I hate to admit it: although I’m a lover of running, I have never turned on a TV to watch a track race or a marathon. I prefer to actually be running, rather than watching. However, on February 5, I attended the 16th Annual New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, a track meet that attracts some of the top track and field athletes around the world, at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston, MA, and I’ve entirely changed my mind in thinking that there wasn’t much in watching others run. The top 5 things that I would deeply regret not seeing, had I not attended:

1. Ethiopian Dejen Gebremeskel won the Men’s 3000m in 7:35.37, and though that’s impressive, something else impressed me more: he did it wearing just one shoe. I saw Gebremeskel lose his right shoe in the first 50m of the race, and he simply powered through the rest of the race, beating tough competition including double European Champion Mo Farah who was looking to better his own record.

2. New England native Russell Brown won the Men’s Mile in 3:54.81, outkicking, among other greats, Olympic silver medalist and two-time defending Boston champion Nick Willis. It’s not the world record or anything, but it’s one thing to hear of men breaking 4 minutes in the mile, and another thing to actually see it happen (and not just by a few tenths of a second).

3. In the same race, high school senior Lukas Verzbicas, a national high school cross country champion, took a very impressive 8th place (in a new personal best of 4:03.88) among the other elite runners. Will he be the next Pre? We’ll be hearing more from him; that’s certain.

4. I saw three women run a 2:01 (with some change) in the 800m. It was an intense race. Being a mid-distance track runner myself, this was extremely inspirational to see.

5. Last but not least, DeeDee Trotter, member of the 2004 Olympics Gold Medal 4×400 relay team, signed a poster for me. I felt like an 8-year-old getting in line for a signature, but I’m okay with that.

I was encouraged by some friends to attend this event, but I won’t need as much encouragement in the future. It is surprisingly motivational to see such experienced athletes compete, in the flesh. I highly recommend all runners to find a nearby professional track meet, and see how the pros get it done; it is simply amazing.