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|  Dan Lawson By George Banker January/February 2004 For the Washington Running Report
At the young age of 48, he is still running his dream, which
has
taken him to far corners of the world. In 1993 and 1994, Lawson
represented the U.S. as a coach/runner on a relay team in Japan
where thirty countries participated. It could be said that he was born to run and, given a chance to
win an event outright, he'll go for it. A masters runner has
nothing to loose and everything to gain. In all of the years of
running he has been able to discover his strong points, learn
how to develop those abilities, and then capitalize on them.
Races are serious business for Lawson; he has only one thing to
prove, to validate his training methods. He is the first to say
that speed is what goes first with age, but he is not giving in
to that. There is work involved in retaining that speed but
that
is what it takes. Lawson is willing to give up something to get
something. Lawson's introduction to running was in 1968, while in the 7th
grade in Aledo, Illinois, where he ran sprints (100 meters, 200
meters, 400 meters) until his coach realized that he did not
have the speed for the shorter events. He moved up to run 800
meters and ran 2:18. In high school he ran 4:29 for the mile and
2:00 for the 800 meters, impressive but back in those days
competition was very tough with state meet winning times of 1:51
for the half-mile, 4:04 for the mile, 8:45 for the two-mile. During his two years at Blinn Jr. College in Brenham, Texas,
Lawson's best times on the track were: half-mile 1:58, 1-mile
4:17, and 3-miles in 15:05. The natural progression was to move
up to the 5000 and 10000 meters since leg speed was developed
and there was a good base. There were a couple of years of cross-country and track at
Colorado State University in Fort Collins, (1980 graduate). The
best time for 5000 meters was 15:21 and for
10000 meters, 31:32. "I've run almost 85,000 plus miles over 35 years and I really
would be content to run at a reduced schedule for the rest of
my
years. I now pride myself on my perseverance and longevity in
the sport over any time or racing goals that I may set. I want
to be able to do it the rest of my life for the health of it
and
maybe not for the racing aspect so much. I am totally happy
with
everything that I've achieved from a running aspect," states
Lawson. At age 35 he was named 1991 Illinois Runner of the Year by USA
Track & Field, and in 2002, the Male Masters Runner of the Year
by the Montgomery County Road Runners Club. In 1992 he ran what is now considered the U.S. Olympic Marathon
Trials qualifying time of 2:21:50; 1992 was the last year for
the one standard, which was 2:20:00. In 1995, he was the holder
of eleven state masters records in Illinois and Kansas. In 1998
he was masters division winner at the Nortel Cherry Blossom 10
Miler (52:46). As an open runner, his best times include: 2 miles, 9:07;
3000m,
8:31; 5K,14:33; 4 miles, 18:42; 5 miles, 24:11; 10K, 29:56; 10
miles, 50:12; half-marathon, 1:07:30; and marathon, 2:21:50. As a master: 2 miles, 9:37; 5K, 15:03; 8K, 24:57; 10K, 31:07;
and 10 miles, 52:46. One of Lawson's favorite races, the Quad-City Times Bix 7 Miler
in Davenport, Iowa, holds some memorable moments in the 20
years
he has run it. In 1996 he was the first masters division
finisher in 36:11, beating Bill Rodgers who placed third in
36:42. In 1997 he repeated the masters win in 39:42, but at a
price. The race is held at a hot time of the year, in July, he
was not fully hydrated before the race nor did he take fluids
during the race. It was hours before he knew he was the masters
winner. A core body temperature of 108 degrees had him in the
medical area after he collapsed after crossing the finish line. Lawson was the runner-up masters division finisher in 1998
(36:48), 2000 (37:56), 2001 (39:02), and 2003 (40:09). His time
in 1999 was 38:08. At present, Lawson is the Director for Strategic and
Performance
Planning, Natural Resources Conservation Service, United States
Department of Agriculture. He plays golf with his daughters,
Hilary and Calley; he is quiet about his score but says they
are
better. There is a juggling of schedules to allow time for the family
and even a few 3:30 am risings to avoid conflicts, "It's their
time to shine in the things that they are involved in so the
family stuff is number one," he says. Lawson's racing objective: "Run within myself as well as a
balanced race by splits. Some days, things are clicking; other
days it doesn't. You do what you can and call it a day. I never
adjust my goal because of someone else. I go into a race with a
plan and the only thing that would make me adjust is the
weather." In looking at his current performance over the last few years,
he said, "The speed is the first to go. I am blessed with being
able to maintain my speed late into my 30s and early 40s. The
speed aspect is hard to maintain and not get injured. The aging
process . . . I can't hammer workouts like I used to because of
the need to recover." It's important to keep prior performance and age in perspective
as Lawson states, "I think it's natural to want to do the
things
that you used to do, but in the bigger picture of life it
doesn't work like that, so I'm very content to run what I'm
running, knowing that there are many other things going on in
my
life, such as kids, job, successful marriage, etc. I'm very
satisfied that I have accomplished everything that I could have
dreamed up in my running career and I'm content with that." What works? The threshold runs every ten days, 3:00 to 5:00
minute sessions at eighty-five to ninety percent heart rate,
intervals maybe once a week, and 1:00 to 2:00 minute speed
sessions in the middle of a seven to eight miler once or twice
a
week. Racing is done March to November with one to two weeks
off
in December. He establishes his base training over the winter. Lawson passes along the following thoughts, "I think the sport
of running has changed a lot since I started. People are doing
it more for the health of it and not so much to see if they can
be an Olympian. That is good for the sport as a whole, but
maybe
not so good for the world-class running scene. Younger folks
seem to have a lot of things going on in their lives and maybe
running is just one of those. I would say, pick a reasonable
goal and strive to achieve it a little bit at a time." Dan on the move: 9th & 2nd 45-49 (34:14 ) Veterans Day 10K, Washington
(11/03).
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