End of my reign

Watching the World Masters Indoor Championships
With the conclusion of the events at the WMACi in Torun, Poland today, my reign as M55 World Champion in the 200m is over.  The times I ran in Korea would have compared well with the times run in Poland.  My 400m time of 55.17 winning Silver is exactly what Jon Tilt ran winning Gold.  My 200m time in Daegu would have netted me a Bronze in Poland as 2 guys went under 25, including an exceptionally fast Fin who ran 24.3.   Happy to see David Pitts win 2 Bronze for the USA, as I did in my first world meet (outdoor in Lyon in '15).  I think the star of the meet was Emma McGowan who won triple Gold in W50 in all the sprints and the incredible Charles Allie who at age 71+ set an M70 World Record in the 200m in 26.11 - a time that would have won Silver in the age group below.   Looking at my new age group, Gerhard Zorn looked impressive, double M60 Gold in the 400m/200m and at age 62+, he's running very similar times to what he ran when I first raced him in Lyon in '15.  His form is superb and I would regard him as a top competitor next year in M60.

Fun to see my name in the record book... wonder if our record will fall tomorrow in the 4x200?  The real record should be 1:37.88 if it weren't for an officials mistake.  That 1:37.88 would have stood for a long time, I'm surprised our 1:40.22 has stood 3 yrs now.

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Spring has sprung and I did my first wildflower hike last week on the mountain.  The knee is improving slowly and I'm able to bike a bit more aggressively including standing up.  Last night I did my interval set of 16 x 15 sec sprints (standing) with 45 sec rest in between.  It pushed my heart rate close to 160.   Despite that, I'm still heavy, about 152 lbs.  It's nice to be able to practice my running form without running, doing A marches and even gentle A skips while watching myself in the window reflexion for alignment.  It's going ok but my foot problem is still present, the arthritis in my right foot was hurting after workout.  Perhaps I will adjust when I start to run occasionally in a few months. 

I just bought 2 pair of the treasured Clifton 1s in anticipation of future training.  Hope it happens.  I'm wearing them around the house for fun right now.

Except for a few isolated freaks like Charles Allie, it seems that a lot of Masters have their peak and then retire or fade from prominence.  I remember Mike Sullivan and Ken Eaton, world medalists in '11, now apparently retired.   Perhaps for some it's not as demanding to train to be world class as it is for others.  I know for me, it takes everything I've got to make a world final and a medal stand.  Don't know yet if I'll ever get back there but should have some I idea in 6 months.  I'd like to race through the 2022 season if I my body will tolerate the training.  World Meets are: 2020 Toronto, 2021 Edmonton, and 2022 Gothenburg, Sweden.