Tennessee State Finals
The Senior Olympics held their Tennessee State Finals last weekend at Battleground Academy. The school had just done some work on their track and it was in great shape and fast.
The old track was black and they have coated it with a blue material for a uniform surface and a great look. The picture at the left is a 98 year old women who competed in all the running races. Her was 1500 was at 21 minutes in stifling heat, I thought she did a great job of finishing them all. The weather was summertime in Tennessee, relatively sunny with heavy humidity. The humidity is great for my breathing, but it was quite hot and shade was necessary to survive. Any breeze was a welcome relief.
This season I was going to attempt to compete in 5 events, the usual sprinting races and the High Jump. I had not done any field events at the State meet. I jumped 4'8" last Fall in the qualifier and knew I could get a shot at a win if I did my best. The high jump was Friday afternoon around 4:00 PM. I got there early enough to set up my large tent near the jumping area for some shade, the sun was pretty hot that afternoon. I started at 4 feet even and the competition was in increments of 2 inches. The current record holder was also jumping against me, so he was defending his record. I had my first miss at 4'8" which is the State Record for my age group. I cleared 4'8" on my second attempt and the record holder--Steven Green-- was out with a jump of 4'6". Edwin Lee also was still in by clearing 4'8", so there was two left to fight for the gold and a State Record, we had both tied the old record. I missed my first attempt and made some adjustments to my speed and hip position on the next two attempts and squeezed over the bar on my third attempt--it was moving when I looked back! But I cleared it for the win and the record! That was pretty exciting. Edwin Lee missed all three of his attempts.
Whew! a great start to the meet. While I am jumping Linda is hanging in the tent and some sort of security guard is giving her a hard time about the tent being inside the track--against their policy of some sort. He stopped by once to tell us it could not be there--OK--I am busy right now jumping. We will move it in a few minutes. I am trying to jump, not worry about tent location. He comes back later on in the middle of the competition and gave the "my boss wants this out of here" crap because it can't be here, blah blah. But he interrupts our group and in particular Linda during my third attempt at 4'10" and she missed the jump! Linda was really pissed at rent a cop and unloaded on him, which he richly deserved. What is your problem dude, we were quite busy at the time? We moved the tent later for the rest of the running events the next two days--which I would have done anyways.... When I set it up, I asked a couple of track officials and they said to put it up where I did. The next day they did have a sign to the effect of no tents in the infield of the track--by the way--that sign was not there Friday afternoon. Just sayin......
On Saturday, we started with the 400 meters around 9:30 AM and at 5:00 PM we would run the 100 meters after a full day of field events. I needed to improve on my 400 from the two earlier times and I really wanted to get an All American time of 65.00. I had been mentally working on this race for several weeks and I did run a fast time without anyone to add some push or pace to my effort. I finished in 63.52 which is easily an AA time and won by 18 seconds--so it was not much of a race as racing goes. I felt great and got the job done! In the afternoon I ran the 100 in a relatively slow time but won it easily and was 3 Golds with 2 AA standards in 3 events. The HJ was also an AA effort.
I thought I was doing pretty good until I ran into Neringa Jakstine who is a 55 year old woman with 8 golds at that point and several new state records! She is incredible and could beat most of the men her age. She breaks 30 seconds in the 200 and ran a 7.62 50 meters!! She does pentathlon as well and has the World leading score in that and multiple field events as well.
I think she ended up with 12 golds and 7 new state records in 3 days--just nuts her talent. She is headed to Malaga to the World Masters and should get multiple medals. Go get them Neringa. That is the talent in our area, great athletes coming out of the wood work...
The third day is the easiest physically with a 50 meters at 8:00 AM and a 200 meters to finish off the meet around 10:30 AM, but in between is the longest most agonizing wait possible. You need to keep cool and relax but they are running the 800 meters and a 1500 m walk events that seems to take forever. It is so hard to stay hydrated and loose and motivated. You just want to go home and rest.
The 50 meters is my fun race and this year it was a really interesting race. I use blocks and most of my heat did as well. As we were getting ready for the start, there should be a approximate 2 second pause between the command to 'set' and 'pow' from the gun. I run USATF and you will wait for the gun with them, no jumping the gun, period. In this race, I am in lane 2 and ready for the 'pow' and about 0.3 to 0.5 seconds before the gun lane 3 is gone! It is an absolute false start. I waited for the gun and off I went, thinking there would be a second bang, nope, let's race it then. So I race him down pretty quickly and ran a very quick 7.37 for the win. I have been beaten in that race before from timing issues with hand timers, but today, I got to come from behind and win it. That felt good to have to top end speed. You got to be ready for anything at these events.
The last race after the long hot wait was the 200 meters which I ran a relatively quick 27.90 and won it easily. 5 events and 5 Golds--that is pretty special to me at this part of racing career.
In the picture to the right is Grady Cash on the right who has a current World Record in a relay and competes at 70 years old and dominates his age group. Next to him is Richard Westbrook who had a stroke in November and lost part of his vision. Holy shit! He medaled in the 200 and 400 events in his 65 year old group and nearly won both races!! The stories are just incredible each year at these events.
