Speer back in the fast lane

Eric Speer credits a trip to Sandusky last year with getting him back on track. Speer, Sandusky High School's school record-holder in the 800 meters, was at the tail end of a five-year running layoff when he traveled back to Ohio as part of Sandusky's 2022 athletic hall of fame class. The 2003 SHS graduate was a state runner-up in the 800 and went on to win five conference championships in college at Jackson State University in Mississippi. He became an accomplished masters runner, winning a USA Track & Field national championship in 2017, but decided to step away from the sport to focus on his professional development. Then he made the trip last May from Atlanta to Sandusky. "Getting back there and being around Coach Tracy Shoemo and Darryl Charlton, we had dinner and experienced the nostalgia, just walking around Strobel Field," Speer said. "Being in that environment kind of triggered things. When you get back in that stadium it gave me that itch to get back out there. It was Ohio. It was definitely Sandusky that brought back that desire to make another push." Speer, 39, is one of the top-ranked men's 800 runners in the USATF masters category heading into nationals July 22-24 in Greensboro, N.C., and will be one of the runners to watch in the men's 35-39 race. Speer come a long way in the past year. "I literally hadn't run since 2017 other than an occasionally 15-, 20-minute run, nothing serious," he said. "I looked at the USA Masters rankings and saw one guy running 1:59. My 800 was around 2:20 right off the couch. I was like, 'Give me a couple months, I think I can do it.' " Speer began training seriously early this year and "cranked it up" in March. It didn't take him long to find his old stride. He was the overall winner of the Juneteenth 5K in Atlanta — finishing ahead of more than 1,000 runners — and last Saturday won the 800 and 1500 at the USATF Masters Southeast Regional at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., in 2:14.38. Speer will get ready for nationals with meets the next two weekends: this Saturday in Florida and July 15 in the Georgia State Games. "I'm feeling great right now," he said. "The 5Ks have been utilized for conditioning." Speer works as a campus security lead at Banneker High School in Atlanta and works as a sports camp director at the Arthur Blank YMCA. He's also a volunteer coach at Clark Atlanta, an NCAA Division II university. As a result, Speer is surrounded by athletes, which has helped keep him active. "Training around some of the high school kids and running some morning practices at the university, I started seeing the kids hit certain times and I jumped in a few workouts with the college kids," Speer said. He has big goals at the USATF Masters level. "I plan on training beyond the masters and push to get back to an elite level," Speer said. He credits his history with the Blue Streaks for making him an elite masters runner. "Running in the elements there, that's why I call it the tundra," he said. "In the winter you have to buckle down and log those miles, but that's what makes you a hard-nosed athlete. Without the Blue Streaks and the tundra, I wouldn't be able to be here years later." And Speer's comeback all started with a timely dose of nostalgia. "Without the Sandusky community, I wouldn't be where I am today," he said. "Those are the pillars of my success. Sandusky embraced me."