The 800

Two days rest between the 5k and the 800 was nice. For some reason only 7 men declared, so we went straight to a final.  I studied the internet pretty intensely for this race, and knew I had my hands full. Jeff Mann and Kevin Forde were veterans in the world of Master's track, and Jeff had beat me in a mile in 2009. I felt like a damn high school freshman during the warmup. The nerves were working me over big time! Oh yeah. It was 102 degrees today at race time.

Lane 6 was mine. Kevin drew 1 and Jeff started in 2. And....we're off. By the break line, I was dead last, 3 meters back and fading. Then as usual, the pace slowed a tad. Kevin was directly in front of me. At the 200m mark, I moved by Kevin and settled in behind Jeff.  Feeling pretty decent at this stage. Jeff moved up directly behind the leader down the front straight as we approached the 400m mark, and I hovered off his shoulder straddling the line in lane 2. I assumed Kevin was lurking somewhere behind me. Having no idea how these 2 REALLY raced an 800, my strategy was to cover any move either of them made unless one of the other guys got bold on us.

Jeff is big and tall. He pretty much blocked the clock at the line. As we approached the 400m line, I saw 58, 59, and thought I was in for a tough 2nd lap.  More on that in a bit. No change in position through the corner. Just past the 500m point, Kevin was beginning to rev up. He shot by all of us like we were in our cool down!! Luckily, Jeff had just begun to move to the front, and I wasn't going to let me get away.  Kevin put 5 meters on the pack by the time we hit the corner. Kevin........6 others. Kevin.......6 guys racing for 2nd. It took me FOREVER to find my legs. I got by Jeff going into the corner. We gained literally nothing through the corner into the straight, and we were flying! Well, for a bunch of 46-48 year olds.

Then... something happened. Within 20 meters I closed half the gap. But that was it. I angled out into lane 2 to give myself a chance. I had no idea Jeff was half a step behind me. Another 20 meters, and the distance was the same. Dammit! I was running for second. Then..... something happened...again. Kev's arms started to come down low. He was fading. I dug like hell and caught him at the last high hurdle mark on the track. 8 meters left. One last effort, and I got to the line first.

I have a photo courtesy of Kevin and his Philly teammates of him walking past the trackside clock looking skyward. He is uttering something. Probably the same adult word I heard shortly after crossing the finish. He was the only guy with a British accent in the race. Just sayin'.......

Needless to say, the last 80m hurt just a tad. I looked up at the scoreboard and my jaw dropped. 2:02.12. Are you kidding me?!?!? I gave Jeff and Kevin a handshake and sent a thumbs up to my college teammate Harold Kuphaldt, who came to watch and video the race. Cool down time. Kevin joined me. We chatted a little bit about the race, he mentioning that he went too early. Reckoned he may have won had he waited until 200 to go. I mentioned I was done for the weekend, was happy with 2 golds, and would drop the 1500 coming up the next day to save my achilles tendon.  The 2 of us swung by the awards room and picked up our medals (no awards presentation at this meet). We looked forward to seeing each other next year at the World Master's Champs on the same track.

And now the real story.  I figured just under 2:04 was within range, and whatever I got out of it would be great. Harold and I went back to his house and loaded up the video. I was still shocked I ran as fast as I did, and then was totally dumbstruck as we slowed down the video at 400m. We actually passed the clock in 64.7. Back to the start and grabbed the stopwatch.  62.8 for the first lap! So we closed in 59.3?!?! I hadn't run a 400 under 63 in training, and had just run 200m in 29.7 five days before the 5k. Guess it goes to prove that running every day for 2 years without a miss gave me some serious strength.

It's kind of odd to say that I'm proud of myself, at this age, for winning a race. It is definitely the most satisfying of my track races since starting up again in 2009. I was certainly lucky to recover from Kevin's racing strategy and felt great about holding off Jeff. 2:02.12 for me. Kevin hit the line at 2:02.40 and Jeff was 2:02.51. A really competitive one, and my respect goes to both of them. I look forward to seeing them this summer in Sacramento in the 1500m final. Stay healthy boys!

Crossing over to Track - National Cross looming ahead

     Haven't been here in quite awhile. I owe Kevin Forde a post regarding our hotly contested 800m race last July. Soon enough. For now, as I prepare to run the first race of 2011 and the last cross country event before track season begins, I must remind myself that the training I put myself through is the right training for me. As other post their mileage and workouts, I catch myself wondering if I'm doing enough or running fast enough to keep up with everyone else. A look at a few gold medals from 2010 are enough to convince me the current workload is the correct workload.
     Last year at this time I had put in a great 4 month cycle of training, only to develop a little bit of an IT band/quadriceps fascia issue that disrupted my preparation for Spokane and the US Cross Championships. I spent 8 weeks post-race jogging until the effects of throwing a half-marathon 4 weeks previous to Spokane into the mix finally left my legs.  My mileage is 8 weeks behind last year's load, but I'm okay with that. The quality days are just as good or better than December 09/January 10, and nothing hurts. Can I defend my Cross title? We find out 4 weeks from tomorrow.
     Bowerman teammate Max King has given me a little info about the course, and I think it fits my style of running. I'm looking forward to lacing up the Zoom XC Forevers one more time before digging the track spikes out from under the bed. Well, I actually took them out this morning for a brief moment the check their health. The Mamba's saw their shadow and headed back under for 6 more weeks. Until then, more trail workouts with a few trips to the track to find a little turnover in these old legs. I'm gonna be ready for one last race on the grass.
    

