I ran the Bennett Blazer Invitational Track Meet in Towson, MD this weekend - running the 3000m in 13:21.8 and the 800m in 3:25.4.
Towson is 70-80 minutes north of my home by car if there isn't any traffic, and so I left my house around 6:25 am (meant to leave at 6:10 am) so that I would arrive and have sufficient time to check in, stretch and mobilize, put my shoes and numbers on, and warm up before running the first race of the morning - a 3000m at 8:30 am.
I arrived about 7:30 - perfect timing, though I was surprised that nobody else was there yet and the doors to the stadium were still locked. About 20 minutes later, someone clued me in that I was in the wrong place - I was currently parked outside of the baseball diamond, not the running track.
So, the morning ended up more rushed than I would like. I fortunately found a parking place at the real track quickly, yanked my racing shoes on, grabbed my bib and pinned it, and hit the track for an abbreviated warm-up.
I usually warm up with 20-25 minutes easy, 3 minutes at tempo effort (90 second jog), 4x30 seconds hard with 30 seconds jog, and then 4x10 second strides with 20 second jog. I cut the initial easy jog to 10 minutes and managed to fit in the rest of the routine, but I very much felt not-quite-ready as I walked over to the start line for the 3000.
***
There were four athletes in this race - two ambulatory and two wheelchair. Usually ambulatory runners and wheelchair athletes are in separate heats, but since there were only two athletes of each type and this race takes over 10 minutes to run, it made sense to combine the heats and conserve time in the schedule.
I had some safety concerns about sharing the track with racing wheelchairs, but I was assured that it would be fine, so I put that worry to the side and focused on my race. The ambulatory runners - my friend Casey and myself - were in lanes 1-2, while the wheelchair racers were in lanes 5-6.
The gun went off, and I actually wasn't in last place for a moment - this because wheelchair racers always need some distance to get up to speed. Wheelchair racers tend to be slower at the 100m distance than ambulatory sprinters. But by the time you get to 400m, that difference has reversed, and then the gap grows as the distance lengthens.
About 80m into the race, both wheelchairs passed me and began to pull away slowly. Casey tucked in behind me initially before dropping back (he had a specific time goal that he was trying to hit without destroying himself for later races). And then I was alone, trying to loosen up and work into my rhythm, with the wheelchairs ahead.
For the first mile, I was pleasantly surprised that the wheelchair racers weren't too far ahead. This gave me something to chase, though I knew that the chances of me catching them were nil.
7 1/2 laps went by both quickly and slowly, as I worked on staying as relaxed as possible while also using my lungs correctly and keeping my eyes up and rotating my torso (it likes to stay stiff and locked if I don't think about it). I had no idea what pace I was running - I wasn't wearing a Garmin (to comply with US Adaptive Track & Field rules) and there was no clock in sight. But the fact that the wheelchairs weren't too far ahead of me told me that I was probably running pretty well.
Eventually both wheelchairs pulled far enough away that I couldn't see them without turning my head to the side and looking across the track. As the bell rang for my last lap, I heard the wheelchairs coming up behind for their finish and realized with a bit of satisfaction that they had never lapped me. Excellent.
I pushed the last lap as hard as I could without straining and then hobbled around on the back side of the finish line, gasping for air. Upon request, one of the track officials informed me that I had run just over 13 minutes. I didn't know whether that meant 13:01 or something higher, but either way I was happy with it for a rust buster.
***
I had about 12 minutes between the end of the 3000m and the start of the 800m. Some people thought this was unfortunate, but I actually preferred it this way and had signed up for the 800m (rather than the 1500m to be held later) for just this reason. Once I had mostly caught my breath, I checked in for the 800m (conveniently, I was in lane 1 for both, so no need to swap hip numbers) and then jogged on the infield with some strides right until we lined up for the 800m.
Standing on the line of the 800m, I could tell that my mind was not quite ready for another race effort. But that was too bad, 'cuz we were going anyway. I comforted myself with the knowledge that it was only two laps. And then the gun went off.
I was the only woman in this heat of the 800m - it was me and four male athletes in their mid to late teens. I was expecting to be completely destroyed in this heat, and so was pleasantly surprised when my body and legs felt smooth, fluid, and strong from the start. I've been joking for a while that I would run my best 800m if I could tack it onto the end of a longer race, and this certainly seemed to support that idea.
I stayed in contact with most of the other runners, and even traded places with some- pulling ahead on the straights and then tucking in on the curves. As we hit 200m to go, I was in fourth place with second and third right ahead.
In retrospect, I should have swung wide at that point and just pushed all the way to the finish. But instead, I tucked back into lane 1 for the final turn before beginning to kick to the finish (I suspect this decision was driven by mental fatigue). This essentially meant that I, a post-menopausal woman whose last race 4 weeks ago was a marathon, was now trying to outkick some teenage boys who primarily ran the 400m and 200m.
It played out exactly as you'd expect - I pulled ahead of one briefly and then got left in the dust of others' spikes to finish fourth out of five. But, as I crossed the finish, I was still pretty happy with my race - I hadn't expected to be able to stay with the other runners at all in this heat. And I'd given it my best shot. And I was now done for the day and could relax and be social and cheer for others.
***
The meet was both short and efficient and was done by 11:30 am. At the conclusion, certificates were handed to each athlete noting their times, and I finally got to see my times - 13:21.8 for the 3000m (so, on the slower side of "just over 13 minutes") and 3:25.4 for the 800m. While the 3000m was technically my better performance, I was more excited about the 800m time. That's my first time running a race of any distance in under 7:00 pace in about two years. And doing that in my first race post-marathon is an indication that I have some room for improvement this summer.
Other notes:
- I really enjoy doing these para-athlete meets. They are universally very well organized and held on high quality tracks. And they have free food and snacks - rather than having to line up at a food truck or find a water fountain to fill a bottle, I could grab a cold water bottle out of cooler by the track entrance anytime I wanted, and grab chips, fruit, rice crispy treats, etc from a table of free food. And these races also offer goody bags full of sunscreen and snacks - a very nice touch that you don't see at most races anymore. These meets are retro in all of the right ways.
- The weather was decent for this meet - a bit hot for the 3000m at 75 degrees with bright sunshine and some humidity, but that same weather was perfect for the 800m.
- I was the top T36 woman in both my races, and so in one sense won both. Of course, I was also the only T36 woman in both races.
- I actually ran faster here than my official 3000m record of 13:57. However, this meet doesn't meet all the requirements for setting a record (type of timers, etc) so it didn't count. Not a problem, I knew this going into this meet. it's still a fun meet to do.
