Lassen Hölkkä
So when the gun goes off, there I am, running down the road in the large pack, checking out the runners next to me. We turn onto a forest path and I take a deep breath, thinking, "Yes, we're running in Finland, land of Paavo Nurmi, Ville Ritola, Hannes Kolehmainen, Lasse Viren. We're back at the roots of running!" We pass through Myrskylä, where a bust of Viren overlooks a lake. When three Finns pass me, I look down at Lasse's shoes and go with them. Like Dorothy's ruby slippers in Oz, the shoes seem to give me more power. I feel good, strong, and fast — until I realize I'm going downhill. On the uphill, the others steadily pull away, and instead of staying with them I begin looking at the changing colors in the trees.
These are the trails where Viren prepared for three Olympic Games training countless miles under the watchful eye of coach Rolf Haikkola, now retired and waiting back at the clubhouse. Viren never did much track work; one of his toughest workouts was hill repeats near the race course. And here we are, running up his trails, through quiet pine forests, then onto the road back through Myrskyla, past a cinder track and the bust of Viren. When a flying Finn tries to pass me near the end, I click my heels and sprint, finishing in 34:30, roughly 20th place. The main event is the 20K, which is even prettier, those running it tell me. Oregon's Matt Messner, who earned the trip to Lasse's Run by winning its sister race in Coos Bay, comes down the last hill, makes the turn into the finishing straight in the lead. But he is outkicked by a former Finnish Olympic steeplechaser. Viren comes in several minutes later, looking smooth as ever.
"It was OK," Viren says. "I've only run once since the Stockholm marathon [in June], because of an injury."
LASSE'S HOUSE
The awards ceremony is held in the Kiparkatti, where Viren's 1972 Olympic 10,000-meter medal is on display. Every finisher gets an imitation Olympic medal. Afterwards, we pile in the bus and drive through town to Viren's home. The sauna is in a separate building that looks like a small house. Built by locals for Viren after his first Olympic victories, it has a kitchen and a large waiting room with a table and chairs. You sense immediately upon walking in that the sauna is something special in
