2021 USATF Masters National Championships - Day two

Yea baby ...  National Masters Champion M60 400m, #1 in the World, fastest 400m by an M60 American in 9 years, since Bill Collins in 2012.  Won by more than 2 seconds.  My 6th USATF National Masters Championship. 

56.78

The race

It was similar to the prelims.  I had McDuffrie just to my outside.  I didn't want to take him immediately but I pulled up even with him about 150m and took the lead going into the last turn.  At that point, the race was pretty much over, I smoked him on the turn and carried a 10m lead into the homestretch.  I extended my lead a bit more, only rigged slightly toward the end.   I won by at least 15m.   My 200m split was about a half second faster than yesterday, and the second 200m, about the same or maybe a tad slower than yesterday.  About 26.8 and 30,  just about perfect.   The first 200m was into a significant wind.  

From 1 meter before the 200m mark:

 

The work paid off.  However, I do think I wasted a lot of time 'learning' how to run the 400m.  If I had been shooting for these splits since indoor, I would have been racking up faster times all season.  

GOLD  

100m prelims

This was the first 100m race I've run this season, and the first 100m I've ever raced in a National Master Championship.   This was quite a remarkable race.  I had Alan T., the World champion to my right, we were in lanes 1 and 2.  When Alan is healthy, he is untouchable... and today he was healthy.  Alan ran an astonishing 11.79, which was below the M60 American Record, just 0.09 off the World record, but the wind was just a tad over legal at +2.4 m/s.   I finished second with 12.43, which places us #1 and #2 in the World.   He is totally in a class by himself.  This time was a quarter second faster than his World championship race 6 yrs ago.  I was happy to have qualified 2nd fastest ahead of Don, who won the 100m and 200m World Championships in Perth, '16.  12.43 is a decent time, especially after a 56.78 400m.  I think it would extrapolate to at least a mid 25s or even low 25s in the 200m.  Happy with the race overall but I did have a slight stumble in the 2nd or 3rd step.  

Tomorrow is my biggest test.  I have the 100m final at 11:15 am, then less than 2 hrs later, the 800m final, then the 200m prelim less than 2 hrs after that.  And the heat index is supposed to be near 100º by mid afternoon.  I'm not sure I can get back to my hotel in between, and if I did, I'd only have about 45 min to relax.  So, I guess I'll be prepared either way.

Have developed some minor aches and pains but hopefully they will be gone by tomorrow.  All the competitive runners have declared for the 800m, so its going to be tough.