Photo above by www.photorun.net: Steve Meinelt (23) of Washington, DC at the 2007 Chevron Houston Marathon.

Steve Meinelt debuted in the marathon at the 2007 Chevron Houston Marathon in January, where he placed ninth (2:18:15) among men. This time meets the "A" standard for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials-Men's Marathon to be held this November in New York City. We spoke about his running on May 12 in Francis Scott Key Park in Georgetown; he also e-mailed details of his training.

New England Patriot
Steve Meinelt grew up in Topsfield, MA, a town located between Boston and New Hampshire. His first introduction to sports was the game of soccer; he played on club and town teams as a boy, and in an Olympic development league during middle school. The game was intense, boys running around a playing field with a hot summer sun above. He continued playing the game in high school, when the soccer coach required that all players participate in a fundraising event--running a 5-mile road race. Steve finished in the top ten (thirty minutes) of the Topsfield Fall Foliage Classic, the first hint of a talent for running. Soccer was an autumn sport in high school, and Steve wanted to participate in a second sport. He considered two sports he knew, lacrosse and basketball. But a family friend and assistant track coach convinced him to join the indoor track team. Steve started competing in the mile, an enjoyable blend of soccer speed and endurance.

Junior year, Steve gave up soccer and added cross-country to his high school schedule. It was difficult to abandon his boyhood passion for soccer, but the switch turned out for the best. That first year of cross-country, he won the individual conference championship title and qualified for the state meet. He started doubling in the 2-mile and 800m during track season, and often ran a leg in the 4x400m relay. The coach wanted points for the team in dual meets. In important competitions, he focused on either the mile or 2-mile. His high school running culminated with seventh place in the 2-mile at the Massachusetts high school championships. (His best high school marks: 4:26 for one mile, 9:31 for 2 miles, 16:05 for 5K cross- country.) He enjoyed running for the reward it offered to those who worked hard. The effort one player makes on a soccer team cannot carry an eleven-man team. But a runner can control the payoff; he can get ahead and qualify for prestigious titles based on his individual achievements.

Rapport
Steve is coached by Robert Hoppler, the women's cross-country coach at the University of New Hampshire and men's assistant coach. (Steve attended UNH for three years before he transferred to Georgetown University for a stronger running program.) It's a comfortable relationship and they think alike. Hoppler knows how Steve runs, knows his strengths and weaknesses, and Hoppler is able to maximize Steve's talent. They communicate via e-mail or by phone. Steve also saw his coach last December; the UNH campus is a 45-minute drive from the Meinelt home in Topsfield, MA. When UNH competed in a conference meet in Baltimore in early May, Steve went to a Baltimore Orioles game with his coach. Hoppler is very receptive to input from Steve.

Steve feels engaged in the design of his training program; he can speak out if a workout is too easy or too difficult. Only an athlete knows how his body feels and how it is responding to training. There is no one else Steve would rather have coaching him at this point in his running career. Hoppler has a couple of decades of coaching experience at the high school and collegiate levels, and he has guided a couple of athletes in the marathon; one of his female athletes qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in the marathon a few years ago.

Step by Step
A typical schedule for Steve is five days of work at Georgetown Running Company (10 am to 8:30 pm) with Thursdays and Sundays off. He wakes up at 7 am, walks his dog Kallie (a lab and beagle mix), runs at 8 for one hour on the Glover-Archibald Trail located very close to his home, and does some brief stretching before work at GRC. He does a second run at the end of the day, either at dinner if the store is well-staffed, or after closing time. It is a long workday, and his legs often feel like cement during the first two miles of the second run. But stiff legs loosen up and feel fine by the completion of the evening run.

On Sunday, Steve does a long run between 20 and 28 miles, and Thursday is a hard workout day on the track near the Georgetown campus or on the Capital Crescent Trail (asphalt surface). Workouts might consist of 4x2 miles, mile repeats, tempo runs of 8 to 15 miles in length at marathon pace or faster, or shorter faster intervals on the track. Hard workouts enable him to practice running at marathon pace or faster while fatigued. The idea behind all this training is for Steve to become as fluid and efficient a runner as possible at a goal pace. "The bigger the engine, the faster and farther the car will go." The total weekly mileage for his marathon training is 120 to 130 miles.

Note: Steve is moving to the Boston area; his girlfriend has been accepted into law school there.

Cherry Jubilee
Steve decided to race the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile on April 1 after securing a qualifying time to the U.S. Men's Olympic Trials-Marathon in January. He approached Washington's only world-class road race with a low-key attitude, knowing that some of the world's best athletes would be in the field. He expected to run 4:50-4:54/mile pace (48:20-49:00 for 10 miles), wanted to place in the top ten, and finish as the first American male. Examining results from previous years, he felt a solid 48:40 effort would secure his goals.

On race day, the leaders set a blistering pace (the winner ran 4:37 pace) and Steve had to go out in 4:40 for the first mile or get left in the dust. The fast opening mile put him in the back of a pack of 20 men, and he ran the last nine miles on his own, catching men that fell off the lead group. His workouts had accustomed him to a hard, solo effort and the familiar roads of Washington allowed him to perform well through the finish line (48:45 with a 5-mile split of 24:06, 11th overall, and first American). He felt the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile was a great race, and his race result told him that he had moved to a higher level as an athlete.

Momentum
Steve is earnest, articulate, and relaxed when speaking about his professional running. He wants to test his ability; complete dedication to running is the one way to discover his best. He has postponed any career decisions for a few years so that he can focus on racing. He competed for Georgetown University, a top notch NCAA Division I running program, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in May 2006 as a sociology major.

Freed from the constraints of collegiate-level competition, Steve can test his ability at distances longer than 10,000 meters. He has an opportunity to distinguish himself as one of the nation's best marathoners, something that only a select few athletes attain. His girlfriend teaches at Merritt Academy in Fairfax, and his running store work allows him to stay in the local area with her for a couple of years. He has been named a 2007 RRCA Roads Scholar, and sports agent Doug Eldridge (a GMU- trained lawyer and former college roommate of Ben Cooke) is assisting him with media relations and the search for sponsorship. Interested readers can learn more at www.dlesportsmanagement.com

Thanks to Ben Cooke at GRC for tipping us off on this story.

Photo above by Brightroom.com: Steve placed second (30:35) among men in the 2006 Justice-Columbia Masonic Lodge #3 Veterans Day 10K on a cold, rainy November 12 in West Potomac Park.