Midnight run

This was a first... late night track meet at the Summer Sunset Classic in Marietta.   No good news, did not produce in this meet, ran 59.26 after waiting around for several hours for my race. I finally got moved in with the open division 20 yr olds, because David didn't wait around and left, and it probably contributed to my poor pacing and going out too fast (again).  But that wasn't the worst of it.  I got there at about 5:45pm.  Sat in my car for over 90 min, and started getting stiff so I walked around and decided to start warming up just about sunset.  With the many cycles of warming and sitting around - over and over - through the next several hours, it started creating a bit of soreness in my ham injury, and by the time I got in to the blocks to race at 12:02 am, just past midnight, I was a little worried about injuring myself.  But, I got through it, despite a hard rig at the end.  No injury.  I had three college guys to my inside, the last of which past me toward the end of the back stretch.  I must hast have been 50m behind the winner who ran about 50 flat, probably took me 9 sec to run the last 50m.  I knew this meet would run late, but I never imagined it would be freaking MIDNIGHT before I raced.  I had only eaten a light pre race meal 12 hrs before.   

After seeing my time, thoughts of quitting for the season ran through my mind.  To say it was discouraging is an understatement.  Thought about how I could get refunds for my flights, etc...  Thought about going to a fast food restaurant and getting a few supersized french fry orders and saying screw it.   But then I reasoned that a year ago, I was in rockin' shape and ran even slower at the Atlanta relays 59.47, just a matter of poor execution.  Also, my time last night, as poor as it was for me, would still rank #4 in the world so far, so it's within striking distance of a medal at Worlds.   I have 4 weeks.  If I had arrived at 10 pm and warmed up once, I think I may have done better.   One yr ago, I ran 57.49 in this meet.  Not the fastest track, a black 6 lane HS track.  But the conditions really couldn't have been better.  It was a cool 72º, calm winds... and I like running at night.   

I guess I've come this far, I feel like I could still pull it off.  I have a month.   But, I need to be realistic.  My success last year was due to 7 months of uninterrupted injury free training.  Right now, I just only finished my 7th week.  Hopefully, my foot will recover for some 600s tonight.  I'm not quitting.