Anne Sluder speeding over hurdle |
SouthEast
Region Masters Indoor Championships were coming up at JDL Fast Track on
February 21, 2016. Back in September, I
sensed a spark of interest in track from some of my NCRC road running colleagues
after they attended the NC Senior Games.
However, all are distance oriented road runners, a few already living on
the dark side, in the ultra marathon world.
Nonetheless,
I talked track to them. The object being
next year’s NC Senior Games. I knew better
than to work on the dark siders. After
all, someone who runs, trots, staggers, through 100 miles is loaded with slow
twitch oriented muscles. Their fast
twitch muscles have probably atrophied!
You nurture what you need for your favored events. Two of the marathon runners, however, were
considering maybe trying track – but only if it did not interfere with their
marathon goals.
So, much to
my surprise, a week or two before the JDL event, three of the road runners
decided to try it, just to get the experience.
One is not only a marathoner but also a tri-athlete and has, ugh,
ventured into the dark lands of ultra. Two
are in the process of training for and hoping to qualify for Boston, so this
would just be an excursion for them. Two
of the three are graduates of The Scream and other exotic events.
I will call these road runners Pandora and Clarise. (to preserve them from harm by my wit - they are road runners, after all, with stellar creds!)
The Friday before
the event, Pandora and I went to NCSU track so she could try out her new track
shoes on a suitable track and I went to
experiment with starting blocks (again!)
I was changing my stance from left block forward to right block forward,
now that my right knee seemed a
little better. However, I found that in
order to push off with the right foot, I would have to hold it adjacent to the
block until the SET command, at which point I could raise up to the start
position, reducing the acute angle my knee takes when the foot goes against the
block. While I was fooling with this, Pandora was trotting the track in her shoes, getting a feel for the spikes and making
sure they would not hurt. We did not run
much or hard, since she had an eight mile training run the next day and I still
ached from the prior day’s Camp Gladiator session.
Saturday
evening, one of the threesome decided to abandon the track expedition, suffering
from “lead” legs after her long marathon training session earlier. Pandora wasn’t feeling tip top either but was
raring to go.
Clarise was scheduled to run the 60m, 200m,
and the 3000m. Pandora was signed up for
the 200m, 400m, and the mile. I was
doing the 60m, 400m and 200m, in that order. We got there in plenty of time to
settle in and warm up. The 60m event was
the first event any of us would be running. Clarise looked real snazzy in her compression shorts and colorful over shorts.
We both had on neon green tops, hers a Nog Run Club shirt and mine the Piedmont
Pacer singlet. Because not as many folks
were here (sidelined by injury), JDL dispensed with the declaration sheets and
had us check in just prior to each event.
My Piedmont Pacer teammate, Angela Staab, and I remarked at how amazing
the memories of the folks at the check in desk are. They remember us before we can get our names
out! (In my case, perhaps because I am one of the few ancients who sometimes runs
in the All Comers Meet in November.)
We were queued in race session order. For the 60m there were three sessions. Usually, the aged precede the younger in
these events. Not this time. I figured Clarise would be nervous, this
being her first track event as a Master (maybe since high school?) She would be
running with three competitors who were in the next lower AG. While waiting, I saw Pandora come over and
talk to Clarise as the officials were lining up her heat. I’m edgy, thinking
she would not get in position in time. Oy! But she did and off they went. About ¾ of the way down the track, (about 9
seconds into it), I see Clarise raise her hand and wave to the stands, as if
running by pals watching a road race! I was flabbergasted, thinking of the seconds
lost! Then I started to laugh (and am still doing so at the memory.) Turns out,
she did this because Pandora had told her another ultra runner who had come to
cheer us on was going to try to get a photo of her running. Nonetheless, Clarise ran a respectable time.
I was the
only one in my AG in my three events, so when I ran my 60m, I ran with four
others, representing two lower AGs. I
just barely escaped being last.
In the
400m, there were three of us in my heat: the oldest folk. And, as I slogged
around the backstretch the first time, Peter Taylor, master track announcer, announces
that I am “.. At 75, the oldest woman in the race!” (ha ha! Thank you, Peter, my pal!) Watch out! Ancient on the track! The 400m is
not fun. Chug chug, I run like an old
lady: short steps, arms paddling. Not a pretty
sight. At least this time, after passing
the cones about 120m into the 400, I cut over to lane one without worrying
about cutting another runner off. (Unlike last year’s Indoor Nationals, where I
did not cut in and continued in lane two for another 200m or so! Duh!) Despite running in lane one this time, I was way slower than last year. Better than the November All Comers time, but
still falling short of where I need to be. (Actually, where I need to be is on
the sidelines.) I watched as Atlanta
Track Club’s Lesley Chaplin (National Champ in the 800m and 1500m, as well #2
in the World in the 800m) ran the 400m with one other runner. Peter Taylor
announced Lesley’s accomplishments as she zoomed around (a 57 year old setting
records!). The expression of joy on her face when she saw her 1:09.89 time on
the screen was a photo moment.
Pandora ran next, with a group of seasoned runners, including Carolinas Track and
Field’s Lane Wilton. Lane, as well as
her slightly younger Carolinas Track & Field teammates Toccata Murphy and
Melanie Walker, of relay record fame, is speedy. I did not forewarn Pandora of this. No reason to encourage a negative mindset. When
she was making her last turn on the back stretch I yelled “Push it!” Though it was quick, I perceived a slow
turning of the head and evil glance come my way.
Next up was
the 200m, which all three of us were running.
In this case, I ran in the first group and screwed up badly at the
start. There were no starting blocks on
the track in my lane, so I reverted back to my three-point start. I had my right foot forward and left back.
At the SET, my left arm went back and up – and boom! I was off balance. I was in
recovery mode when the gun went off. It
wasn’t until I viewed the video (and a video from another event in which I’d
used the 3-point start without problem,) that I saw what had gone wrong. Wrong
arm back and up! And so it goes. One
never knows when a start will go bad, a foot might trip over the other, or for
those running longer events in a mass, another runner clipping one’s foot.
Though
running against more experienced and trained competitors, who whizzed right by,
my road running pals did well in their
races, both beating my time. (On slow twitch trained muscles!)
Panera was
there for those who could eat between events. (Unfortunately, when I was ready
to eat after my last event, they had already packed up!) I munched on trail mix and a few energy bars.
Pandora ran
the mile with a full range of ages.
Eight times around the track. We
yelled as she passed by the stands, around and around. One of her competitors was a 31 year old who
finished in just over five minutes. Pandora made great time, exceeding her goal
and coming in under eight minutes, at 7:35.
Women's Mile start line |
We watched
the renowned 66-year-old So Cal Track Club’s Nolan Shaheed, here with his
offspring, run the mile in 5:43.84, along with Piedmont Pacer Carl Dixon Cook
in 6:06.53.
Nolan Shaheed in Mile race |
Dixon Cook in Mile race |
Our last single event was Clarise's 3000m.
Fifteen times around the track. Ugh. All
the women running the 3000m ran as one large group, mixed ages. We watched as after the first circuit or so, Clarise moved up to pass the last runner. The
women continued around the track and as the remaining laps got fewer, the pace
slackened. At the end, Clarise beat the
other woman in her AG. But coming off
the track she was dizzy -- all those round and rounds!
The road
runners did great in their track outing and did not let running with or against
the “pros” intimidate. This is good. They will return to track one day, maybe as a
break from all that distance training.