I was extremely proud, excited, honored, and humbled to be a part of a United States of America World Team. Being on an international team representing the U.S. in a world event was a dream come true and I was anxious to perform up to and above the expectations of the other team members and myself.

In view of this desire to perform at an optimal level, I arrived in Italy a full week before the event and traveled a little around the country to get a feel for the climate, terrain, culture, food, and people.

My brother, Matthew Wardian, and sister, Mariele Wardian, came along so that I would have my own "crew" (a crew is the people that "handle" you during a race, they are like a pit crew in NASCAR: they get water for you, make sure you are eating, and tell you where you are in the race), in addition to the support of the excellent Team USA staff.

I was really interested in trying to learn as much about what to expect in a World Cup 100K race as possible, so I had a lot of questions during our team meeting two days before the event. So many questions, in fact, that I felt bad for the veterans who had to listen to me ramble on about things as mundane as which side of the road the water tables would be on, whether there were bathrooms at the start, would we have to run over chip mats if they are not on the tangent, etc., etc.

I just did not want to have any surprises if they could be avoided. There will always be challenges in a race, especially a race of this distance, so anything I can avoid thinking/worrying about, the better.

After the team meeting on Thursday evening (race was Saturday), we had an incredible feast prepared by the Agricultural Tourismo (the local farms that produce most of the food that you consume while you are a guest, such as homemade jam, honey, bread, meat, etc.), where we were staying.

Unfortunately, this year all the teams were spread out all over the countryside (our facility was 10 kilometers from the nearest town) as the race was not in a densely populated location where an Olympic Village was possible. I understand from past team members that the races where all the teams are housed together are really fun and interesting as you have the ability to meet and talk with athletes from the different countries before and after the race; whereas, in Italy we were limited in our ability to see the other athletes other than in the competition or at the awards ceremony.

This logistical reality made my quest to trade some local running shirts (GW Parkway 10 Miler, Battle of the Boulevards 10K, Parks Half Marathon, Pacers Running Stores T-shirts, St. Patrick's Day 10K, Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, National Marathon, etc.), quite hard as I didn't have much time to work on the other athletes to show them the cool benefits of having one of these shirts for their wardrobes. All they wanted was my USA jersey and I would not trade it!

Most of Team USA rested most of Friday, but I did get to see the course and pick up last minute supplies at the local grocery store, which was full of athletes from all the countries; that was neat, to see what the other people were getting, such as: donuts, breads, water, sports drink, nuts. I was so happy that I lugged around my two boxes of PowerGels and PowerBars for the week from one Italian city to another so I had most of my race nutrition covered.

Saturday, November 8, 2008, was race day and I woke up ready to go. The race did not start till 10:00 am, which was a lot later than I am used to but that was OK, as I was prepared for this and ate and drank accordingly.

My plan was to run my own race and let the other guys and gals from around the world do their thing and I would do mine but I did not want to be any faster than Howard Nippert from my team for the first 50K. Then, if I felt good, I could pick it up, but please keep in mind that Howard was planning on running 6:40 pace, which was going to be a 15 minute personal record for me, so I was happy to run with Howard and see how the race would unfold.

Just a little more background: Howard has finished in the top ten in the World 100K Championships the last few years and I believe his best finish ever is fifth overall. If you know Howard, you know you don't mess with him, you do what he says, and you do it to the best of your ability. You have to respect his results and I did, and did not want to let him or anyone down by being foolish and getting carried away too early.

My race was going great. I was running with relative ease through the first 10K, coming through in about 40 minutes. Not too fast, not too slow, just right.

My next 10K felt a little slow and I checked my watch and we were two minutes off pace at 1:22, not too bad in a shorter race but two minutes off every 10K and pretty soon I would be running 20 to 30 minutes off our goal time.

When Howard said he was not feeling great and to go for it, I did and went from probably 60th place down to fourth place by 65K. My marathon split was 2:48 and I hoped to hold that pace for the rest of the race. I was still feeling good and running well until about 85K and then had a rough spell and lost a fair amount of time and five places, which caused me to end up ninth overall for the day in 7:06:35.

This race, like all races, had its ups and downs but I just kept thinking what an honor it was to wear the USA singlet and how I could not, would not, let my teammates, country, family, friends, and colleagues down, and that was the fuel that kept driving me toward the finish line.

Our women's 100K team was terrific and ended up second overall in the team competition, behind Russia and ahead of Japan. They really inspired me. It is worth noting that three of the U.S. women finished in the top ten:

2nd overall: Kami Semick (42), Bend, OR 6th overall: Meghan Arbogast (47), Corvallis, OR 10th overall: Devon Crosby-Helms (26), San Francisco, CA

Again, I was happy with 9th place in my first international race for the USA but not satisfied, and I plan to improve on my time and place next year (2009) in Flanders, Belgium. With a little tweaking I believe I can drastically improve and I hope to be one of the guys that helps bring a medal home to the USA.

Some of you who have done some longer runs should consider trying a 100K road race. One hundred kilometer road races are some of the most competitive ultra races in the world and will really test you as few events do, as they are long but also fast and you have to focus the whole time or you can slip quickly in both time and place.

I am getting ready for the 100K World Championships in 2009 already and cannot wait to "toe the line" and see how I do against the best of the best. I hope you all will follow along and consider supporting us in our bid.

I wish to thank all my sponsors for the opportunity to compete. I cannot do it without your generosity.

Quick Facts

Countries:
Thirty-three (33) countries raced on November 8, 2008.

The teams were from all over the world, such as: Russia, Australia, Canada, France, Denmark, Japan, Mexico, Italy, Great Britain, and the USA.

Team Dynamics: Up to six women and six men per team.

Maximum of twelve athletes for each country.

Scoring:
First three women and first three men to cross the line score, and then finishing times are averaged and the team with the fastest average time is the winner.

Women and men are scored separately.

Individual awards are also given for 1st through 3rd place for women and men.

100K World and American Records: The world women's 100K record is 6:33:11, set by Tomoe Abe of Japan (28) in Tokoro, JPN 2000-Jun-25

The world men's 100K record is 6:13:33, set by Takahiro Sunada of Japan (25) in Tokoro, JPN 1998-Jun-21

The U.S. 100K women's record is 7:00:48, set by Ann Trason (35) in Winschoten, NLD 1995-Sep-16

The U.S. 100K men's record is 6:30:11, set by Tom Johnson (36) in Winschoten, NLD 1995-Sep-16 2008 U.S. Team Members:

Women Devon Crosby-Helms (26), San Francisco, CA Meghan Arbogast (47), Corvallis, OR Connie Gardner (44), Medina, OH Kami Semick (42), Bend, OR Carolyn Smith (43), Milwaukee, WI Julie Udchachon (38), North Pole, AK

Men Greg Crowther (35), Seattle, WA Adam Lint (25), Seattle, WA Howard Nippert (43), Colorado Springs, CO Michael Wardian (34), Arlington, VA

Team Staff Team Leader: Lin Gentling, Rochester, MN Assistant Team Leader: Mike Spinnler, Hagerstown, MD Team Physician: Lion Caldwell

USA 100K Team Web site:

Location:
Tarquinia, Italy (located about 80K, northwest of Rome, Italy) Web site:

Course:
100K (62.14 miles), starting in one city (Tuscania) and ending in another (Tarquinia).

The first 37K was rolling terrain, some hills but nothing too substantial. After the 37K, the course went into a relatively flat 12.2K loop, which was completed 4.5 times.