Michigan Senior Games

150 mark and we are bucking the wind

 

I made a short trip to Oakland University in Michigan for their Senior Games State Qualifier  the last weekend.   Linda was supposed to join me by taking a later flight on Friday that was cancelled by Southwest. Her flight was scheduled leave Nashville at 8:40 PM and was delayed until 3:40 PM takeoff !!! before it was cancelled.   She missed the show.   And I missed my cheering section.

 

I got into town on Friday afternoon and made it to the track to stretch and check out the facility for shade, restrooms and all that stuff you need to survive a meet.  I got in a good stretch and shot the breeze with another sprinter who was from Ohio and was in the 70-74 age group.  He still refs high school football and had a bad injury a few years ago when his patella and quad separated on a inception play where he planted his leg at the goal line and it just went. He looked pretty good in his races and he looks to be recovered well.  The wind direction at that time was from the North and was nice and cool and was right down the finish straight--which is always a gift for sprinters.  

 

Saturday was race day and it was threatening rain all day and it did rain periodically from small cells as they passed thru.  The biggest change was the wind was from the South and the humidity was off the chart.  I thought I got away from the heat, but the Mississippi Delta in August was hiding in Michigan.  It sucked.  The wind was now directly in your face as you round the final curve for the finish--and it was strong at 20 MPH.  Crap--just took all the fun out of this deal.  But, I came a long ways to get in some racing--suck it up princess...  

 

I got warmed up and ready for the 200 which ran around 1:30 PM.   The meet had electronic timing which really is a challenge for the heats and there was absolute chaos getting lined up.  It took forever and was really aggravating to the more elite runners--we do not need the organizer from a junior high meet to run this deal.   I was not happy about this mess.  My heat was 3 guys with the next heat with 4 guys in the same age group.  No idea who won anything until the times were posted later.   Put the heats together and get going--nope.    I got a good start in the 200 and tried to get some speed up around the corner and just hit an absolute wall when I finished the stagger--I get better speed when I run with my parachute.  I finished in my worst time in my Senior career-29.25 and a close second to an elite athlete from Ohio.  I was pretty gassed, but happy I made it around the track.   As I started to cool down the skies opened and we got a very nice cool down shower.  It actually felt good, it was warm rain.  The storm was short lived and in maybe 30 minutes I was back into line for the 50.  Same mess of waiting forever. 

 

I like the 50 because I can work on my starts.  With the wind, the start was the whole deal.  I think I false started, I came out of my blocks after at least 3 seconds and the starter chewed me out. She had not shot the gun at 3 seconds.   By the way starter, we are old guys--once we are set--shoot the gun.  We are not going to break any world records.  She implied I was out, I offered to get off the track, but the other guys told me run, I am not sure if I was DQ or not--still don't know.    I checked my time later and it 7.57 seconds which was decent and according to the person with the clip board a gold in my class.   Ok, I got my medal and was done.  No 400 meters due to the wind and incredible chaos around the starters--nuts. If you get enough crazy shit going on, something bad can happen--like getting hurt. 

 

I was still confused when I left--ran poorly and won two medals with bad weather and poor meet organization.  Ok, I guess this was a great way to learn.  I think I will run as many USATF meets in the future as I can.  They are organized and the chaos I experienced at this meet does not exist. 

 

I came thru with some minor soreness in my hammies and upper abs.  But nothing some compression wear could not help.  I ran at 194 pounds and felt fine, but with the weather, I have not idea if I have made any progress.  

 

With the Olympics going full tilt now, I noticed some of our veggies that were also trying to get into the act.

 This squash is doing a bar routine and the pumpkin below is doing the balance beam.  These vines have been real wild this year and come up with these routines on their own.