get into great form

Sat, 4/1/17-

Left the Volunteer Summit at Swarthmore early to compete at the Danny Curran Invitational at Widener.

I arrived at about noon and had to park across from Stetser Elementary School since the athletic lots were full.

I paid immediately and then met up with teammates before registering for the 400 and jogging around in preparation for the 1:30 race.  Chuck, John and I left our bags in the infield and made our way to the indoor track, warming up there.  With a seed the of 54.45, I'd be placed in heat 6 lane 5, to John's immediately right, as he was in lane 4.

Despite this cold and windy day (also wet from the deluge from the day before), I was pleased with my warm up.  I waited until the very last minute to take off all my gear.

Only four or five competitors comprised our heat--lanes 1, 2, (3), 4, 5, and 7.  I got out pretty well and caught the runner in lane 7 by the 100-meter mark.  The strong wind on the backstretch stymied me.  As expected, John caught me at the 200-meter mark.  At first, he appeared to overtake me going into the turn.  However, perhaps to his surprise, I went with him, bending into the turn as he did.  With 100 meters to go, I hung onto him, going stride for stride.  Clearly, he thought he was going to shake me off.  But, no!  At one point, we both sort of buckled under the weight of the wind.  Ten meter remaining, I made one last ditch effort to get him at the line.  It would not be so.  I posted 55.96 to JC's 55.93, disappointing times for sure.  I was hoping to run a second faster for sure.  (Chuck K. ran 59.58.  Wayne would later run 12.76 in the 10 meters.)

We hung out for quite a bit, even talk to Pete Carroll of Swarthmore for a while.  After quite a bit of time, I started warming up for the 200 meters.  I checked in and learned that I was in heat 12 (of 14), lane 5, with my seed time of 24.99.  At a later point, we had to re-register for the race, which needed to be re-seeded.  I wound up with the same heat and lane.

The wind and cold were still factors, but I was ready to "go under," you know, break the 25-second barrier.  There were six competitors in my heat.  I got out pretty well, catching the guy in lane six in the first 50-60 meters.  I could sense someone on my inside coming on.  As we hit the straightaway, I was flanked by two guys, one in lane 1 and the other in lane 8, who were well ahead of me.  They'd finish in 24.31 and 24.34, while I crossed in 25.06.  (JC ran 24.94.)

I have three-and-a-half weeks to get into great form for Penn.