Doug Thompson, a respectable 800-meter man, informs us of the second annual running of the SISU 800 Meter Challenge Race on March 8. He writes: “This is an attempt to get a regional ‘elite masters’ competition to Mesa, Arizona, a few weeks before indoor nationals. I’m funding $500 in first prize money through my foundation, and it looks like we’ll have some shoe sponsors as well (details on www.SISU800.com). We hope to continue to increase the prize money in the next few years so that we can make this very attractive to masters 800-meter runners. Last year we had a great field, all from Arizona, and set several State records. We should shortly have some pictures up from last year’s race on the web page.”

I was intrigued by a race I’d never heard of from a runner unfamilar to me talking about a foundation with no Web site, so I asked for more details.
Doug replied:

I’m a 49-year-old old management consultant who never ran in a competitive track race ’til three years ago. I discovered masters track and thought I’d see if I could hit the All-American standard for the 800, which seemed to be my strongest event. Long story short: I did it! Last year I ran a little faster, 2:09.5, and this year I hope to continue to improve. I figure that if I can drop a couple of seconds in the next year I’ll be in the top 10 in the world as a 50-year-old. Hey, a guy can dream! The SISU Foundation is a slightly longer topic, but it is dedicated to helping older adults pursue their most challenging goals and dreams.

So I asked about this foundation, which has almost no profile on the Web (an oddity). Graciously, Doug wrote back:

We had a site, but let it lapse this year because frankly we weren’t ready to be ‘active.’ I lived in Finland for a couple of years as a young man, and was impressed with the character of the Finns. They have a word, sisu, that doesn’t translate exactly into English, but it means guts or perseverance, determination, etc. The greatest compliment you can pay a Finn is to say that he has sisu.
As our U.S. population ages, we have many folks who now have more free time. Many are rediscovering talents and interests that they had as children, but which have lain on the shelf for decades. The purpose of the Sisu Foundation is to encourage these folks to pick up these interests and excel, not just dabble, in them. In some cases the intervening years and life lessons may have actually enhanced their abilities rather than dulled them, so why not try? I have found this to be true for myself — I seem to be a better runner than I was when I was a kid, and I’ve picked my art back up after 30 years, and am doing some writing, etc.
The idea of the Foundation is to promote this idea via a website, publications and speeches, and to provide a structure for people to “register” and commit to their “stretch” goals. Those who meet the goals receive publicity and some form of recognition. We still plan to get this up and running, but as you know, it takes time to do something like this well, and we’re not ready to devote that amount of time this year.
So we’re not raising any money, and have let the site lapse. But Masters athletics fits right into our philosophy, and my personal interest, so we are funding the SISU 800 challenge race with family contributions to the foundation.