June 9
The 800
Andy was not very demonstrative with his encouragement as a coach when I was a high school kid. I’d pass by him on the track or the cross-country course and usually he would just say, in an almost inaudible voice, “Go, go, go.” That was it. No yelling, no screaming, no cajoling us to pass the next kid or anything like that. I think he pretty well understood that generally speaking the race was already accomplished in the days and weeks of practice leading up to the event itself. I liked it, too. His subtle encouragement to “go” was more motivating to me than a whole lot of yelling.
After the mile two days before, the pressure I had put on myself subsided quite a lot, so when I got to the stadium for the 800 I wasn’t so worried about my warm-ups and spent some time before the race talking with Andy. We talked about some of his travels and his grown kids, Ryan and Alysun. He said that his opportunities to travel in recent years had really broadened him but that he felt like he still had “one foot in the furrow.” I believe him. Besides teaching me how to run fast, Andy also taught me to appreciate literature like Nathaniel Hawthorne and Shakespeare, but most of all he was a model of integrity who took seriously his work as an educator and a role model for kids. He is the salt of the earth in the best possible sense.
I took off from the inside lane at the gun and immediately took the lead. It was a warm windy evening again, like it had been for the mile on Tuesday, so I wasn’t too optimistic to get a great time, but I thought if I ran a 62 or 63 second first quarter I could maybe manage a 2:08 or so. As I approached the 200m point and ran through it Andy announced on the public address system, “29…30….31…….. go.” And then I was really inspired. I raised a mysterious “thumbs up” as I powered into the curve to acknowledge a connection that nobody else in the stadium understood.
I pushed especially hard through the first homestretch because I wanted to ensure a gap between me and second place that would ensure that he had to eat the wind as much as I did. I think I managed to do that and came through the 400 in 63. I ran the second half of the race just as hard as I could, but the best I could manage was about a 68 second quarter for a total time just barely under 2:11 . As I rounded the final turn my boss was there yelling at me that I needed to GO. I confess that she had me scared to death that second place was right on my tail, which was probably good for my time. She told me later that she hoped I could break the record (just under 2:10 ) which was why she had been so urgent in her cheering. I guess I was pretty close. With a little less wind I might have done it.
Anyway, I won by at least three or four seconds and had a lot of fun doing it. This time the old coach knew it was me running and we got to share the race, too. Magic.
The Distance Medley
By virtue of running the fastest mile time in the company tryout (a darn fine 4:51.0 1600m, if I do say so) I had the anchor spot on this relay consisting of Jeff running 800m, Sara running 400m, Rebecca running 400m and me running 1200m. Jeff had run a 2:14 800 in his age group race earlier in the evening so I hoped he could manage at least a 2:20 doubling up. I hoped the ladies could each go under 75, and I hoped I could manage a 3:30 on my second race of the night.
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| Sara, Me, Rebecca, Jeff |
I sized up Sprint and was worried. They had their own young Jeff running the 1200m leg who I knew could run 5k under 16:00 and I also knew it was very unlikely I could stay with him. Before we took the line I told him that if I happened to get the baton before him I would appreciate it if he would at least make it look like a contest before he crushed me. He chuckled and we wished each other luck.
Our Jeff ran an absolutely stellar 800, putting up a 2:14 for the second time that evening. I was really impressed with his ability to recover and perform equal to his open race. Sara and Rebecca then ran good quarters, but the field was tough and it turned out that I took the baton in 4th place a good 20 meters or more behind Sprint’s Jeff who was in third. Second place DST had at least that much more on Sprint, so I figured the best I could do was run for fourth place. This decision turned out to be a disservice to my teammates. Had I run my leg the very best I could have for time we would have moved up one place in the medal points for sure and I might have even chased down DST in our division . Maybe.
Still, there is one fun story left to tell about this relay. I am usually a pretty good sport, but when I came through 200m I asked a co-worker standing by the track what place we were in. He told me 4th, but as he did so an opponent started to pass me and said, “You’re in 5th.” A bit cheeky. Maybe all in good fun, but I decided to sit on him and see how he would hold up. I disallowed my opponent to pass and forced him to the outside of the turn. We came through the first 400 in about 71 and I forced him to the outside of the next two turns before allowing him to pass going into the headwind of the second homestretch. Because of my cat and mouse game the second quarter was slower than it could have been, only a 76. When we came to the post at the end of 800, though, I exploded around him and said, “Bye”, as I went past. OK, so that wasn’t really good sportsmanship and I feel a little bit ashamed of myself, but like all of my sins it can’t be changed now, just forgiven. I finished off the final 400m in 71 for a total time of 3:38 . Ah… it was a so-so effort. By mentally conceding that I could do no better than fourth place I made a mistake in judgment about the race to be sure and in retrospect I didn’t perform as well for my team as I should have done. But nevertheless, it sure was a lot of fun for me, and I hope it was for all of us. This relay was the last event of the night, run under the lights. I always loved running the 3200m in high school near the end of the meet, under the lights. It was nostalgic. It was a blast.
