Interview: Clint Verran

by Parker Morse

When spectators saw a runner in a Hansons jersey hanging with Alan Culpepper, Dan Browne, and Meb Keflezighi late in the Olympic Trials Marathon, they could be forgiven for expecting that it was Clint Verran. The Eastern Michigan grad has been the standard-bearer for the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project since his second-place finish in the 2001 USA Marathon Championships at the New York City Marathon. Since then, Verran lowered his marathon PR to 2:14:17 (at the 2002 Chicago Marathon), took third in the 2003 USA Marathon Championships (behind Ryan Shay and Kevin Collins), and finished 39th in the 2003 World Championships Marathon in Paris.

Before his marathon breakthrough in New York, Verran posted the highest-ever finish by a U.S. male at the World Half-Marathon Championships (17th in 2000). At Eastern Michigan, he was a MAC champion in cross country (1995) and seven times in track. In 1992, he was the Michigan high school cross country champion.

In Birmingham, Verran ran more conservatively than he did in 2003. He held on to the lead pack until fairly late in the race, but picked off many of those who ran away from him, when they slowed down faster than he did in the closing miles. Despite missing a spot on the Olympic team by only two places, Verran was pleased with his race and his effort.

Q: You closed really well. When did you start passing people?
CV: Oh, boy. I think I started passing people with about 10K to go, right around the 20-mile mark. It wasn't all at once, it was one, maybe two, guys at a time. I'd sort of creep up on them, and of course, these are all guys that I knew. I was starting to gain a little bit of energy each time I passed somebody. I didn't really run any amazing splits or anything, it was just staying smart and letting the race take care of itself.

Q: Were you even picking it up at the end, or just passing other guys who were slowing down?
CV: I'd have to go back and look at my splits, but I don't think I ran any real amazing mile splits in the last 10K. I think it was just the death and destruction you get from any marathon. People say all the time that the last 10K is the second half of the race. You can be down and out at 17 or 18 miles, and if you just stay focused and continue to work, you can pass people that you [couldn't] even see. [Note: Verran's splits were reported as 1:07:07/1:07:29. His five-mile intervals were 25:58, 25:25, 25:15, 25:47, then 26:57 from 20 to 25.2, (giving an estimated 25:55 for the 20 to 25 interval). His closing mile was 5:15.]

Q: When did you pass Brian [Sell]?
CV: I didn't pass Brian Sell until about a mile to go. I was running with Scott Larson at the time, and I knew I was in sixth. I had almost, in my mind, settled for sixth, and then I thought I saw a Hansons jersey way down the road. I thought Brian Sell had won the race. And this Hansons jersey I thought was my teammate Trent Briney. So I told myself with two miles to go, I just needed to go. Just to give myself a shot, because anything could happen in those last two miles. And sure enough, I caught the Hansons guy, and it was Brian Sell. He was kind of running in the gutter. And then it made sense to me what had happened.

Q: He ran a really gutsy race.
CV: The guy is really gutsy. He's an amazing runner. He was more fit than I was coming in to this race, I can tell you that. The one weakness he has is that he's too aggressive. A lot of that comes with inexperience. This is only his second marathon, and his first marathon [in Chicago last fall] we harnessed him. We said, you're not going to run faster than this [2:22 pace]. We would have yelled at him a lot if he'd done anything other than that. I think he saw the pace was slow early, and his aggressive nature, which in a lot of races is a strength, in the marathon, it wasn't a strength.

Q: Did you say anything to him as you went by?
CV: I just said, 'Come on, man.' He looked at me, with one of those looks. I knew what the story was.

Q: We weren't sure if Teddy Mitchell was crazy, or just running the right pace.
CV: He was right on, and after the time he ran at the Houston half, I was a little concerned. But then I thought about if it was me out in front, and I thought about not only the wind, but the pressure of leading the Olympic Trials for such a long way. You'd need to be a mental giant to pull that off. Especially as an underdog. When Brian Sell took off, and made a strong move, I thought physically he could do it. If there's anyone I know who could pull that off, it would be Brian Sell. To tell you the truth, I was cheering for him. In my mind, I was like, I don't know what's going to happen in my race, but I think Brian Sell's going to win the Olympic Trials. He's an amazing athlete, and you're going to see unbelievable things from him. I'm sure he's disappointed, I just hope it doesn't affect him.

