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Day 2

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 final curve and someone passed me on the inside as they made up the stagger.  I could  see the time was still in the 40's as I completed 300 meters--I could recognize a 4, so I knew I was in the game.  I decided I needed to get 'the guy' that passed me and got him with 40 to go and finished strong with no breakdown.  Then I waited for 4 more heats to finish and I had just enough time to get in.     The final 4 qualifiers were from 63.60 to 64.15, so it looks like dandy race brewing tomorrow.   A couple of guys are just way ahead and I doubt I can challlenge them, but bad hammies and other injuries do happen.   But, I think we can have a brawl for fourth.  Should be a lot of fun.  

I missed out on the 50 meters, I ran mid pack with a 7.51 in my qualifier.  The elite runners were in the 6's and way gone for me to catch.   But I ran well and was catching the leaders at the end in my heat, I just have a miserable start in comparison and it kills my chances.  But it is still a lot of fun to just blast it up through there. 

Day 3, I will run the 400 final around 11 AM and also signed up for a 4 x 100 relay.  I do not know who is in the group, but I think it will fun to just have a 'play' race.   That will be one of the last events and is a great way to meet some fun people.  Plus hanging around, you get to watch the other races and they are generally pretty exciting.  We had some barnburners today.  

I had a chance to talk with people from all over the country and everyone is routing for one another. I makes the event very enjoyable to visit with people trying to be their best.  There are some rivalries among the elite runners, but that is their problem.   I try to be supportive and clap and yell for those really 'giving it' and still losing. Just 'give it' and we will cheer.   I also made sure I visited with everyone I knew from Tennessee to make sure they knew Linda and I were there yelling for them as well.

After I qualified in the 400--whew--it made the trip worth it.  If I had bombed out and  not made a finals, I would have been quite difficult to deal with, it would have really sucked.  But I made it in my marquis event, so to speak.   I was good in the quarter mile in high school and I guess some things just don't change that much.   I had no confidence I could make the finals when the day started.  But, after watching the times of the earlier heats, I knew I could have shot if I could just run my race.    And that is what happened, I ran my race.  Hopefully I can do it again in the finals tomorrow.  The confidence will be at a different level when we start tomorrow, plus several of the runners will have already ran some other finals in the morning.......

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