WMACI World Masters Championships, 400m final

A hard post to write.  A disaster race for me, and a strange one at that.   I was in third position with 15m to go and got bumped by the French athlete as he was passing me, it knocked my off balance and caused me to fall.... and that is that.   It was not his fault as we both were swinging wide of lane one and I just got too close to him - my fault.  I would have been 4th if I didn't fall as he had momentum and I was fading.   A hard way to end this quest.

It was a weird race.  John when out spectacularly as we all expected and just missed the World Record by 0.03 running an astonishing 55.65, winning by a  huge margin.   The rest of us all ran slower than our semi times.  The reason is that a slower guy, Darren, took the lead at the break and caused Mike and I to fight to get by him down the back stretch, expending a lot of energy.  We passed him before the final turn and I came into the home stretch pretty spent.  I was following Mike and as I said Phillipe and I swung wide and collided about 12m from the finish.  I went down quickly and walked across the line.  Both Silver and Bronze medals were in the 59s.  

I wanted to be a bit more conservative this race but it didn't work out.  I could have won the break and force the others to try and pass me.  If I had done that, my chances would have been better.   If I had run the same exact race as I had done in the semis, I would have medaled.  Oh well.  It's pretty devastating to end like this after all the work.  But it's pretty clear, I'm simply not as fast as I was during that glorious 2021 season 2 yrs ago.  An inevitable thing as we age I guess.  But still happy to be able to compete at this level.  

I'll finish this indoor season #6 in the world in the M60 400m, #1 in USA.  I never really put together a good 400m indoor race this season.  I had my chances, never produced.   

The 200m starts tomorrow.   The first 3 places are pretty obvious, the 2 world medalists Pat and John, plus the Swede,  Jorgen who has run under 25 and new to M60.  I'll be doing real well to run under 26, which is doubtful.  My goal is to get the US #1 time of under 26.25 and maybe make the final  - slim chance.  Problem is, I haven't run a 200m race in almost 2 years.  I have no idea where I am.  I just hope I can get through it without injury and help the US relay teams on Sat.  I've almost forgot how to run a 200m.   Hard to believe I was a world champion in this event 6 yrs ago.  If only the pandemic hadn't delayed this meet, if only it were during my peak M60 season in '21.   Too many 'if onlys....'   Anyway, the 200m could be fun if everything works.

Moving forward, I will likely run Penn Relays at the end of the month, including 2 relays and a 100m race.  I may run a college meet next month.  Pretty hard to get my ass back out there after this result.   

Anyway, it's about the journey, and I'm still glad I came.   Today is a day off, and I did not sleep well last night, so I may not do much.   I really should go into town and see this place later.  Might never be in Poland again.