Seaside, Calif. - Cal State Monterey Bay head cross country coach Bob Sevene will be watching from home today as his runner of eight years, Blake Russell, competes in the Beijing Olympics. The Marathon will actually start at 4:30 p.m. PST. TV coverage will be live on the east coast at 7:30 p.m. but the west coast will not get the rebroadcast on NBC until 7:30 p.m. PST.
The track and field team flew from San Francisco to China on Aug. 1. "We're leaving early to acclimate to the time change," Russell said. While she doesn't plan to attend the opening ceremonies, she'll stay after her race to participate in the closing ceremonies on Aug. 24.
The runner and coach have worked together for eight years. They started in Boston, then, in July 2003, Sevene came to the local area to coach Team USA Monterey Bay, a group of post-collegiate distance runners based at CSUMB.
Six months later, Russell joined him and the two have worked together ever since.
In 2004, Russell narrowly missed qualifying for the Olympics. At the trials, she led the race for 17 miles - unheard of for someone in only her second marathon - before fading. The eventual third-place finisher passed her just 800 meters from the finish line.
"I made a promise to myself in 2004," Sevene told the New York Times in June. "I would help Blake get on the team this time."
The emotional bond between the 33-year-old runner and her 64-year-old coach is obvious. "We're actually very similar," Russell told the Times.
Sevene's responsibilities as CSUMB's cross country coach will prevent him from traveling to China. He took the job in March, a month before Russell qualified for the Games.
"This is the end of one journey and the beginning of another," Sevene said at the July 31 sendoff event for Blake. "I'm right back where I started . . .coaching in college." In the 1970s, he started his career at Bentley College near Boston, building a program in track and field and cross country.
For the last three decades, Sevene has been one of the top track coaches in the world. He coached Joan Benoit Samuelson to the gold medal at the 1984 Olympics - the first Olympic marathon for women. He started the Greater Boston Track Club and was the founding coach of the East Coast squad of Athletics West, Nike's elite team. The team gained worldwide recognition in 1984 after placing 23 members on the U.S. Olympic squad.
"I'm looking forward to the (CSUMB) program here growing. There's lots of high school and community college talent in the area. My two best runners come from Hartnell," he said.
Those athletes will train in much the same way Russell does - running the trails that crisscross Fort Ord, and doing their weight training in the Otter Sports Center.
And, like Russell, they can be sure their coach will be there for them every step of the way.