5k Title Run

     July 25, 2010. First time at a US championship track meet since 1991. To compete anyway. The race was scheduled to go off at 10:30 a.m. to escape the afternoon heat. I was up at 6:30 for a small breakfast and to wake the body up before heading to the track. Staying at my college teammate's house was great because I got to make my own breakfast instead of going to a restaurant and risking the menu choices. This was also the day of the last climbing stage in the Tour de France. To say the least, I couldn't leave the television despite the fact I wanted to get to the track a little early and relax. Talk about some inspiration!!
     Warmed up and ready to go, we had to wait for a couple 200m races in the men's 60-64 pentathlon. No big deal. We finally got on the track for a few strides, then lined up for the start. Now, having looked over the entry list and doing a little online research, I figured it to be a 4 man race. Three of us had marks under 16 minutes and Pete Magill, entered without a time, is the American record holder in the event. I figured correctly, as Francis Burdette took the lead and Pete, myself, and Kevin Forde fell in behind. Pete took the lead after 3-4 laps and we passed through 1600m in 4:55. Soon Francis fell off and Pete opened up a 10m or so lead on Kevin and I. Going through 3200m at 9:55, Pete was now 15-20m up on me and Kevin was slowly losing ground. I needed to make a decision. With just over 2 laps to go, I glanced back to make sure that a failed bold move would still give me the silver. I was clear of Kevin and went after Pete. He seemed to have made a decision to increase his lead because I had gained nothing coming to the bell lap. But I sensed something as I moved into the backstretch. I started a long charge and soon had Pete within a stride as we hit the steeplechase pit. It was time to go, and I went hard as we hit the home straight. Not having raced Pete before, I didn't know anything about his finishing speed. We both dug deep, and I was lucky to have plenty left. Crossing the finish line with my first track title, I managed to win by about 1.5 seconds.
15:25.79, a season improvement of 23 seconds and 12 seconds better than last year! Most importantly, a good win against some great Master's veterans.  Kevin ran a phat season PR as well for 3rd.
     The weekend had begun. 48 hours to recover and prepare for an 800m final. The idea of racing again against the best had become a reality, and as Pete said later, THIS IS FUN!!!

The Return to National Track Championships

     After taking a stab at track racing again in 2009, it was clear I got the bug. I wanted more, and the USATF Master's Track and Field Championships were coming to the west coast. I made a draft training and racing schedule to include the 8k Cross Country Championships in Spokane and a spring of track meets leading to Sacramento.
     A little snafu in late January training didn't hinder my race (too much) in Spokane, as I placed 3rd overall and 1st in the M45 age group. However, I chose to spend the  next 9 weeks  putting in 30 minutes of easy running a day until the IT band/quad fascia was happy again. Then back to work.
     I entered myself in the 5000, 800 and 1500 for Sacramento. The 5/1500 double was a sure thing, but I figured if I was going, I may as well enter all 3. Little did I know what was to come of that!
     The season consisted of 3 meets beforehand: A mile race in Portland, a 5k/800 double in Eugene, and an 800 tune-up race at McKenzie High School about an hour outside of Eugene. Everything went well, although the mile race was difficult due to my work schedule that week (I spent some time at Hayward Field working for CBS at the NCAA meet).
      I hopped in my truck at 6pm on Tuesday the 20th and drove to Weed, California. A great place for a truck stop. I pulled in between a couple semis, laid down the seatback and went to sleep. Arriving in Sacramento the next day, I grabbed my packet and took a 30 minute jog through campus and headed off to Oregon teammate Harold Kuphaldt's house. Nothing better than dinner and a bed in a home before racing.
       Next stop, Day 1 and the 5000m race. Stay tuned.........

Getting started

     "Why do I want to start a blog", I ask myself. Well, I find other's interesting most of the time. My enjoyment of running and racing is related to my career as a Licensed Massage Therapist and the coaching position I currently hold at a local high school in Eugene, so I can meld my thoughts about all of them into one post. Maybe this act of writing will provoke some introspective thinking about myself and my purpose. It just might  also lead to other personal and business opportunities.
     Writing and posting my blogs on whatever regular basis it may be will hopefully add to the current skill level of using various types of social media. Electronic equipment has changed so much since I got my first Mac in the late 80's that I'm still trying to figure out how to use software on my 5 year old laptop while being completely baffled by OS 10.4 at home. It's easy to confine myself to the software I use everyday without exploring. Not that typing this blog is difficult. I will soon have to figure out how to post  it to my Facebook account when I finish.
    My next writing will be of my first venture back to National Championship track racing. I hope you find the writing as enjoyable as I have found my return to competition.