Fri, 4/28-took off; a bit exhausted.
Thurs, 4/27-I ordered an Uber, but the driver canceled, so I left for Franklin Field in my own car at about 7:30. After a while, I secured street parking and arrived at the meet-up spot at about 8:35. I hung out at the fence with members of the team for a while, but then we decided to step into the line, which numbered hundreds and stretched around the corner and snaked into a nearby parking lot. The wait would be long.
After 40 minutes in line, we made our way to the warm-up area, also waiting to connect with Ross and Dan Esposito, who obtained our racing bibs earlier. We'd have less time than usual to warm up on this upper 50-something degree, partly cloudy day. I was in layers and used my gloves intermittently.
I was pretty conservative during my warm-up, as my left lower hamstring was tender.
The entrance to the paddock was hectic, with Jacques and me trying to connect with Dan and Ross. Dan eventually came down, but we waited anxiously for Ross, as we were not able to enter the paddock without all four runners. Apparently, Ross was still in the stands. He made his way down just in the nick of time, and we were off to the staging area. It turns out they had called our event number and the other teams were trackside. With some gruffness at the hectic situation, we made our way to the track. (I was thrilled to pass by some of my MS students, who had just competed!)
We would have just three teams in our race, with GPTC in lane 8. I felt pretty good about our race, particularly given that Dab and I did not practice baton exchanges. We'd hit 48.38, a hair slower than last year's 48.22. Not bad considering we didn't have Wayne. (The fastest team we could have put out on the track would have gone even faster. The truth is, I was an alternate and, by his own admission, Dan was a bit compromised with an injury and not at full steam. With John and Wayne in the mix, the team could've broken 48!)
RESULTS
Our M60+ team of Bruce, Daryl, Wally, and Bill Yelverton took home gold in convincing fashion.
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After sitting in the stands for a bit, I headed back to campus for senior speeches and the senior BBQ. Beforehand, though, I went to the house and did an ice/heat treatment for 20 minutes to help my hamstring.
I'd eventually head back down and arrive at 2:30, this time parking in a structure. I hung out in the stands for 45 minutes or so and then made my way down to the lower fields for warm up. Knowing the meet was running 20 minutes behind schedule, I was a bit more leisurely than usual.
We made our way up at 4:30, knowing that our originally scheduled 4:45 race would probably go off after 5:00. Incidentally, as soon as we arrived we were told we needed to report to the track. We'd stand trackside for 40 minutes.
(It is notable that we had a W40+ team, two W50 teams, and a W60 team, in addition to a M40+ team, two M50 teams, and two M60 teams. A couple of the teams struck gold. One of the M60 teams got silver, as did one of the M50s and the M40.)
While there were just five races before ours, only two were for high school and three were for masters, with an M80 team in the M60+ 4x400m relay race alone taking about 15 minutes to finish. (Not a criticism, just a report of facts. When I am 80, I hope to be in a condition to compete in a 4x400MR at Penn.) Several of us started doing strides on the track.
By the time the gun went off, it was about 5:10. John had a strong leadoff and brought the baton to Nick in second place. Nick drove hard and kept it in there. Jacques extended the lead some with a hard first 200. Southwest then closed and handed off just ahead of me. I tracked the runner from Southwest comfortably, knowing we were running at a modest clip. Rather than pass him on the backstretch, I thought I'd wait and do so with 100m to go. I pulled to his outside and tried to make the pass and take the pole, but he roared back and pulled away.
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RESULTS
I was miffed and disappointed. Had I gone too early? Was I not strong enough? Had my split been faster, say, a 56.xx, I would have been less upset. However, a 58.xx relay split, especially under the circumstances, will never do! Besides, my lead-up workout indicated a 56 was well within reach. Where did I go wrong?
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