Q: If you had picked one of your teammates who would finish in front of you, would Trent Briney have been one that you'd have picked?
CV: It was a surprise to have him in front of me. I was not surprised that he had a major breakthrough race. The guy has been with our program almost three years now. He's had a lot of hardships, but for some reason, I can't even tell you why, a lot of the time, he just stuck it out. He was demoted to our tier B, he was moved out of the frat house, but he stuck it out, and got into an apartment in Rochester, and just believed in himself. Today, he covered moves like he was a 2:12 marathoner. It's just an amazing miracle of God to me. There's no way I could have beat him today.

Q: Speaking of covering moves, when we saw him up in the pack of four, down on Fifth street, that pack had separated out. Was that where you fell off the pack?
CV: Probably the second major move came at the start of the second lap. The leaders had done the same thing the first time in. I ran a 4:54 mile and found myself way off the back. I worked myself back into the pack, then we came around and they did it again. I just didn't have it in my legs to drop down and run 4:50 again. I just told myself well, you still have the last lap to go, and my experience told me that a lot of things could happen over the last 10K. So I just sort of checked my spirits. Even though I probably looked like I was having a nightmare race, I was back in 11th place, I just kept on plugging away, and sure enough, they started coming back. Big name guys, I saw Ryan Shay, I saw Keith Dowling and Eddy Hellebuyck, and finally I caught Scott Larson. These guys are some of the best guys. The marathon distance beat them. I didn't really do anything to beat them, I just kept on running.

Q: So you got fifth place in a race that really only rewards the top three. Are you pleased with that?
CV: You know what, I am pleased, and the reason is that I think I placed as high as I physically could today. I placed as high as I could, and I could have done a lot worse. I could have made more mistakes. But my teammate Trent Briney ran 2:12:35, and that was not in my legs today. I couldn't have beat him going out hard, going out easy, on a bicycle. This was as high as I was going to place today. Now I just have to root on those 10K guys and hope they set some records in the 10K. I'd like to point out that the course in Athens is uphill, hot, hilly, the whole way.

Q: At what point did you think you couldn't stay with the lead pack?
CV: I would say that was around [mile] 15 or 16.

Q: How far back did you get?
CV: I heard people telling me I was 11th or 12th. That was somewhat discouraging, but I've been in marathons, like at the World Championships, where at 30K they told me I was in 65th. And then I ended up 39th. It's a tough distance no matter who you are. That last six miles is hard.

Q: Is a fast finish a strength of yours?
CV: I think it is. If you look at some of my past marathons, a lot of the time I run fairly close to even pace. I was 1:07:05 halfway, then 1:07:25 the second half. And the uphills are in the second half, on the loop. I probably ran an even-effort race, and ran the best time that I physically could today. And got fifth. There's no regret there.

Q: How did your time differ from last year, here?
CV: It was significantly faster. It was 2:15:50, so I was probably a minute twenty faster. And we had worse conditions today. Last year we didn't have the wind, and last year we had more of an elevation drop. It was by far a superior effort to last year.

Q: How were the Trials different from last year's USA Championships?
CV: Last year I wanted to break 2:12, and that was all I cared about. So in the middle of the race, I took it upon myself to get back on the pace. Tactically, that's not a good thing to do, throwing in surges at nine miles. It is a marathon. This year I wanted to place as high as I physically could. I had the "A" standard coming in, today, so I wasn't too concerned about what my time was. I wanted to place as high as I physically could, and I did that. I can't be disappointed.

It's a far, far deeper race than last year. Those first three [Culpepper, Keflezighi, and Browne] athletes are all sub-27:49 10K athletes. And that's just another level from where I'm at. Those guys are thoroughbreds, those guys are NCAA champions, two of them were Olympians before. Those guys are at a different level. It just shows you what an amazing race Trent Briney ran. People tell me he was right on Dan Browne's heels.

(Interview conducted February 7, 2004, and posted February 10, 2004.)