Four years ago, in the now distant 2011, César Lizano had peace of mind and his sights set on the London 2012 Olympic Games. He had already achieved the minimum qualifying time and his presence was guaranteed. Today in his heart there is a chill that only he will know how to explain, a heartbreak, a thorn perhaps. And that thorn is called Río 2016.
One Olympic Games is not enough for César Lizano. He wants more. He wants to be there in Río de Janeiro, lined up once again alongside the best marathon runners on the planet with the Costa Rican flag on his chest. But there is a number that stands in his way: 2:17:00. That is the time he needs to beat to live the Olympic dream a second time, and his last attempt fell short.
It was at the Chicago Marathon, last October 11th. In that same city he had achieved his glorious time of 2:17:50 in 2011, enough to qualify for London. But this time Chicago did not smile on him and he finished in 2:21:09, more than four minutes short of his goal. What to do, with only a few months left before the qualifying deadline for Río?
Well, go to altitude, to the cold, to concentrate 100% on his goal. For almost a month now César has been living and training in Lake Mammoth, California, at 2,400 meters above sea level and temperatures of -14 degrees Celsius at times. "It's a training camp I had never done before, you train three times a day, rest, eat, sleep and the next day I repeat the same routine. This camp is helping me tremendously, my coach Mario Fraioli is on top of everything, I just have to train," César said.
His training camp will run until December 21st and he may participate in the Carrera San Silvestre on December 31st. The goal is to be ready to achieve the much-desired qualifying time at some marathon in January or February, at a location he has not yet decided. Wherever it is, it will probably be César's last chance to achieve the qualifying time since squeezing in another marathon in such a short time is hardly viable. If he qualifies, César would run the marathon at the Río 2016 Olympic Games at 33 years old. In London 2012 he finished in 65th place with a time of 2:24:16.
