The "no-way-in-hell-vibe."

Fri, 6/13--trying to get back into the distance swing of things, I did a repeat of what I did on Tuesday: ran two Rustin loops in 33:30 (17:10/16:20).  4.3M.

Thurs, 6/12-for the first time in months, I made my way to New and Ashbridge to join the Thursday morning/5:40 AM crew for a run.  The run would be intermittent tempo, beginning close to 2M into the run.  We were to do tempo pace for a 1 min, then 2 min, then 3, then 4, then 5, with a 60-second jog break between each pick-up.  This was tough, especially given my fitness level for distance.  I reached the 4M mark (the planter) in 29:00.  My 5-min run ended at about Lincoln and Garfield, just beyond the tennis courts at Henderson HS.  I took a breather and then jogged for a quarter-mile before realizing that it would be better to turn around and head back to my car since my wife had asked that I return to the house before she left at 6:40.


Wed, 6/11--went to the Y.  5:00 on donut track, lifted for 15 min, 5:00 on donut track.

Tues, 6/10--ran two Rustin loops in 33:45 (17:20/16:25).  4.3M.

Mon, 6/9--sore.  Took the day off.

Sun, 6/8-Mid-Atlantic Championship meet at Widener: what a mess, a hot mess!

I arrived in plenty of time to warm up for the 100, my first of four events.  I noticed that there seemed to be more competitors here than before, at least more than last year.  Perhaps that was because the event was being run by USATF, not Philly Masters.  Who knows?

The good weather made for a cheerful warm up.  I was able to get in a few starts as well, with the help of Clinton Fields, who gave me some advice and instruction for starting.  He insisted that I reset my blocks and shorten/quicken my first few strides out of the blocks, in addition to fling my arms.  It was a mouthful, but I appreciated his advisement.

The hurdle event took forever.  Every other heat seemed to require resetting the hurdles.  Before I knew it, 1500 meters went off 40 minutes late.  I eventually made my way to the start of the 100.  The clerk called my name for heat 1, lane 1.  When I realized the heats were organized from fast to flow and when I saw who was n my heat, I knew something was wrong.  I approached the starter and the clerk to let them know that I was clearly in the wrong heat; all but one of the runners boasted a sub-11.0 seed time.  I know because I saw the cards as she shuffled through them.  As she sorted through the cards looking for an opening in another heat, she and the started informed me that the only opening could be found in the last heat, the heat with guys running 15 seconds or more.  They told me I could run with them or run in heat 1.  I chose heat 1.

It took us four tries to get our heat off.  The first time something was wrong with the gun, I think.  The second and third times someone was uncomfortable with the blocks and took too long to get settled.  The fourth time we were off.  I promptly got dusted, seeing the field extend its lead on by a meter every ten.  I ran a disappointing 12.20.  I thought today I'd go under.  So much for that!

Conventional thinking suggests that the heat would have pushed (or pulled) me to a better time.  However, this was not the case.  I believe I should have been in the third heat with Wayne.

I shifted my mindset to the 400, which was 45 minutes later.   I was placed in lane 2 with my seed time of 52.9; Nick Berra would be in lane 7 with a seed time of 53.0.  The younger guys in lanes 3 through 6 carried seed times of 50.4 or better.  We were clearly out of our league.  We probably would have been better off in the preferred lanes in heat 2.

As soon as the gun went off, we both sort of fell behind pretty immediately.  As we neared the passing zone markings at around the 200, I checked to see where I was with respect to Nick.  He was perhaps 3-4 meters ahead of me.  By the time we hit the homestretch he had me by about 6 meters.  At that point, I told myself to relax, use my arms, and not let any more distance develop between us.  And that's pretty much what I did.  As we crossed the finish line, he had me by about 6-7 meters.

Nick was wiped out afterwards.  I was tired, too, but not exactly dead.  Moments after I finished, one of the officials gathered us all up and told us that there had been a malfunction and that the race had not been timed or at least timed properly.  As if it was no big deal, he offered to have us run it again in 30 or 45 minutes.  Based on our reactions, he withdrew this initially proposal and said he could squeeze us in after the 400 meter hurdles in about 90 minutes.  Most of us gave off the "no-way-in-hell-vibe."  I was one of them.  I was less interested in a rerun than I was a refund, particularly after feeling under deserved in the 100.  As it turned out, Melanie Berra had recorded the race.  It appears that Nick ran in the 52-range and I ran in the 53-range.  This could mean that Nick broke the club record unofficially and that I ran a master's best.

400 meter race Mid Atlantic Champs 2014 Widener

Then there was the 200.  I was assigned lane 8 in heat 3, which means my 23.9 was the slowest time in my heat.  Boy I wish I had put down 24.3 or something so that I could be in heat 4 with a good lane.  At any rate, I was far too ambitious with 23.9.  I thought I'd have a good lane against guys who were between 23.7 and 24.7.  Too picky.  Too much science, not enough art.  Anyway, the guy to my inside, a youngster I've raced against before, caught me after about 50 meters.  Boy I felt sluggish.  I got dead last in this heat as I did in the fastest heat of the 400.  So I was surprised when all the drama erupted later about the times.  I was listed as having run 23.32 or something like that.  I told the guy that he had the right bib number for me, 200, but the wrong heat and time.  After an end-of-the-meet conference, turns out I was correct.  I wound up running a crappy 25.00.  OMG!

I had the nerve to accept some the young guys' invitation to run the 4x100.  I ran lead-off and handed off in decent fashion.  Unfortunately, legs 2 and 3, Marlon and Jerome, had some difficulty on the handoff and dropped the baton.  By the time the baton reached Nolan, we were way out of the race.  We probably ran close to 50 seconds, which is about the time Nolan ran in the open 400.

It was a frustrating day.  The highlight of my day, a master's PR n the 400, doesn't even count.  Only in my memory and in this blog post will it live.  That stinks!

Sat, 6/7--went to Westtown to warm up, do a few drills, and practice my start.