The Penn Relays experience

There is nothing like Penn.   

The iconic Franklin Field, University of Pennsylvania

127 years in the running, starting in 1895, older than the modern Olympics.  There are few events that have the heritage and the history of this one.  Many of the officials are lifers... guys that have been doing this for many decades.  First, my results:

But the bad news first.  My 100m race was a disaster.  I ran a feeble 13.19 and finished third.  A guy that I beat 2 yrs ago edged me out for the gold by 0.22 sec.  It was a winnable race.  Probably my best chance ever to win at Penn. Oh well.  We ran without blocks, it was cold.  The winner only 12.97.  It was my worst 100m race in my masters career.  Embarrassing.  But a Bronze.  

On the positive side, our Greater Phily Track Club team won the Gold and the traditional Penn Wheel in the M60 4x100.  We took Silver in the 4x400m and I won the leadoff leg and had the 2nd fastest split of 52 competitors, although it was only 61.05, from a standing start.  

Here was my finishing leg.  Unfortunately, there was no contest:

My first Penn Wheel relay win.  I assume Bruce took ownership of the wheel, seems like he really wanted it.  I have enough awards, but I must admit, that would've been nice for my collection. (Clubs usually give it to the one who wins most medals, fastest split, etc...  I did win 3 medals, had the fastest 4x4 split).  I really don't put a lot of stock in relay awards anyway, not super meaningful to me, (unless it's Penn, Millrose, Worlds .... or a world or American record).  

Photo:  Wally, Bruce, me, Daryl

The experience.

Penn is unlike any track meet in the world.  It's not particularly conducive to great performances in terms of preparation... having to warm up at a practice field 10 min walk from the stadium, having to put spikes on in a black top paddock and stand around often in the cold for 20 min before a race, but the stadium, the atmosphere, the crowd is what is inspiring. 

My hotel was in an urban wasteland near the airport, nothing within walking distance so I was at the mercy of the hotel for all food.  I was really hungry the night before the races so I probably ate more quantity and poor quality than I should have, so I was probably too heavy.  Getting to the meet was complicated.  I had to take the hotel shuttle to the airport, get on a train then walk more than a mile (probably 2) to the stadium... not because the train station wasn't close, but because security perimeter blocked a lot of the shortest egress routes to the meet up area.  I did get there 45 min ahead of time and met Chuck, our club leader at the registration desk and I was in for a surprise.  Working the desk was Bobby D., my college roommate from Cortland, NY whom I hadn't seen in 45 years!   I seem to recall Bobby was a decathlete on the track team.  We chatted about that house we rented on Tompkins St. in Cortland, in the fall of '79.  Wow, so cool! 

I picked up my credentials then because I was there soonest, I walked into the stadium and got the bibs for my teams 4x100 relay.  I do think all the walking I did previous to the event played a large role in my foot pain.  I must have walk 2-3 miles during the course of the day at least.  

Seems like everyone was running late and we had ZERO time for hand off practice.  I just took one from Wally and that was it.  We got to the entrance of the paddock and had to push our way to the front of the line to get there.  Running on time is a point of pride for the Penn meet officials.  It's an enormously complicated and detailed schedule.  Heats of relays can have 50 -80 runners.  There is an elevated desk in front of the final paddocks where relay teams are organized and legs are separated and placed.  There is an announcer at the desk with a mic directing the chaos.   Once inside the first paddock we were hustled to the forward paddocks... the man at the desk scolded the masters runners saying, "If you masters want to run, you better jog over here, it's 10:29 and your race is 10:30."   He was pissed, he further scolded, "Listen... you guys are late, and you're confusing everything so follow instructions!"  

