As the youngest of five boys in the Torres family, it figured twins Edwardo and Jorge would be competitive.
“Whether we were getting a new shiny toy or running, Edwardo never wanted to be left behind,” Jorge Torres said.
That approach caught up to Edwardo when he couldn’t keep up with his brother as they trained together in Boulder, Colo., where the 27-year-old runners have lived since leaving Wheeling for the University of Colorado nine years ago.
The result was a series of injuries that slowed Edwardo for two seasons and left him trying to make up for lost time since.
“I’ve learned there are times I have to stay away from Jorge.” Edwardo said. “I can’t stand being beat by my brother, but trying to stay up with Jorge wasn’t good for me.”
By running his own race at the U.S. Cross Country Championships last month, Edwardo Torres got a unique chance to stay with his brother.
Sunday in Edinborough, Scotland, they will be the first brothers to represent the United States in the same senior men’s race at the World Cross Country Championships.
“It always has been a special thing having my brother in a lot of races I’ve competed in,” Jorge said. “To get the honor of being the first brothers in this event for the U.S. shows our hard work is paying off.”
They made the world team by finishing among the top nine at the U.S. Championships, where Jorge was second and Edwardo ninth, 32 seconds behind his brother in the 12,000-meter cross-country race. Now they will try to help the U.S. win its first team medal since a 2001 bronze in a world event Kenyans and Ethiopians dominate.
On July 4 at the U.S. Olympic track trials, both expect to compete for the three 10,000-meter places on the 2008 Olympic team.
Edwardo already took a long shot at making the team for the Beijing Games at last November’s U.S. Olympic marathon trials, but he dropped out at 21 miles with stomach problems.
“I think Edwardo will be a marathoner, but unfortunately he jumped in a little soon, when his confidence wasn’t the greatest,” said his coach, former marathon world record-holder Steve Jones.
Jones, 1984-85 Chicago Marathon champion, began coaching the brothers after their previous coach, Brad Hudson, moved to Oregon last year. Edwardo tried to continue the coaching relationship with Hudson via e-mail but decided after the marathon trials that idea wasn’t going to work.
“Ninety-five percent of where they are now is because of Brad’s work,” Jones said. “We just have different philosophies. For me, it’s not about how far and how fast you run, it’s about running from the gut, pushing the old envelope.”
Jones said he “can’t see any reason” for Jorge not to make the Olympic team in the 10,000. He had a shot at an Olympic place in 2004, even after finishing seventh at the Olympic trials. But, like several who beat him, Jorge failed to hit the “A” time standard necessary for all but the trials’ winner.
“It wouldn’t have been that exciting because I would have felt I cheated myself, I didn’t make it the right way,” Jorge said.
Jorge already has the “A” standard for 2008 (27 minutes 50 seconds) with a personal best 27:42.91 in April. In the same race, Edwardo clocked 28:28.10, his best time since 2003.
“I have be ready to run 27:30 at the Olympic trials,” Edwardo said.
To train for that, Edwardo is enduring a long-distance relationship with his high school sweetheart, Linda Jimenez, now his wife of 1 1/2 years. She is studying dental hygiene at Harper College because tuition was a lot less than at similar programs in Colorado.
“Call me a wimp, but I’m not going back to Chicago to run in the winter,” Edwardo said. “Once April comes, we should see each other more often.”
Jorge knows how hard that has been for his twin.
“I feel so bad for him,” Jorge said. “They have to push it for another year or two, and then I’m sure they can live the happily-ever-after story.”
The twins aren’t dogging each other’s footsteps on this one. Jorge’s girlfriend lives in Boulder.
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phersh@tribune.com
