Racing Over Your Head

I knew when I signed up for the Masters Indoor Nationals that I would be facing some really good competition.  Last year I ran in a Regional meet up in Delaware and got third in my age group in the mile, but there were only four people in it that day.  I ran a 5:52 in the mile and the first two guys ran just about 5 flat!  That opened my eyes some so this year I decided to just enter the 800 since I really wasn't ready for that distance back then.

Yesterday as I walked into the Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex up in Landover, MD I realized my eyes hadn't been opened at all.

After parking my car I met a guy getting out of his car and he was quite obviously a distance runner.  Just had that look along with the shoes and warm ups.  He said, "Hi," and commented about how far the walk was going to be to the complex.  He'd been here the day before to check it out since one of his races was today, the 4x800 relay.

"You run the 800?" I asked, "that's what I'm running."

"What age group?" he asked me.

"45 to 49."

"Hey, I've got the world record for that age group!"

Sal Allah meets Ed!

I had just met "Salli" Allah.  This guy ran a 1:54 back when he was 46.  He's now over 65 and his team was going for the world record in the 4 x 800 later in the day.  He turned in a 2:21.  Holycow.

And the world record holders, American record holders, national champions, world champions and even several medalists from the Olympics, just kept coming.  Turns out this is one of the biggest meets in the country and its open to international competitors to make it even tougher!  Sheesh.

Earlier in the week I had gotten to see my seeding and the times of the other entrants in my race and age group.  You know what happens when you sign up for a National Championship meet, you've only barely broken into the top 50 in your event and 16 guys sign up for the same race?

You're getting 17th.

And I knew that was where I was winding up.  I did not belong at this meet.

That feeling was confirmed when Sal and I walked in the door.  He showed me where the packet pick-up was and I said I wanted to poke my head into the field house and see the place.

Wow.  I'm running here...

 

 

The facility is huge and crowded with people moving around all over the place.  Very exciting and a rush to be in, but overwhelming when I thought about the fact I had to get down there and run in front of everyone and get last.  I got the shivers...

 

I got my packet, bought my shirt and then hunted around to find my teammates and coaches.  I found Keith Witherspoon just about to start his 60 meter race.  Keith went to UVA and is always ranked in the top 10 in the country in his age groups in the long jump, triple jump and the 60 indoors.  He's over 60 and still a serious beast.

 

I mean look at the back on that guy!

 

He got second in the 60 and in the triple jump this year, and coached me as well.  He told me that "some guys will have the race of their lives," while poking me in the chest, "and other guys will fall apart," as he spread his arms out like that's what will happen to everyone else.

 

I watched  a couple of other members of our team compete then headed up to Annapolis to watch my niece in a softball game and then spend the night at my mom and step-dad's place.

 

The whole night I was running my workouts through my head thinking that best I could hope for was a 2:30.  And I didn't know how I could do that with my fastest 400 in a workout being a 1:13.  I had done all the stuff that I had read about and added the sprint work that Spoon and Kaestner got me into to move up my top end speed, but I wasn't feeling confident.  I knew I could beat a 2:38, no problem, but I was beginning to tell myself that I'd be happy with a 2:34.

 

When I got to the meet and was warming up I saw several people I had met at other races over the last couple of years, shook hands and said "good luck" as I kept picturing myself staying with the back of the pack as long as I could.  And while I was talking to myself Remus Medley gave me a head nod so I went over to say, "hey."  I met him once just a couple of years ago at a meet in Richmond so I reminded him of that and we shook hands.  He is in the M40 group and is a sub-5 miler and runs the 800 close to 2 flat.

 

He asked what I thought I could do and I told him my guess and a little about my workouts, but he said, "you ran a 1:13 as your last rep in a 10 x 400? How much rest?"

 

"About 90 seconds."

 

"And your last hard workout?"

 

"A 5 x 400 with three to four minutes rest and the last two being 1:15's."

 

"You'll do a 2:30.  Got to.  Your workouts say so."

 

He was so matter of fact and confident about it, that I thought that McMillan workout plan must be dead on because it said the same thing.  I felt better.

