USATF Masters Outdoor National Meet

 

Last weekend I ran and jumped in the USATF Masters Outdoor National meet held at Eastern Washington University.   This is my second USATF Outdoor National event and I enjoyed the meet and had a lot of fun meeting people and doing some competing with the best in the world.   I was in the High Jump (4th), 100 and 200 (4th in each) 400 (5th) and 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relays--both were Gold medals.  Just like every meet the goal is to make the finals, score some points and do not get hurt too badly.  I made all the finals, scored 15 points for the team and also finished up with just a minor complaint from my right foot and both Achilles.   With all those bases covered it had to be scored a success.  I am still seeking the elusive individual medal, but I had a shot in the 400 and I think I screwed up in the final straight.   But, it was fun, and Linda got to visit a part of the world she has never experienced. 

This is a Lane1--Dave Albo picture.

The weather was typical for Eastern Washington in the summer--very dry with temperatures in the 90's and not a cloud in the sky.  I was hot--with very limited shade available and shade helped a lot.  The track had a permanent set of bleachers between the track and endzone of the football field in the turn 3/4 area and we could get some shade there--but it was really limited.  Everyday a layer of SPF 50 needed to be lathered on a couple of times and hats were mandatory.  We stayed in Cheney, a couple minutes from the track and we would go back to the hotel room between events to cool off and rest.   That really helped me out and kept me fresher.

Right out of the box on Thursday is the 400 prelim and we had 12 in the race and needed to eliminate 4 to get down to 8 for the finals the next morning.   I ran a 65.74 lap to finish 4th in my heat and transfer the final.  I really just cruised the last 200 meters, you cannot win anything in the semi's and I knew I had enough people behind me to make the show tomorrow.  In the finals, I was in lane one and had a stalking runner on my outside that beat me last time in Baton Rouge with a late surge.  I wanted to prevent that late pass this trip and was trying to figure our how best to not make that happen with 150 meters into the race.  I should of just ran my race and not even worried about how to beat him, but I was in race mode and that is what you do.   I came around the final corner in medal contention and I think I screwed myself out of a medal with my finish.  I accelerated as hard as I could with 90 meters to go and was in third, but with 40 meters to go I was used up and finished 5 th -- I was out of juice.  In hind sight, I think I should have skipped the blast of speed and finished with my normal strong strides.  I did not and it cost me.   But it was a 62.96 which was this years fastest lap and I will take it. The hardest race was complete. 

100 m finals, lane 1

In the afternoon on Friday I had the High Jump final and 100 prelims.  Friday was my busiest day. I jumped pretty well and finished with a jump of 4' 7" for fourth and 3 points for the team.  It was very hot on the jumping pad in the late afternoon with very limited shade.  I had no misses until three at 4' 9" and they were all very close.  First time in the event and I get 4th, I think I will take it.   I had about 15 minutes between when I finished the  HJ and  100 prelim.  I changed into running spikes, added my back bib and had 5th quick time to transfer to the 100 final on Saturday late morning. I ran a 13.53, which also my finals time--same for both.  Two days in and feeling pretty good. 


Day three was the easy day.  100 finals and 200 prelims were it.  Plenty of time between races to rest and tell stories.  I ran 4th in the 100 as another team points event. I typically do not run the 100, but the coach likes to fill the field with our team.  My track  team -SoCal-- dominated the team event and doubled the second place team point total.  We had a lot of runners, walkers, jumpers and throwers and some really good ones at that. This team travels well and about a dozen are going to the International meet in Spain this summer. This was the 17th time SoCal has taken the team title.  

4 x 100 Gold medal Team

Day four and everyone is getting tired and sore.  We ran the 200 finals around 11;00AM and I ran a very competitive fourth.  I was trying to get close enough for a big lean and medal and it was not be.  I lost out on a medal by 0.2 seconds.  It was a fair fight and I lost.  A little rest and then the relays.  I was in the 4 x 100 relay and 4 x 400 relays and these are my medal events.    In the 4x100,  I was the third leg and had a nice turn, even though no one saw it since it was behind the bleachers. We won it by  less than 0.2 seconds in an absolute nail biter.  Their lead man had a bad hammy, but their anchor was really quick and closing fast.  We were fortunate to win it.   Finally a gold medal!!   In the 4 x 400 it was nearly the same team, with one new members.  But our competition in the very last race of the meet was not that strong and we cruised to the gold.  My third straight capturing a gold in this event.   I actually wore my regular running shoes for that lap, my Achilles was starting to get some strain and was ouchy. 

4 x 400  2/3 leg

Orville Rogers also made the meet.  He is 100 years old and ran the 100, 200 and 400.  I chatted with him a couple of times and he skipped the 800 due to his  blood pressure getting too high.  I think he was just nerved up!  But he ran pretty well and appeared to enjoy the weekend.  I think his grand daughter was assisting him.  She would yell into his ear as the translator,  he is pretty well hard of hearing.

Linda and I did some sight seeing in Spokane and enjoyed the river and falls right in the middle of town.  We also spent three days in the Boulder area on the way home.  She had never had an opportunity to get into the mountains and we did some serious exploring of the mountains just West of Denver.   We took a drive to Estes Park and just South of town two of the nicest bull elk were just grazing away on each side of the road.  Not a care in the world.  They are huge animals.
That was quite a show!

I came through the race with just some Achilles soreness and our team massage therapist suggested getting some heal on my spikes.  I use Asics Sonic Sprint which has no heal and the Achilles is always stretched out.   I run on my toes, but I will get some different spikes and see if I can control the Achilles pain a little better.   This is part of the calf issue--I need to get this fixed. My right foot gets sore after several races and that is an injury from high school that never did heal properly. Nothing can be done for that problem.  

Looking forward to the next big race-- that will be indoors in January and March.  With those dates on the calendar, I will have to make sure I control my weight better this year.  I raced this event at 194.5 pounds and I cannot get up to 203 like I did last winter... too hard to get it back off.