps that she was soon to endure.
6 p.m.: Emily retreated to her room after lunch for a power nap and also to study a bit for the test that she had to postpone for the meet. We jumped in our rented chariot once again and made way for B. F. Bridge. After our good fortune of finding a spot in the morning, I was humbled to drive around for 45 minutes until a spot opened up on Walnut St.
7:15 p.m.: Walking into the stadium we were fortunate enough to see the start of the men’s college steeplechase. After several exciting races (including Famligetti’s 8:23 break away win) it was time for Emily to start her warm up.
9 p.m.: With her bib number pinned up on her jersey, Emily tossed her sweats on and headed down to the infield, she began her light 10 minute jog while peering at the 5K’s that were being run. I followed suit and headed down as well, I picked her up after she was about five minutes in and began conversing with her to ease some of the tension.
Emily began to mellow and got in the groove, stretching, drills, and light jogging would expend the remaining minutes. After a couple strides and slipping on her spikes, Emily was toeing the line with 27 of the NCAA’s finest 10,000 specialists.
10 p.m.: The gun exploded like a cannon, which is probably how the first Penn Relays was started back in 1894. The finely tuned athletes began their next 30+ minutes of competition in equal rhythm spreading across the first four lanes for the first 200 meters. Emily stayed relaxed and followed the plan of finding a good group of runners and just cruise. She breezed through 5,000 at 18:03 and was hovering around 87 seconds per lap. It wasn’t until her final 2000 that she began to fatigue at all, she managed to hold strong and finish in a solid 13th place, beating several more experienced athletes than herself. Her first words to me were, “I’m happy to have finished.” I chuckled and told her how great she did, she got on her cool down, and I grabbed some ice.
11:30 p.m.: After stretching and wrapping the calves in bags of ice we headed back to the car, unfortunately I didn’t have a GPS to find the car so we went the wrong way for a bit, eventually we came across the correct cross street and we journeyed back to Mt. Holly to rest up before our flight the next day.
April 24
10 a.m.: As we took the turnpike back up to the airport Emily reflected on the meet and commented on the fact that she, “really enjoyed competing against the ‘big’ schools,” as well as getting in this experience for future races, and learning just what the 10,000 was all about.
We talked about how great the stadium was with complete wind protection. How beautiful the city of Philadelphia is with all of its historical buildings and monuments. She finished by telling me with a surprised happy look, “I can be really good at this (10K)!” It was great opportunity that both of us will treasure for a long time.
Photos above courtesy of Ed Schlichter
Submitted by Ed Schlichter
USC Upstate’s Emily Tangwar competes in her first 10K at the prestigious Penn Relays; Coach Schlichter revisits the experience and gives some thoughts and insight.