... like me.
The Southern Miss Cupid Classic is a huge meet, primarily a Div I college meet, and with some unattached elites. To put it in perspective, I will be racing Olympic and World Championship medalists. No shit. The performance list is up and there are 5 guys seeded under 46.36 !
Consider just a few of my 80 or so competitors in the 400m...
- Michael Mathieu (Bahamas) - Olympic Gold Medalist, 2012 London - 4x400m relay, Bahamian 200m record holder - 20.16. 400m pr - 45.06
- Calvin Smith Jr. (USA) - World Gold Medalist 4x400m relay, 2012 Istanbul. Son of former world record holder Calvin Sr.
- Leford Green (Jamaica) - World Bronze Medalist 4x400m relay, 2011 Degau
- Andretti Bain (Bahamas) - Olympic Silver Medalist 4x400m relay, 2008 Bejing. 2008 NCAA 400m Champion - 44.62
None of these elites are doubling ... doing the 400 and 200. Word must be out on the quality of this track. My guess is that they are coming from afar to log a world championship qualifying time... because this is a fast track. I seeded myself generously at 55.90, my indoor pr. Last seed out of 81, next slowest was in the 53s. 46 of 81 are under 50sec.
The 200m is also huge, 91 seeded, and I'm 89th using my indoor pr of 25.34.
Should be interesting. Of course I won't have any elites in my heat, and since they run fast heats to slow, I'll have time to watch some of the fastest guys in the world race first. Even in my slow heat, at least I won't have any interference, or have to jockey for position, I will assume my place 'bringing up the rear.' Someone has to finish last, and I certainly feel sorry for anyone who does, if it's not me.
I need to be a bit more aggressive if I hope to come close to a pr, but it's hard to pace running real far behind as I found out at MTSU in Dec. It's a gamble, going out too fast leads to serious rigging and a slow time. Who knows. Maybe there will be some stragglers.
Some MTSU guys will be there. They will certainly be surprised to see me.
Cupid Classic performance lists
in schools they now give ribbons for "lucky last"..
ReplyDeleteWell shoot, I missed a ribbon today.
ReplyDelete