District Qualifier

Last Saturday the Greater Nashville Senior Games District Qualifier was ran at Brentwood High School Track.  I ran in the 4 sprints and took three gold and a silver medal.  Overall it was great event for me.  I ran in a new class, the 60 to 64 year old class.  I am actually 58, but in Olympian years I am 59 and next year, when they run the state meet for which we qualified, I will be 60 in Olympian years--confused, that is OK.  Kinda messy to figure your Olympian age.  

I wore pinks sleeves the first three races because I was chilly after I got sweaty warming up around 8:30 AM.  I also wore the pink sleeves to celebrate those who have battled breast cancer and won.  Breast cancer has got to be an absolutely horrible way to be tortured by cancer.  I posted the picture of my sleeve and medals on Facebook and one of my high school class mates responded that she had been a 10 year survivor--- I nearly cried.  I dedicated the three gold medals to her, she is more of a champion than I will ever dream.  Facing down cancer and winning is real hard core, I salute you Peaches. 

The other picture is posted is of Lyon Fleming--55, and George Spero--84 or 85 years old.  George is my favorite and I really like to see him run.  He goes as hard as he can every race and just hates to lose.  I love George and hopes he can make his career last 20 more years. I am always yelling for him and checking on him during the meet.  He actually recruited Lyon for the Senior Games.  Lyon and George were training one day at the same track and George struck up a conversation about Lyon's speed--he won all four of his races Saturday--and Lyon makes a meet a couple of years later and is hooked.  Thanks George for rounding up some new talent.  They both add a lot to our district, which by all measures is the fastest and most competitive in the US.  There are some fast people that run in Nashville and many are world class athletes.

I felt pretty good for the meet with what I considered light training.   I had been sick a couple of times in September and early October and just could not find the wind to run or get any real work done.  The weather for the meet was actually nice after a lot of the rain the night before, so the track was wet and the wind accelerated as the day progressed.  Of course the wind was right down the finishing stretch so you would get to buck it to the finish.  I really did not notice the wind, so I must have been pretty strong for the events.  My 50 meters was the same time as the National.  I got a great start and felt good the whole trip.  I ran it 100% and enjoyed it as usual. It as much fun as ice cream--almost.  I won the 100, which never happens.  But a great start and just a solid run at 95% power worked out to 14.07 seconds-- all being hand timed.  The 200, I wanted to stay below 30 seconds,  I ran a very quick 28.57, and felt like there was plenty left.  I lost the 400 in the last 40 meters.   I changed out of my spikes, since it was the last race and nothing was hurt or strained, and put on my rubber soled shoes.  I was not going to get injured on a qualifier that is not that critical.  It had been running for a couple of hours and hammies do tighten up as the day progresses. I wanted to run a 70 second lap, and that is basically what I ran.  I was in the center of the track and thought I had a 10 meter lead down the finish stretch and I did not.  About 40 meters to go, I was passed unexpectedly and for a moment got on the gas, but let him go.  I could just as easily trashed a hamstring, but I was in the State Finals next summer and you need to keep an eye on the goals of no getting hurt.  I am getting smarter and a little faster as well.

The normal fast people were in attendance and Tennessee should be strong when the Nationals make their way to Birmingham, AL in 2017.  

I think I will run the Turkey Trot in the area Thanksgiving morning to just have some fun.  I am always looking to break 30 minutes and that will the goal again this year.  There is always hope. I did start some training today.  My sports hernia pain was coming back a little and I did some front squats to try and get it back under control.  The front squads helped before and I have not done enough lifting as of late.  Back to the iron for a while to get the core hardened up.