For Immediate Release
July 25, 2012
Courtesy of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Written by Conceison
When Mario Fraioli left Central Mass. for sunny San Diego two
years ago, he really didn't have a spotlight in London on his
radar.
Sure, he enjoyed success as a runner, yet he was a long way from
an Olympian. He has also succeeded in coaching aspiring athletes,
but none had been of international-competition caliber.
Yet the former Auburn High and Stonehill College standout will be
marching into Olympic Stadium Friday for opening ceremonies. He'll
be with the Costa Rican delegation, as coach of the nation's lone
men's marathoner, Cesar Lizano.
Costa Rica is sending 11 athletes, including women's marathoner
Gabriela Trana, who will carry her nation's flag on
Friday.
Fraioli's unexpected road to Olympus began in January with an
email out of the blue from Lizano's friend and agent, Mario Reyes.
"I had never heard of (Lizano)," Fraioli said. "At first, I thought
one of my buddies was messing with me."
Apparently, Reyes had been following Fraioli's training articles
for the Competitor Group's website and magazine while helping
recruit a coach for Lizano, who finished 11th in last fall's
Chicago Marathon in 2 hours, 17 minutes, 50 seconds to secure the
Olympic "B" qualifying standard.
Fraioli, who is a senior producer/editor for Competitor, entered
discussions with Lizano and Reyes, as did a coach from Oregon and
one from Mexico. In late January, Team Lizano welcomed Fraioli, 26
weeks before the Olympic marathon.
With that, Fraioli, though not fluent in Spanish, began
communicating with Lizano via Skype, explaining how the next six
months would play out. Fraioli had taken six years of Spanish, in
high school and college, "but I hadn't used it in the last 10
years," he said. "I had to focus to sharpen my skills. It's funny
how quickly a lot of it came back."
"(Fraioli) has been a key player in this final process to London
2012," Lizano said by email. "I've learned a lot of athletic
training, sports vision and most importantly (he has) helped me to
believe in me, my strengths and to give the best every minute on
the road."
For the most part, Fraioli has been coaching by iPhone, sending
workouts and back-and-forth text communications daily in Spanish.
Lizano, who speaks some English, has visited San Diego twice, once
for four days in early March and again for two weeks of hard
training in May. Fraioli visited Lizano in Costa Rica for three
days at the end of April.
"We really clicked right away," said Fraioli, who like Lizano is
30 years old. "It was almost as if we were friends for a long time.
It was great to have him here — it made things a little more
real."
"The connection was immediate … it was only a matter of
time, and we were on the same page," Lizano said. "This despite the
language difference, but the technology has helped us greatly in
this regard because we speak every day about my training process
and other matters."
During the visit to Costa Rica, Lizano and Fraioli took the podium
for a news conference, on a holiday with the nation's seven major
media outlets attending. They also attracted a considerable crowd
at a track workout.
"That's a really, welcoming, fast-growing running community," said
Fraioli, who was an All-American at Stonehill and has run a 2:28
marathon. "It was great to be in Cesar's backyard. He's quite a
role model for a lot of people."
Lizano also spent two weeks in April at a training camp in London,
accustoming himself to the environment while being prepared to run
the London Marathon in an emergency in case a Costa Rica countryman
ran a faster Olympic qualifier. Neither rival did, so Lizano ran a
half marathon there in a personal-best 1:06:42.
He trained along the course where he will be running in a couple
of weeks.
"It's a criterion-type course, with a ton of turns, more than 90
of them," Fraioli said. "There are no straightaways more than a
half mile, and there's also an area where there are cobblestones on
the street. Familiarity is huge — I'm glad he was able to get
there in advance."
Fraioli has had Lizano in races of all distances to prepare, from
5K to half marathons. During his later trip to San Diego, he placed
third in the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon, to U.S. Olympians Meb
Keflezighi and Ryan Hall.
Team Lizano is reasonable with expectations since Keflezighi, Hall
and other favorites have run the 26.2 miles in around 2:04. The
Olympic "A" qualifying standard is 2:15, the Costa Rican record is
2:13:23 (Jose Luis Molina, 1996, Los Angeles), a range that may be
more realistic.
"Medaling is not something we're thinking about," said Fraioli,
who leaves for England on Wednesday, two days after Lizano. "The
main goal is to be as competitive as possible and be as fit as
possible. We want to put him in a position to run his personal
best."
Fraioli, who has been working with runners eight years and
presently coaches 15 athletes, is intent on helping Lizano reach
another level. "We're planning to keep this relationship going,"
Fraioli said. "We want to see how fast he can go."
Follow @mariofraioli on twitter for updates from London during the Olympics
