It was a hot one (low 90s) for tonight's second summer decathlon event, but we had a great time anyway. I took all 3 of my kids plus one of Lincoln's best friends, Alec. The kid's barely 12 and has run a 20:25 5K already!
Tonights event: the 800M. They ran it in 5 heats, from slowest to fastest. Raeann went in a slow heat and did quite well despite the heat and any real running in the past few weeks. Lincoln went out in the middle heat and did awesome! He's 11 and is really starting to cover some ground with his strides as he gets bigger. He recently ran a 3:33 800M in school. Given the heat tonight, he was going to be happy with anything in the 3:30s. He kicked it in in 3:34. He looked good all the way through!
I ran in the second to last heat, along with Lincoln's friend Alec. He shot ahead right at the start and I never really saw him after that. I've run the 800M each of the last 3 years, getting times ranging from 2:41 to 2:42. (Big range, huh?) Given the really lousy mile I ran last week and the high temps tonight, I was bracing for something over 2:50. I was genuinely afraid of how bad it might be tonight. Well, no worries as it turned out. I took the first 100 fast, as I had wanted, taking advantage of the fact that I was one of the few wearing spikes in my heat, and then I settled into a steady pace. At 200M is usually where I feel horrible when I run this distance. Tonight, not so bad. I stayed steady through the first lap, and I was pleasantly pleased to find that my lap split was right where I was hoping it might be -- 80 or 81 seconds. I knew I should be able to do that for the first lap, but I figured that then I'd be pretty well spent. But the nice thing was that I didn't feel spent! I tried to hold my pace through the next turn, then tried to pick it up. Well, although I wasn't dead, I also wasn't quite running as fast as the first lap. Going into the final turn I started my kick, passing a woman that I'd been shadowing up until then. There was a huge gap from there to the next runner, but I cut that gap in half during the homestretch, putting a little distance behind me, too. Finished in 2:45. Maybe a few seconds off my PR, but it felt strong, and I had a little bit left at the end. I could have started my kick earlier and maybe shaved a little more time. I'm getting back to where I want to be!
Alec ran a sweet 2:40, BTW!
After the final heat of the 800 came the kids run. And Skylar just tore up the track! I'm convinced she may have the most talent in the family.
Then came the relays! We got into teams of 3 (based on our 800 times to even things out) and then ran relays where each runner on each team ran a 1200, then an 800, and then a 400, in that order. My son ran the workout too, which was really cool for me. As it worked out, I was our team's first runner and Lincoln was his team's first, so we toed the line together. He's not shy about trash talking either! Well, I won the first battle by beating him soundly in the 1200 (I had our team in 2nd out of 8 teams at that point). By the time my turn came around again for the 800, he had a good 50 yard head start on me. I eventually caught up to him, ran very briefly with him, and then kicked ahead. For the final leg, the 400, he had a similar head start. I ran it hard and gained on him - and he knew I was back there - but with only 1 lap to work with I couldn't make up the gap. I burned a good 1:21 for that last lap, but he still had me by a few seconds. Of course, then I really heard it from him about how he beat me in the end! We followed that up with Italian ice at Rita's. Fun times! I'm really looking forward to the next few years of sharing running with him.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Second to Last
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I’ve never been much of a distance runner. At least, I wasn’t born with much natural aptitude for it. Back in high school I ran track and cross country, but that probably deserves some qualifying remarks. I was a jumper in track. Long jump, triple jump, high jump. Maybe got in a sprint relay every now and then. As such, the workouts involved being in the pits more than being on the track. I was better at building sand castles than running 400s.
To compliment track I joined cross country for my junior and senior years, and that’s where my natural running ability surfaced. Or rather the lack thereof. Every practice, every meet, I was the last one in on our team. And ours was one of the weakest teams in the conference. At most any other school, I probably would never have seen varsity. I always ran hard; tried to improve, but my place never changed much. Perhaps the defining moment for me came at the annual Niles West Indian Raider Invitational – the largest meet in Illinois. 299 varsity boys running. I finished 298th.
Through the years I continued running, but sporadically. Run for a few weeks and then I’d get too busy, or too lazy, and then I’d stop for a month or two. In 2006 I gained some focus and decided to commit to running regularly. At first I just wanted to get in shape, but soon I wanted to really find out how fast I could be if I really trained at it. Could I move up the running hierarchy; step up a couple of rungs and actually compete with a class of runners that I could never before be competitive with?
I think I’ve actually managed that to a small extent over the last few years.
But last week I raced the 1600M as part of the Frederick Steeplechasers’ annual Summer Decathlon. After an inconsistent spring and a few other issues, I can’t really say that I was expecting much. And with a 6:35 time that’s pretty much what I got…not much. A few days later I checked out the age-weighted results for the race and found myself, out of 25 male runners, second to last.
That’s a depressing result, but it’s given me something to focus on, something to point to and say, “Fuck no, not that!” Does it mean that I really won’t ever escape my genetic limitations? Will I always be condemned to running at the back of the pack of my peers? The result doesn’t depress me and leave me hopeless; it pisses me off! Ok, so I’ve re-visited this special little place – second to last – once again after all these years. But now I’m ready to leave and I AIN’T EVER COMING BACK!
To compliment track I joined cross country for my junior and senior years, and that’s where my natural running ability surfaced. Or rather the lack thereof. Every practice, every meet, I was the last one in on our team. And ours was one of the weakest teams in the conference. At most any other school, I probably would never have seen varsity. I always ran hard; tried to improve, but my place never changed much. Perhaps the defining moment for me came at the annual Niles West Indian Raider Invitational – the largest meet in Illinois. 299 varsity boys running. I finished 298th.
Through the years I continued running, but sporadically. Run for a few weeks and then I’d get too busy, or too lazy, and then I’d stop for a month or two. In 2006 I gained some focus and decided to commit to running regularly. At first I just wanted to get in shape, but soon I wanted to really find out how fast I could be if I really trained at it. Could I move up the running hierarchy; step up a couple of rungs and actually compete with a class of runners that I could never before be competitive with?
I think I’ve actually managed that to a small extent over the last few years.
But last week I raced the 1600M as part of the Frederick Steeplechasers’ annual Summer Decathlon. After an inconsistent spring and a few other issues, I can’t really say that I was expecting much. And with a 6:35 time that’s pretty much what I got…not much. A few days later I checked out the age-weighted results for the race and found myself, out of 25 male runners, second to last.
That’s a depressing result, but it’s given me something to focus on, something to point to and say, “Fuck no, not that!” Does it mean that I really won’t ever escape my genetic limitations? Will I always be condemned to running at the back of the pack of my peers? The result doesn’t depress me and leave me hopeless; it pisses me off! Ok, so I’ve re-visited this special little place – second to last – once again after all these years. But now I’m ready to leave and I AIN’T EVER COMING BACK!
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