Check out the video to see the wonderful chaos of the Penn paddock for the mens masters 4x100m:

https://www.youtube.com/live/MbfVZ27H28g?feature=share&t=5532

The only team that could have challenged us didn't make it to the paddock on time and the other team that might have been close had a botched handoff resulting in a fall and DNF.  Our handoffs were pretty good, despite Wally taking the stick in the wrong hand (left).  By the time I had the stick, I had 20m on the field which I extended to about 25-30m.  It was quite a great feeling running down the stretch with the crowd roaring.  Security and staff applauding and offering fist bumps at the end.  The confusing thing about the Penn track is the multitude of lines and marks.  There were actually 2 finish lines and I wasn't 100% sure which was THE finish line so I ran through them both... and the guy narrating on Flotrack made fun of us for doing so, comparing us to the middle schoolers that did the same thing.  

Approximate spilts: Bruce - 13.2, Daryl - 13.2,  Wally - 13.6, me - 12.4  (avg 13.1)

Here's the full video with Flotrack audio:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6QWg_Urz7g  

Here's the full video with stadium audio:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13ptYNLmU8g

So, I went to the warmup area and warmed up for the 100m.  I walked to the tent to get my bib and then to the track to warmup on the infield.  It was cool to see everyone.  I didn't warm up too much because my foot was really hurting.  Then a weird thing happened.  Some meet official came over and tried to remove us from the infield, which was crazy because our race was 30 min away and it would take 20 min to walk to the warmup field and back.  So I just ignored him and went to the other end of the infield.  This guy was arrogant and insulting.  Val started getting into it with him.   He said something to the effect that 'masters were just a small part of this event' and then Val totally went off on him, accusing him of being racist and the whole deal.  Well, in the end the guy just came back and apologized to everyone and shook a few hands and that was it.  The old timers and hall of famers, Oscar and Charles were pretty incredulous, just sort of confused and taking it in stride.  Semi ignoring the situation.  The meet was running behind so a decision was made to make us run without starting blocks.  First time ever in a Penn Masters 100 I think.  The race went off, I felt I had a decent start and never saw anyone til 10m before the end when both Don and Tony got a step on me.  Tony, the winner, I had beaten in the 100m at Nationals in '21 quite easily so it was a surprise.  A bad one.  At least I medaled but the time was really embarrassing.  13.19 was the slowest time I've ever run in a masters 100m.  I sat in stunned silence for 2 hrs afterward watching the meet, getting colder and stiffer. 

 

Finally, it was time for the 4x400m relay and I'd be leading off.  Warming up for this was really painful after 2 races and sitting in the cold for 3 hrs.  My foot was killing me from all the walking.  It was all I could do to run a few strides.  We got to the paddock and hurried in and waited.  The masters women were in front of us.  The announcer was a bit more kind to them then they were to the men.  The paddock master jokingly said to the masters 40+ women, "OK high school girls step up... you mean you're not?  You must be college then."  Here's the video with Flotrack audio:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6QWg_Urz7g

Here's the full video with stadium audio: https://youtu.be/13ptYNLmU8g

There was an all-star team that was the favorite with 2 or 3 guys that could run close to 60.  Me and Bruce could run 62 and I led off with a 61.05, which gave us nearly a 5 second lead over the eventual winners.  Wally and Daryl ran 66 and 67 and that didn't compete with the 60.4 and 61.4 from the winning team.  We finished a distant second, behind by 7+ seconds.  We averaged 64 a leg and the winners averaged 62+ a leg.  At least I won the opening leg, and ran the second fastest split of 44 runners, and did it from a standing start, after straining my groin coming off the line.  Flotrack screwed up the video and lost the last 10 seconds of my leg, but here's the start and first 300m+ of my leg:  

Afterward we all went out to a classy cafe.   I was very hungry, had not eaten anything but a small chocolate bar, coffee, and juice all day.  I was also limping because of a very sore foot and sore groin... my lower back was sore too.  It was great to be with the team and have a nice hang.  I specifically stayed a second night for this.   It was great food but not enough and way too expensive.  I got a beer, an appetizer, and a salmon entree for $74.  I was hungry when I got back to the hotel so I had a piece of cheese cake.  

I'll probably update this with some more photos but that's it for now... Penn Relays 2023, the 127th edition.