 

Turns out only 13 guys showed up for the event, and in looking at the field it was the 12 fastest and me.

 

When they called us to the track I got to line up next to a guy named Khalid Mulazim.  They introduced him listing off his national championships and age group records in the 400 and whatnot.  All I knew was that he was this 6'2" 190 pound superhero looking guy.  This is him from the web.

 

 

Yeah.  There are pictures of him on the web.

 

So I look up at this monster, stick out my hand and say, "good luck and have fun!"

 

"This is just for fun," he said seriously then smiled, "I've never run this event before."

 

I didn't feel any better since he could run the 400 in 50 seconds flat.

 

They gave us our instructions and called us to the line.  I felt remarkably calm.  I told myself to just relax the first 100 and fall in with the back of the pack.  Don't burn it up in the first lap.  Just stay close.

 

The gun sounded and away we went.  And, DAMN did the front guys go.  I got left back immediately and then had to accelerate just to stay up, but I caught myself and slowed my chase so I would just stay with the last two or three guys in front of me.  We came to the end of the first lap and the big clock (they have a big clock like the meets on TV because this a big meet like the ones on TV) and it just clicked to 35 as I passed it.  I felt good and kept my breathing slow and deep as I stayed with only two guys ahead of me now, thinking that my first 200 in my fastest 400 workouts were 36's and that 10 x 200 workout I was only doing 34's and those felt hard!

 

But that one didn't feel hard.  I cruised around and watched the clock as I finished the first 400 and it was on 1:09 as I got to it, clicking to 1:10 just out of the corner of my eye.

 

Now I was scared.

 

I felt okay.  A little winded, but that was 5 seconds faster than it should have been.  I was scared I wasn't going to be able to put two 1:15's back to back and here I just did the first one in 1:10.  Stupid.

 

Except that I was breathing well and my legs weren't burning yet.  I was okay.  Slowing some, but okay.  My fear had me slow down in the third 200 but so did the guys ahead of me.  They weren't getting any further ahead and then all of a sudden I saw the guy right in front of me pogo stick off the track as he pulled his hamstring.  I felt bad for the guy, but had to make up some room between me and the next one ahead of me, so I started to push some as we got to the bell lap.

 

That's a very cool moment hearing that bell and knowing there's only one to go.

 

I pushed a little and felt my legs respond.  My lungs were good, but I was breathing hard now.  Still, I kept trying to accelerate and I began closing on the guy.

 

We got to the beginning of the last turn and he had four or five strides on me.

 

I dropped my hands and thought, "take off!"  and my legs said, "Okay!"

 

I closed on the guy so fast I had to move out to the second lane to go by.  Even with the extra distance I knew I had come on so fast he was not going to be able to get me back.  As I passed him I drifted halfway into the first lane again so he'd have to go wide if wanted by, but he wasn't coming and I was closing on the guy ahead of me.

 

I kept expecting to feel that tightness in my stomach when I'm gonna hork from exertion, but it wasn't there.  My training was right and I was ready for this race.

 

I looked to the left as I drove hard across the finish line and saw that 2:24.

 

I couldn't believe it!

 

Friends got pictures near the finish, though they were blurry, and then my daughter took a picture of the board.

 



 

The Kick

 

The Finish  (left him!)

 

The Time

 

 





When I got to the bleachers Spoon and Kaestner were saying, "we told you! we told you!"  And they had.

 

I still got absolutely crushed by the leaders of this race, it was won in 2:02, but my confidence in how the sprint work had helped me out was soaring.  I had just cut 16 seconds off of my fastest 800 from last year, and it turned out that time just placed me in the Top 25 in Masters Rankings for the 2013 Indoor Season!  There are still a couple of meets in different parts of the country going on so I might get pushed out, but for today I'm ranked 23rd.  Big Smile!!

 

I feel like I can still improve on that and get in there with "the big boys" if I can figure out how to balance the rest and work stuff.  But it's getting clearer.  Sprint and weights once a week, one long run per week, one tempo run per week.  Now to see if I can do an additional speed workout and still get enough rest in there to recover and keep making gains.

 

Regardless.  I can't wait to keep working at it!