100m -12.46
200m - 25.22
400m - 56.37
The meet was run by AL's 'iron woman/godmother of track', Mary Birdwell, who has put a lifetime of dedication into this great sport. I particularly liked the schedule of doing Masters first in this all ages meet, although it kind of worked against me in the 100m.
There was a decent crowd for this meet, because of the youth participation. Normally, I don't like age group meets, but this one wasn't too big because it didn't have age groups going all the way down to '4 and under'. I was done by mid afternoon.
Some of these kids were great to watch. It was fun sitting in the clerks tent with the 8-10 yr olds after the 100m. Mary was telling the kids to stay in their lanes and listen to the starter.
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| The catbird seat |
I found the most amazing situation. I went inside the stadium building and walked the cool dark hall til I found an elevator. I took it to the top where it opened into the air conditioned Press Box. It had a private bathroom and a commanding view of the track. I had the place to myself so I called my parents and was boasting about my situation until the Birmingham track coach, Kenneth came up with some personal friends who had kids in the meet. I think Kenneth recognized me and let me stay. It got to be a big group with several kids and 4 adults. I got one of the guys to record my last race of the season, the 200m. I enjoyed the novelty of being the sole white person there, as well as in all of my races.
Unfortunately, my best competitor M50 world champion Marcus S. didn't show up.
100m
It was ok, I hastily warmed up and tightly wrapped my thighs and went. I was just happy to finish uninjured so I could keep racing. I was disappointed in my time, even slower than in TN, but a headwind. 12.46 - which was a meet record, surprisingly. I beat two M35 guys... so the competition wasn't too fierce.
400m
I went out fairly conservatively, didn't really feel tired until the 240m mark, then I stepped it up. I felt the rigging only in the last 10m or so. I won by a good 20m+ over an M35 guy. 56.37 - It was a nominal performance, about a B game. I've run slower this season.
200m
There were just four of us in the 200m, but all were in my age group. One of my competitors was built like Marcus, about 6'4" and muscular, but more of a pentathlete than a sprinter. Since it was my last race of the season, I tried to anticipate the start, but false started. The women official at first showed me a red card, but I said they don't red card masters on first offense, so she let me go. My second start was ok and I won the race by almost 3 sec. It was probably my best race of the day: 25.22 - my 5th fastest time of the season, (including the 24.8(h)). I wish I had run that time last Sunday in Nashville, where I missed the record. Six times this season I ran faster than my 25.26 season PR from 2011, but was unable to break my 2012 PR of 24.88.
The video wasn't great, but happy to have a few clear segments. It is very interesting for analysis. I can see stride length, reaction time, form, and other details. It appears as if my stride on the turn is about 2m, stride frequency about 4.1/sec. Reaction time about .2. More analysis on another post.
It was a good overall experience and I'm glad I did it. My third triple this month. The hip was really sore by the time I warmed up for the third time before my 200m, but I got through with just minor aches in my quad. Since I started thigh wrapping, I haven't had a hint of a ham issue. My major issue was a right quad which was helped a lot by the compression tape.
I expect to do some biking this week and some upper body. No running for a good while. There is a meet series at the end of the summer, Aug - Sept. I was thinking I might even run the 800m in some of these meets for foundation. Already thinking about next season.
At some point I'll do a statistical season review.
Life and track have a lot in common.
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