Wednesday Weekly Worldview With Wjake Wkrong: Costa Rica, Part Dux

In case you haven't noticed, if it isn't American male distance running, it probably isn't going to get written up by ben or Jeremy. (Excepting, of course, easy-on-the-eyes female runners of any discipline... RRRRarrr... "discipline"....) So in an effort to broaden our coverage, we are pleased to give you urbane traveler-of-the-world, Jake Krong, of Lets-Krong.com, and his "WEDNESDAY WEEKLY WORLDVIEW WITH WJAKE WKRONG." Jake's final dispatch from Costa Rica is after the jump.

This is not the track where elites train; possibly because the surface is asphalt.

When my last column went to press, I was in Costa Rica working on the Nery Brenes profile. I wasn't having much luck locating him, or anyone that knew anything about him, so I switched up the game plan and set off in search of 2:17 marathoner Jose Luis Molina. My big mistake was putting that information in the public domain. The "Costa Rican Bob Kennedy," it turns out, wanted nothing to do with me.

They wouldn't let me go inside these gates!

Less than three hours into my journey to the country's high altitude region, I was robbed and lost all my possessions. The dream of meeting JLM was over.

Who was behind this international crime of passion? There are three possibilities:

1. Ben - he was clearly upset that I scrapped the Nery Brenes project, and there's no better way to get back at your new guest columnist that to hire a group of Columbian rebels to jack his passport, clothes, and money in a 3rd world country.
2. Bob Kennedy - In 2004 I met Bob Kennedy several weeks before the NYC Marathon and wished him good luck. He tallied a DNF and has been plotting his revenge against me ever since.
3. Alberto Salazar - he didn't want me to find out about his secret brother

After bumming around for a few days, I finally got a new passport and was able to fly back to the USA. While waiting in the San Jose airport, I picked up a copy of the local newspaper and saw the following headline: "Four Tico Athletes Headed to Olympics in Beijing." All the information about Brenes I needed was right there in front of me, in an article by some jerk named Peter Krupa. Calling Brenes "the most renowned among Costa Rica's Olympic hopefuls," Krupa reports that Nery's training includes 10 speed sessions per week (that's 1.428571 PER DAY!) and his coach is named Walter SALAZAR (which probably means he has access to some type of upside-down underwater anti/ultra gravity treadmill). It also turns out that Brenes' training location was about 15 minutes away from where I had spent several days. Perhaps I should have picked up a newspaper at the beginning of my trip.

The volume of speed workouts and a coach named Salazar have forced me to reevaluate Brenes' chances in Beijing. I'm going to make my first LTOB Fearless (Guest) Prediction and declare that Nery Brenes will finish in the Top 8 at this summer's Olympic Games.

If he gets there.

My spanish is a little dodgy, but according to the article, Costa Rica doesn't have enough money to send all FOUR of their athletes to China (they also have someone in triathlon, rifle shooting, and taekwondo) , and they are currently looking for sponsors. Hey, feel free to contribute all that cash you bastards stole from me to the fund!

With my Costa Rican voyage complete, I received my next assignment in the mail yesterday:

Jake Krong is a LTOB columnist and the creator of Lets-Krong.com

Who was the culprit in "The Costa Rican Job" starring Jake and a moustachioed Edward Norton?

BEN - Afterall, the assignment read "Nery Brenes or Bust" and Jake chose "Bust"BOB KENNEDY - Revenge is a dish best served in a developing nationAL SALAZAR - AlSal's piety is a clever mask...

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Wednesday Weekly Worldview With Wjake Wkrong: Costa Rica

We are very very pleased to announce, as part of our re-design, a new addition to LTOB. In case you haven't noticed, if it isn't American male distance running, it probably isn't going to get written up by ben or Jeremy. (Excepting, of course, easy-on-the-eyes female runners of any discipline... RRRRarrr... "discipline"....) So in an effort to broaden our coverage, we are pleased to bring aboard a new correspondent: urbane traveler-of-the-world, Jake Krong, of Lets-Krong.com who will be writing "WEDNESDAY WEEKLY WORLDVIEW WITH WJAKE WKRONG." His second dispatch is after the jump.

Costa Rica Track & Field - Where Nobody Knows It Exists!

In my introductory post last week I mentioned how LTOB was sending me overseas on assignment. What I did not realize at the time was that I would not be reimbursed for any of my travels. I always thought that when you are a field reporter that kind of stuff was covered. Jeremy, however, assured me that even writers for magazines such as Sports Illustrated and Track Fancy pay their own way. You learn something new every day, I suppose.

I should briefly explain what its like to be a guest columnist at Less Than Our Best. You would think that there would be limitless freedom to write whatever you want, but that is not the case. There is a lot more structure involved. Ben sends you an envelope in the mail with an index card. The card simply states the destination, topic, and deadline. Here's the card I received on March 26th:

I really thought they were sending me to the World XC Championships!

So on the 29th of March I made it through Philadelphia Airport alive (no small feat) and was on my way to Costa Rica in search of Nery Brenes. You may be thinking, who is Nery Brenes? I was too. It turns out that Brenes is greatest medal threat Costa Rican Track and Field has ever possessed. And that is not saying much.

Bear with me while I recap all of CR's Olympic track history in a few sentences (that's all it will take), just so we're all on the same page. In 1972, Angel Perez Rafael was the first Tica athlete to participate in the summer Olympics. He didn't actually run, though, because he was intimidated Steve Prefontaine's mustache and blinding self-confidence. Then Jose Luis Molina came along, and rocked the country's distance running scene for over a decade, dropping a 14:09 5K in Barcelona, 2:17 marathon in Atlanta (24th place overall), and a 2:20 marathon in Sydney. Many Central American track experts (3 of the 4) have labeled him the "Bob Kennedy of Costa Rica," a world-class runner lacking the domestic competition to push him to the next level.

Back to Nery Brenes - at last year's World Champs in Osaka, he shaved a full second off his PR, running 45.01 for 400m. At the Indoor World Champs last month, he finished in 4th place (I assume he must have beat out guys like Jeremy Wariner in the preliminary rounds, since I didn't see many of the big names in the finals).

For the past few days I've been traveling around the country getting the local opinion on Brenes' chances at the Beijing Olympics. No one I've encountered yet has even heard of him. Costa Ricans, it turns out, are a lot more passionate about soccer (or football, as they call it, which has been very confusing for me) and surfing. I've heard some stories about this really cool long distance stage race down here, but haven't figured out the location of Nery's training camp.

I still have a few more days to locate Brenes, but I'm thinking of changing the plan and looking for Jose Luis Molina instead. Bob Kennedy, after all, is my favorite runner, so I wouldn't want to pass up the opportunity to meet the Costa Rican version. Plus, I've always wanted to know what it feels like to finish 39th at the Sydney Olympics. So my next stop is Cerro Chirripo, because I have to assume Jose still lives at altitude.

Sorry for going way over my 500 word limit. Check back next week for the thrilling conclusion of my Costa Rican Odyssey (with more pictures).

Jake Krong is a LTOB columnist and the creator of Lets-Krong.com

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