Ben Blankenship - Resurgence (Part 2) - Throwing the Changeup
After some time off to reflect and regroup himself, Blankenship would make the decision to return to running or to leave the sport. With making the decision to follow the sport, Ben Blankenship would have a long road ahead to return to where he was once and where he would end up. Blankenship would need the right people around him to succeed in track and field over the years to come.
While recovering from his second injury, Blankenship would come across the first influential person along his journey back. “I was still pretty into the running; I had been lucky enough to meet this incredible gal at the time and she helped me through a lot of it.” Soon after meeting this women, “She had some opportunities outside of where we were living at that time and I decided we might as well take the next step together.” With the decision to move across the country with her, Blankenship was put in the perfect situation for himself to get back to running. “That really helped me kinda getting out of my own environment and it was able to allow me to link up with a coach. His name was Sean Graham and he really, after eight months of no running, he really turned it around for me. It was kinda what I needed, even if I didn’t know that’s what I needed” Now on his own timetable to return to running, Blankenship was able to have two people by his side on his journey to figure out if he would be able to run long term.
With two important people in his corner, he would add two other people to finish his inner circle off. “I look back and its like hard to know, theirs a couple people that come right away; my agent who was Stephan Haas, kind of after 2012 ended, he was like well you gotta decided what the hell you want to do whether that’s keep running or not but you kinda got to make that choice.” Having his agent talk to him, Blankenship needed some real life advise but Stephan Haas was not the only one to do so. “Then my coach at the time Steve Plasencia was defiantly on board with like you just gotta get your shit together, you know everybody gets hurt, I mean this isn’t going to be the end of the world.” This advice that both of these men gave Ben Blankenship, helped him continue to pursue track and field.
Once the decision was finalised to move, Blankenship would have the opportunity to work with a coach in the area. “So the coach that I worked with was Sean Graham, he was my first kinda mentee or mentor coming out of college and he had agreed to.” He continues saying, “He was coaching at American University in Washington D.C. and his guys would meet at like 6:15 am and he just kinda prodded me out the door like everyday, being like come on man, let’s go run. Kinda just jump in with these guys … that really helped with this idea of like a bunch of guys getting up to knock out some sessions.” This idea of just going for runs was new to Blankenship, and he was enjoying this more lassis-a-faire style of running. “That really helped me and my body started to slowly turn around and it was like this idea of if it didn’t feel great then you kinda back off and you just work with what you got and that really helped me.” Having the freedom to listen to his body was working for him and there was a glimpse of hope beginning to get bigger.
With a return to running under coach Sean Graham, Blankenship had support from everyone that was close to him and more. “Also what really helped me at the time was that Nike was still interested in doing some kind of partnership, some kind of sponsorship and that really turned everything around when I realized that people were still interested, people still had confidence that I might do something in the sport even though I hadn’t shown any life in a while.” With the possibility that Nike would do a deal with him, Blankenship was able to give himself hope that he was still able to develop into one of the top American runners. This opportunity though for Ben Blankenship was special as Nike was willing to let him take his time to come back from his previous injuries. “I was lucky enough that Nike was on board with just taking it slow and kinda doing whatever I needed to do to feel like I was ready to race. That was really helpful, and I applaud them for there willingness to work with me on that cause I wasn’t totally sure if I would come back to race. I knew that if came back to race, I wanted to be competitive. I didn’t want to line up, ... so they kinda allowed me time to just get ready and kinda just prepare to the best of my ability.” The opportunity for Blankenship to slowly come back to running with the support of Nike was important, it would leave him with very little pressure that most athletes at that calibre have. “It's a tough one cause I came out of school, having gone to school for running and now you didn’t really have to many pressures. Like you gotta get back to running, gotta get back to running.” Having the bizarre situation of going from being a dominate threat in collegiate running to now having little to no pressure post-collegiately, Blankenship was starting to get back to his old self.
With the thought of being able to race again and being competitive in these races, Blankenship was looking to make a full recovery back to track and field. Returning in the winter of 2013, Blankenship Reminisces on these moments, saying, “I don’t know, those first few races are kind of tough, I think everybody just wanted to see if the sessions were pointing in the right direction. Like are these sessions going to equal that I’m running well and it was just kind of a guideline and I think we all kind of went into 2013 and even 2014 of just, let’s get some running done and lets see how they unfold.” With the plan of going into races to test fitness rather then having the expectation on having to win, Blankenship would start to show glimpses of his college days. “I don’t think anybody had pressure, I don’t think I had pressure on myself, it was just like go out and kinda figure it out. It’s like we’re going into unknown territory at the moment so let’s just kinda figure it out.” Having no external or internal pressure Blankenship would start to look like himself on the track, implementing his usual race tactics. “I’ve always had that mentality that I’d rather be part of it then sit back and hope something unfolds for me, I’ve always wanted to be up in that kind of drama area.” To this day Ben Blankenship wants to put himself in a position to win, even if it comes at the cost of medal or race. “Even if that meant not winning, I always wanted to do that, I’ve always wanted to put myself in a position to do something versus’ hoping that it would. And it’s cost me somethings, I look back at some of the races, … I probably could of done better but for me it was how hard can I push myself to be the best athlete I can be.” This mentality of pushing himself to his limit had got him to his breaking point a year ago in 2012 but now he was harnessing this to get back to where he was and where he would end up.
Ben Blankenship would start to win some races and drop fast times in 2013 with the help of his amazing support staff that was behind the scenes. Discussing his first few race where he would find early success, Blankenship says; “ I still do believe that it was a second opportunity and one that I wasn’t guaranteed. So anything I might’ve done was a luxury, it was like man you got this chance, you got to take it, you don’t have another shot, this is it. So its not really lucky, its just that moment I was moving well-enough to kinda get back to some kind of competitiveness.” After some solid efforts on the track in 2013 and 2014, Ben Blankenship was on the verge of realizing his full plan of coming back to be competitive on the world stage. “I think my plan and one of the things that I always, even as a younger athlete, I always just wanted to be competitive, that’s all I wanted to do and that’s still what my goals are.” With that in mind Blankenship was ready to turn the corner a year a later in 2015, he had put in the work and was ready to make the jump with his new coach Mark Rowland and his teammates at Oregon Track Club.
With help of a strong support staff guiding Ben Blankenship, he was able to find his way back to the track. Now it was time to test himself, to show himself that he could be competitive on the world stage. Over the next few years Blankenship would find out if 2012 was really his only shot to make a national team.
Direct Quotes via phone interview between Ben Blankenship and Evan Smith. (May 2020)
Photos via Getty Images
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