Saturday-After leaving work at close to noon, I arrived in University City at about 12:30 PM. I find it unacceptable that many of us were not allowed in the stands as the USA vs. the World 4x100 was happening. It was ridiculous. People may have paid their money to see precisely that race! Anyway, I went to my seat and waited there alone.... We were eventually told to move to the upper deck. After an hours or so, I returned to the seating below and joined my teammates.
We warmed up together...and separately. I felt pretty good. We arrived to check in pretty early. At about 4:55, I think we were one of the first teams there, even though we thought we were going to be a little late.
Once we got to the paddock area, it was wonderful to see the girls' EA 4x400 team readying for their event. After our girls ran their hearts out, we were up. Within the first 100 meters of the start, someone pulled up injured, writhing in pain. Rob handed the baton off to me in 6th place, having run a sturdy race.
I pulled ahead of two runners, one within the first 20 meters and a second after 150 meters. I felt good, but not great. I felt myself eat into the lead of the guy from Central Park TC.
Daryl ran third, ably and heroically subbing in for an injured Nick D. He pulled in CPTC a bit more. And Craig finished up the race, overcoming his initial thought a week or so ago that he was too hampered to race. We posted a pedestrian 3:49.02, far from last year's 3:42.26. Penn Relays M40 4x400
According to Penn Relays' website, our splits were as follows: Rob (57.97), Dinkins (54.57), Johnson (57.50), and Strimel (58.99). While I was disappointed with my sucky split, which was a full second slower than my split at Millrose Games and 1.5 seconds slower than what I had hoped to run, I will try not to be discouraged. I will regroup.
This year's race featured one fewer team and was overall less competitive. Had we run last year's time, we would have placed second. One thing I noticed from the video is that we need to pull each other through the exchange zone. Note to selves. Overall, we were missing our edginess. I think we were compromised mentally and physically this year. Perhaps our heats and minds just weren't in it this year. Who knows?
At least we had fun enjoying each other's company, though. That is what's it's about, right? Let's keep things in perspective. The competitive side of me fights against this sometimes.
Friday--I left work at noon to make my way downtown for Penn Relays. I arrived at 1:00 or so to meet Craig for tickets. I settled into the usual routine. I warmed up in anticipation of the 100, thinking that I might come off the alternate list. As it turned out, despite a fine warm-up and a better time than at least two of the entrants, I won't be admitted to the race. I stood by and watched, thinking that this race could have been a season's best for me. It hurt that 2 guys ran in the 13-second range and another ran in the mid-12 range. I could have legitimately placed somewhere after the 11.71. Oh well. I went back to the stands and relaxed, with my sights on the 4x100.
We lined up in the paddock and then along the fence for what may have easily been 20 min. It was getting cool, with all the wind. I tried to stay loose. The second leg was taken onto the field, where we waited an additional ten minutes or so. Again, I tried to stay warm, doing strides and such. We'd end up in lane 5. When it was our turn, I marked the take-off point and got ready. And the gun went off. I saw Wayne take the turn. I took off as planned and took the baton in my left as we practiced; I switched to my right. I felt a little flat. When Ross handed it off to Nick, it was clear that Nick wasn't himself, much like he was in the 100. As it turned out, his achilles was in bad shape. We got last in 48.68, a disappointment compared to last year's 47.56.
4x100 M40 Penn Relays 2014
Thursday-upper body lifting
Wednesday-2x100 in sub-13, plus 2 starts--first 30 meters.
Tuesday-4.4M
Monday-3x150. Goal was mid-19s with good form. First one was a sluggish 21.3. The second was 19.5. The third was 19.0
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