Senior Olympian Sprinter

This picture is me with Mark Carver from Nashville. Mark scored a silver in the 800 and 1500 m for 50 yr old men..  Lost both by a step.  The 1500 was a really good race. Well,  today I am in Muskogee, OK watching a tissue machine run really good on our chemistry.    So things in my work life are returning to normal.    Get on a plane, fly somewhere, go to work.   I will have some time to get in a little track work this week.  It is 95 degrees here and dry.  That is a real change of pace for me,  lately it has been constant rain everywhere I have been lately.    So, if I can get a chance, I know of a nice synthetic high school track near the casino where I can get in some training.   Work up a sweat and get in a good stretch. I also signed up for the Greater Nashville District Sr Olympics qualifier today.  I am going to keep my hand in and see how the training...

Ready to go in the 400 M final. I took inventory today and had some sore muscles and fatigued feet, but I felt pretty good.  I did not have to use any Red Hot  on the legs or any other medical techniques to be race ready.  I did my normal KT tape on my feet and was fine.   So, I am getting smarter and not going wild in the races-- the so called "staying within yourself" .    Today, Linda and I got to eat a real breakfast at Goody's Family restaurant.   It was wonderful, the first real breaksfast in 4 days--eggs,  bacon, potatoes--yum. We also went to the Rock n Roll HOF to see the Stone's exhibit and anything that was new since our trip there 10 years ago.    It quite a mixed crowd of old and young...... Now it is time to think about what to do next.   Do I continue to race,  give it up or switch to something else to keep me in shape???  I was really ready to ...

Well it was finals day for me at the Senior Nationals.  Partly cloudy, breezy and a in the low 70's.   Beautiful day to race.  The wind was shifting and it could be blowing down the finishing straight or into turn 4, either direction was a problem for very fast times.   As you can see in the picture I came in 5 th place at 62.13 seconds.  I picked up 2 full seconds from the prelim yesterday.   I was 1.4 seconds from getting a medal.   I started in lane 8, since I was the slowest qualifier.  I actually wanted an outside lane so I could run my pace and nor worry about the other competitors--you tend to start racing too early and kill your finish.   I got a good start and was in groove so to speak.  I did pick up my pace from yesterday.  Around 150 meters the winner passed me and I did pace with him down the backstraight.  I was still in good shape and started to accelerate a little in...

This image of me waiting in lane seven to run the 400 meter qualifier.  Sunny and warm with a persistent breeze down the finishing straight--in your face of course.  I made it thru-- got to the finals tomorrow in the 400!  I was eighth quick out of 25 runners with a time of 64.15 seconds.   I ran the 400 first and ran the 50 m later and did not qualify--more later on that.   I felt good in warm up and since I was in lane 7 with someone in lane 8, I had someone to pace me a little.  Yesterday, I really struggled in the last 50 meters of the 200 because I was used up and had nothing left-- a case of too much too quick.  I was not going to repeat that situation .     I ran my pace the first 200 and was really relaxed and had a really easy stride.  I felt like talking with the race marshals as I ran by them on the backstretch, I was relaxed!    I started to pick it up some on the fina...

I ran the 200 meter preliminary today and finished 11 th at 28.41 seconds.  I am out for the 200.   It was rainy and breezy conditions.   I felt OK, got warmed up good, let it rip.   I did tie up around the 150 meter mark and struggled to the end.  I was in second and was passed around 160 mark.   So I finished third in the heat.   The official results are on www.finishtiming.com  . The tab for the NSGA is on the right.   M 55-59 200 M preliminaries.  Tomorrow is 50 and 400 prelims.  The weather looks like it will clear and I will try again to make a finals. The relief after finally running at this level is immense.  The  fact of not knowing if 'you belong' or are 'just wasting your time' really helps.    I am alot more relaxed now, know the drill so to speak and need to step it up, these guys are fast and seasoned veterans of this gig.   I belong, but I ...

Linda and I made it to Cleveland with  little trouble and made it downtown to get signed in.   A lot going on in downtown Cleveland this weekend.   Sr Olympians all over.  My schedule is : Saturday--  200 meter qualifier--@ 11:00 am.  41 signed up.  One race and the 8 best times make it to the final on Monday  (9:15) Sunday-- 400 meter qualifier--@ 8:30 AM.  40 signed up.   Same deal--one qualifier race for everyone,  Finals on Monday at 11:15            50 meter qualifier at 10:22.  26 signed up.. One shot to qualify--fastest 8 times regardless of what heat you were in.   Monday-- all finals if I make them I went over to the track today( Baldwin-Wallace University) and the surface is very nice and fast.  A 90 year ran a 71 second 400 meters and set a record--wow!!  So this field is fast.    I also ran into Charles B...

Today I tried the best I could to keep my mind off the upcoming meet.  My mind is tricky and the best way I have found to get it off track is to do basic tasks that take time, motion, sweaty effort, and a little bit of ingenuity.   I did not work out at all, except for the manual labor involved my projects today.   My feet and ankles needed a rest, they were getting quite tried and sore.   My feet are one of my weak body parts. I did my usual work for my real job and then when I was caught up, I worked on a hydraulic project, some tree trimming, a little painting and a little grass planting. With all these low tech jobs using hammers, pry bars, fencing pliers, hoes, rakes, axes and chain saws, it was busy enough to keep my mind from racing off and running some races somewhere.   The beauty of having property that has a creek, old trees and brush--there is ALWAYS something to trim or eliminate.  Hopefully I burned enough energ...