Bruce and Rick (from TNT) arrived at my house at about 10 minutes 'til 8:00 to head to The Armory for another edition of the famed Millrose Games. We dropped off Bosley at the kennel before making the trip.
We arrived at the parking lot at 9:30, in plenty of time for a 10:00 meet-up on this rather frigid day in the 20s. Our event, Masters Men's 40-49 and 50+ 4x400 meter relay, was scheduled for 12:17. We organized ourselves, following the usual routine of Chuck divvying out runner's bibs, pins, and wrist tickets. We made our way to the draped arena and hung out for a while, some of us going here and there, to and fro. Knowing the track was scheduled to close for warmups at 11:10, I started my mile warm up at 11:00. I stretched on the infield until we were asked to clear the track areas, which was at about 11:20.
I stretched for a bit in wings. We then headed down to the balmy corridor on the second floor. I got some good stretching ad striding in, despite the crowded area. We reported as scheduled, 35 minutes before race time, to the check-in on the first floor. I continued to stretch until we were told to get 100% race ready (uniform on, spikes in hand, nothing else) to head up to the third floor. (On the way up, I cut away from my teammates and made my third trip to the men's room for good measure!)
As we waited, knowing the 50s were going to be on the back line and the 40s would be on the front line, I played around with my race plan. As had been the case when I found out about the alley start and my position way out in lane 9, I continued visualize how I was going to attack the race. In the gathering area, I started to feel optimistic about the race: no Southwest TC, no Central Park. I began to think that I could run 54.xx and hand off in the lead. I was feeling greedy, and I like it!
Then dry mouth kicked in, just as we were up. I saw one of the female officials whose name escapes me but whom I have grown friendly with. We exchanged hi, and I asked her if she had any water. I told her she could pour it into my hand. She did, right over top of the track can. We were called to the track as I tried to dry my hand on my tights and shirt; I didn't want to take any chances of the baton slipping.
Telegraphic style, here are the headlines:
One heat. Alley start, 50s on back line, 40s on front line. Two turn stagger. Ran lead off! Lane 9, up against railing. To my left were Michael Jackson of TNT, Mark Williams of Garmin, and Gary Rossen of Mass Velocity. Got out hard and led the 40s guys, including Mark, to the break. Big John had the lead at the break. I fought Mark off going into the turn. 25-high at the 200. I tried to inch my way on the inside when John provided an opening. Nope. Mark tried to take me at the 300 mark. Nope. I tried to take the inside again coming into the homestretch. Nope. Swung to the outside and kept driving to hand off with a slight lead. The race felt faster than 55.58! Splits are online:
And here's the video: Masters Men's 4x400 Millrose 2018
Masters Men's 4x400 MR 2018 Millrose
It's always fun to run with my teammates. I appreciate their efforts on and off the track. Shout out to new team member, Kevin Cooke, who broke 60 seconds.
Congrats to our 50s team, which won it all! My buddy Bruce hit his mark! The post-race photos and shoutouts were fun.
The rest of the meet was great! Lots of amazing races, especially the girls and boys invitational 4x200, the women's 4x800 (new world record), the women's 300 meters (world record tied), and the Wannamaker Mile races.
And let's not forget dinner at Coogans. A great time was had by all.
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