2021 initial track meets after two year hiatus
The frustrations and annoyances of 2020 are for another time. Angela Staab and I began a blog for the two of us in which we detailed some of what transpired.
James Carter Invitational May 9
After Sunday track workouts when we could find a track to sneak onto, Rick Pack, Michael Jones, Matt Holtry, and I signed up for a Youth oriented meet May 9th in which Masters had been added. Michael was concerned about whether they would have the hurdle height he required. Rick just wanted to run his 800. At the last moment I decided to take advantage of it since the James Carter Invitational meet was right next door, in Durham NC.
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| Rick Pack |
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| Matt Goltry Michael Jones |
Lots of youth teams, ranging in age from, it seemed, five and up. Strangely, they were all tolerant of the old person warming up or just hanging about. Because of the enormity of numbers, it took a long time before I ran a race. I think it was the 200 and I ran alone on the track. The same was true for one of Michael’s events, the other he ran with younger women (in their teens) The crowd was quite encouraging when I trotted my two races all by my lonesome. (200m 48.03, wind 3.6, 100m 21.92 wind 4.1) It was really windy up at the top of the announcer's area.
When Rick and I were leaving one woman came up and told us how inspiring we were.
That was in early May. Next up was the USATF Mega Regional - East and Southeast, hosted by Potomac Valley TC at the Landover MD outdoor track, June 5th and 6th..
USATF Masters Mega Regional East-SouthEast
Full USATF Covid protocol in place: show proof of vaccination or a COVID negative PCR or antigen result in the 7 days prior. Plus temp check each of the two days with mask wearing mandatory, except when competing. I signed up for the 100, 200, 400, shot, discus, and javelin.
Now, to the drive there. When I had driven to Landover for the 2018 Indoor Nationals, I ended up in D.C. proper. I hoped not to have the same occur this time. I first tested that the Android Auto capability would work, in which Waze (or google maps) would display on the driver condole instead of on the cell. More convenient, plus this gave the added benefit of using Spotify.
The beginning of the trip was as expected. I-40 to US 64 towards Rocky Mount and then onto I-95. It Was a dry day so that was good. Somewhere beyond Fredericksburg, Waze took me off and onto 301. Very little traffic until near Ft Detrick. I was still on 301 crossing the Potomac when I saw the dark clouds. Shortly after, Waze took me off of 301 and onto local streets - just as the downpour arrived. Visibility was limited. I was on a two lane road going about 35mph with two cars in front. I recall passing a school with busses lined up. It was around 3pm. My original projected arrival time in Landover was 3:30. I was nowhere near my destination.
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| US 301 |
When the rain eased, the car in front, Florida plates, still traveled at 35mph in a 50mph zone. Eventually, I was put back on I-95 in lots of congestion. However, I got to my hotel by 5.
Saturday, I had the 100m and discus events. Warming up on a very hot day, I got my first close up look at some of the numerous cicadas. I warmed up behind the track in a small area at the back of the grassy area. It bordered a large fenced in area, probably an overflow parking lot for FedEx stadium. One of the cicadas with its huge red eyes slowly progressed up a tree. I found the exo skeleton of another on a different tree and another cicada crawling up. I had no energy to begin the warm up. Legs stiff etc. Small short jogs and walking around before I tried a 50% very short sprint. The paved area was not very large, maybe 20m. I worked up to my short 100% sprints and was done with it.
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| exo shell |
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| looking for a mate up there? |
Oh, yes, I had forgotten my beet juice Friday. A frantic expedition to various stores did no good. But a pal texted me to get a can of beets. Out I went again and got the beets, an opener, and a spoon. The juice from the can would have to do for my two days of racing.
Rose Green and Barbara Warren were in my 100m heat. Both Rose and I were wearing green tops. It seems cicadas like green, for they kept flying and landing on us. Rose freaked out. She was doing the dance of the devil, trying to get them off and away. Some were moseying around on the track surface. I worried about stepping on them during the race. There was a delay as one of the officials kept kneeling on the ground by the Finish line, perhaps calibrating or adjusting the timing system.. When the race began I followed Rose down the track, not aware of much else. Rose later said she had eased off before the Finish because her leg muscle twitched. Prior to the race she said that she is having problems with the side of her right quad. I suspect it may be related to her hip issue, perhaps throwing her off balance. Nonetheless, she beat me to the Finish.(my time 21:53)
Unfortunately, she decided to forego any other race, fearing hurting it.
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| Rose Green and Rick Pack |
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| Rose Green |
It was really hot and there was very little shade. Some outside the track beneath a building overhang and some beneath a few trees, but those spots were taken. I watched Warren and Gloria Krug at the long jump pit area. Barbara was having physical issues having strained something on one of her first events - high jump? She tested out whether she could do the long jump and was satisfied that she could.