This season I was going to attempt to compete in 5 events, the usual sprinting races and the High Jump. I had not done any field events at the State meet. I jumped 4'8" last Fall in the qualifier and knew I could get a shot at a win if I did my best. The high jump was Friday afternoon around 4:00 PM. I got there early enough to set up my large tent near the jumping area for some shade, the sun was pretty hot that afternoon. I started at 4 feet even and the competition was in increments of 2 inches. The current record holder was also jumping against me, so he was defending his record. I had my first miss at 4'8" which is the State Record for my age group. I cleared 4'8" on my second attempt and the record holder--Steven Green-- was out with a jump of 4'6". Edwin Lee also was still in by clearing 4'8", so there was two left to fight for the gold and a State Record, we had both tied the old record. I missed my first attempt and made some adjustments to my speed and hip position on the next two attempts and squeezed over the bar on my third attempt--it was moving when I looked back! But I cleared it for the win and the record! That was pretty exciting. Edwin Lee missed all three of his attempts.
Whew! a great start to the meet. While I am jumping Linda is hanging in the tent and some sort of security guard is giving her a hard time about the tent being inside the track--against their policy of some sort. He stopped by once to tell us it could not be there--OK--I am busy right now jumping. We will move it in a few minutes. I am trying to jump, not worry about tent location. He comes back later on in the middle of the competition and gave the "my boss wants this out of here" crap because it can't be here, blah blah. But he interrupts our group and in particular Linda during my third attempt at 4'10" and she missed the jump! Linda was really pissed at rent a cop and unloaded on him, which he richly deserved. What is your problem dude, we were quite busy at the time? We moved the tent later for the rest of the running events the next two days--which I would have done anyways.... When I set it up, I asked a couple of track officials and they said to put it up where I did. The next day they did have a sign to the effect of no tents in the infield of the track--by the way--that sign was not there Friday afternoon. Just sayin......
On Saturday, we started with the 400 meters around 9:30 AM and at 5:00 PM we would run the 100 meters after a full day of field events. I needed to improve on my 400 from the two earlier times and I really wanted to get an All American time of 65.00. I had been mentally working on this race for several weeks and I did run a fast time without anyone to add some push or pace to my effort. I finished in 63.52 which is easily an AA time and won by 18 seconds--so it was not much of a race as racing goes. I felt great and got the job done! In the afternoon I ran the 100 in a relatively slow time but won it easily and was 3 Golds with 2 AA standards in 3 events. The HJ was also an AA effort.
I thought I was doing pretty good until I ran into Neringa Jakstine who is a 55 year old woman with 8 golds at that point and several new state records! She is incredible and could beat most of the men her age. She breaks 30 seconds in the 200 and ran a 7.62 50 meters!! She does pentathlon as well and has the World leading score in that and multiple field events as well.
 |
| Here is Neringa with her first 8 golds! |
The third day is the easiest physically with a 50 meters at 8:00 AM and a 200 meters to finish off the meet around 10:30 AM, but in between is the longest most agonizing wait possible. You need to keep cool and relax but they are running the 800 meters and a 1500 m walk events that seems to take forever. It is so hard to stay hydrated and loose and motivated. You just want to go home and rest.
The 50 meters is my fun race and this year it was a really interesting race. I use blocks and most of my heat did as well. As we were getting ready for the start, there should be a approximate 2 second pause between the command to 'set' and 'pow' from the gun. I run USATF and you will wait for the gun with them, no jumping the gun, period. In this race, I am in lane 2 and ready for the 'pow' and about 0.3 to 0.5 seconds before the gun lane 3 is gone! It is an absolute false start. I waited for the gun and off I went, thinking there would be a second bang, nope, let's race it then. So I race him down pretty quickly and ran a very quick 7.37 for the win. I have been beaten in that race before from timing issues with hand timers, but today, I got to come from behind and win it. That felt good to have to top end speed. You got to be ready for anything at these events.
The last race after the long hot wait was the 200 meters which I ran a relatively quick 27.90 and won it easily. 5 events and 5 Golds--that is pretty special to me at this part of racing career. In the picture to the right is Grady Cash on the right who has a current World Record in a relay and competes at 70 years old and dominates his age group. Next to him is Richard Westbrook who had a stroke in November and lost part of his vision. Holy shit! He medaled in the 200 and 400 events in his 65 year old group and nearly won both races!! The stories are just incredible each year at these events.
My goal this season is to get All American times in all my events that I compete and right now all I need is a really fast 100 meters which more than likely will not happen. I will not run it much more this season and I also need to pick up 0.6 of a second which might just not be possible. It is my dog race for some reason?? I did come through the race without any injuries and I am giving a lot of the credit to Smart Core which is the studio of Kaylee Cahoon. She has helped me with body mechanics which have prevented issues with strains, cramps, etc. I will finish up my rest period of 5 days and get back to USATF Nationals prep by this weekend.
Comments
Post a Comment