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| Barbara Warren |
Standing in the stands, one could really feel the heat. I think it was in the high 90s but not too humid. My discus throws were so so. The schedule for saturday had the last events starting at around 1pm. I was back at the hotel before 3, ending up eating a Wendy's take out southwestern salad without meat. (My new regime was to not eat meat or fish, sort of following the Game Changer regime.) The salad therefore was just so so.
Sunday, I had the 400 and then the 200. I had signed up for the 400 just to see what would happen. I saw that some folks in my age group were running in the 2s, other than the elites who ran 1:30 and up. I was the only one in my AG since Rose had scratched. I started out slowly and maintained the slow pace until about 120m or so from the Finish. There was a runner a ways ahead of me so I began to push to see if I could catch her. I did, just before the Finish line. And I was still breathing afterward. (time 2:02.89) In the 200, I started out at a faster pace and backed off only a little after 40m but maintained that pace until the Finish.(47.52)
Tammy Graf, 85, was in our shot group as was Gloria Krug, who had been breaking world AG records all day., having just turned 90.
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| Gloria Krug at shot put |
Nicole Kelly and her mom Linda Kelly were also in our shot group and Nicole had some nice heaves. Gloria was impressed, which is saying something. The cicadas hovered around us, in the air and on the grass or on us. I liked the little buggers and their gentle ways with the humans, to which we were just another object but not suitable for depositing their eggs. (They deposit these, I have read, under tree bark.) There was a pair on the ground, perhaps prepping to mate when one of the 50 something women stepped back onto them. End of story for this enamored pair.
The last event which started at about 4:15 was the javelin. I got some tips from Nicole and Gloria. The problem is I can only keep one tip in my mind at a time. The heat was getting to me. I felt dizzy one time when I got up so I found some shade. I did watch Nicole Kelly and some of the USATF volunteers run a 4x400!
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| award area with some of the volunteers |
Ugh! In searing heat at the end of a long day. Running that in the best of weather is an ugh.
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| Nicole Kelly |
By the time the event was over, i was ready to get home. Tired. Tired. The drive home took almost as long as the one going, but not quite.
"2020" USA Masters Games Grand Rapids, MI 6/26/2021
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| 6+ inches of rain in 3 days |
Way back when Angela Staab suggested this one, I was hesitant. I had looked back at their 2017 Meet, it seemed it was not well attended. I feared the same would be true of this one. This, like many events, was rescheduled from the canceled 2020 Games. (And, like the Olympics, still logoed and presented as a 2020 event.) Angela had decided on doing the 5K which was being run on a thursday. For a little while, I also considered it but then looked up the route which for a portion ran alongside a highway. Angela had checked to be sure it was not on concrete. But for me, even running on pavement was not for me, so I decided to arrive on Friday for the one day track event on Saturday. We both planned to leave on Sunday. I signed up for the 50m, 100m, 200m, and the 400m (why not?) I also signed up for javelin since that one did not conflict quite as much with the running events. Angela signed up for the 200m, 800m, 1500m, and all of the throwing events. She called Michigan several times, to verify that they would have all the implements for her age group.
We both thought that this was a Masters only Meet. I think Angela discovered otherwise when she went to her 6pm 5K event in a downpour! Terrible rain but she ran it, any way.
Angela had found that the hotel bar area had good separation between tables. They also had an outside balcony eating area which overlooked a river in the distance. Few people were in the eating area. Perfect! Can't recall what I ate Friday, but it was good and for sure Saturday's salmon was superb. I know I ate far too much both days. They had tasty chips and dip as well.
So Saturday, we show up at Comstock Park High School to find hordes of kids! Turns out USA Masters Games combined with the Meijer State Games. Their State Games are open to all ages. There was a nine year old in Angela's 5K. Age 10-12 was the youngest in the track events. It certainly meant many more people competing. It also meant a longer wait for the masters age groups to compete. Oh, and since Michigan had lifted all Covid-19 restrictions, there were none. All the kids was a surprise to me. The next surprise came when we went to the javelin competition. I tried out the track while Angela talked to some folk who asked about USATF since she was wearing a USATF jacket.
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| Kids Can (? what do you think.) |
Finding the javelin area was a bit of an adventure. It was a good thing Angela decided to drive there since it would have been a ten or longer minute walk which would have been a concern since it was banging up against the 50m start. It was difficult to see where the throwing was taking place. Even more difficult to find a path into it. We had to walk up a small incline on a narrow shrub restricted path to get onto the field. If there was another way - we did not see it. (we had followed where a fellow had just exited.) Unwittingly, we walked right across the throwing area since nothing was well marked. It was beginning to drizzle. We found where we should declare only by walking to where some people were gathered around a woman with a clipboard. And here comes surprise number two. There were no event supplied implements. You brought your own or you did not throw. This was not what Angela had been told when she called while still at home. This was a huge disappointment for Angela. She could have brought some of her own had she known.
That put a damper on the rest of the meet, not to mention that when we got back to the track, it began pouring.
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| pouring - track below |
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| a small river near the concession area |
We sheltered by the Men's room entrance, along with some others. Eventually, I moved to the side overhang of the concession stand while Angela went down to the shot or maybe discus throwing area. At one point during the rain, I went looking for her. The rivers of water in the gully between the track area and the throwing area were just about impossible to avoid. My shoes and socks were soaked. I did not see her so returned to the overhang area. Some of the elite Master women had shown up for the event and were hanging out there. Colleen Barney, the new USATF Masters Active Athlete Rep,, Kathleen Shook, and Leanda Funk.
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| Funk and Shook (?) |
When trying to warm up for the 50m, my knees were incredibly stiff. It was taking me forever to go even five or six steps. Quite discouraging.
I ran the 50m with Barbara Hensley and some of the elites as well as Elsbeth Padia,83, the master thrower from Toronto's 2019 NCCWMA. She beat me! (11.52 to 1187)
It was a long wait for my next event. I hung out by a soccer goal net on the infield when not trying to keep legs moving. Angela appeared at some point, telling me she had lost an item. She'd searched everywhere. I searched up by the bathrooms etc. No luck. Finally I found where the announcer was hanging out. He made an announcement. Upon which a master trackster said someone she had been with had seen it down near the field. Angela went back down there and found where it had been turned in. It had of course been soaked and was a bit muddy. A disaster averted and one less thing to be pissed about concerning how the day was going.
While waiting to run the 200m, I watched some of the younger folk run hurdles and then the Masters. The announcer mentioned a fellow, maybe in his 60s, who had had a liver transplant the prior year. He ran well. But what I later took note of was that he was in a group chatting it up, not maintaining a six foot distance, without wearing a mask. I wondered if he was on transplant related anti-rejection drugs, because they could potentially make him immuno compromised and vulnerable to Covid-19. It sucks that we still have to be so cautious about this.
Angela, Barbara Hensley, and I talked while waiting for the 200m.
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| Barbara Hensley Angela Staab |
We have several times been on the same relay team. She had driven there from Ohio and was thinking of leaving due to the weather and feeling a bit wiped. She ran the 200m, as did Angela, and then left. Angela still had the 800m and 1500m to go and I had the 400m and 100m. I was putting on my spikes for the 400m when I saw lightning flash in the distance. At this point they told us to leave the field and bleachers. Then it began pouring again. I was trying to get my spikes off and shoes back on but it was taking too long so I walked in my socks as we left the field to go sit in the car. The surface in the parking lot was stony. Yeow! The delay was at least an hour Many people left.
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| wet, while waiting out the storm |
After about an hour, the rain lessened, there had been no lightning for about 20 minutes so the announcement came that they were going to start up again with the 400m. and run the rest of the races consecutively one after another. We hurried up to get back down to the track, though I made a pit stop. Difficult to do with wet compression shorts!
Down to the track and try to get the spikes on as they were lining up the 400m runners. Aiii. Putting on spikes with wet socks is not easy. I got to the line (they had to wait a bit while I stuffed the ends under the laces.) I got lane 8. 8 and 1 lots of puddles. I got to about 25m from the Finish and ran out of energy. I walked then had one last spurt. I am pretty sure I was last. (2:14.87 maybe personal worst) Right up after that was the 100m. The announcer and his folk were trying to get these last events in before lightning returned. I was running next to a lady heavier and younger than me, maybe 40, who I just could not catch. (my time 23.53)
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| Angela's 800m start |
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| All Done and wet! |
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| Anton Darby holding his shoes and brother |
Angela ran her 800m and then decided to run the 1600m after all (she had earlier decided aganst it.) Yes, it was 1600, not 1500. Five women, ranging in age from 14 to Angela's 78! After the event, she chatted it up with fellow runners (the rain had stopped). She talked up USATF and the forthcoming Ames Outdoor Nationals to a 31 year old, Anton Darby, who seemed interested in doing the USATF events. There was not much time left to register for Ames, and alas, he did not.
I can say that back at the hotel we almost wore out the hairdryer trying to dry our wet track clothes and shoes.
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