Background:
I'm not an elite athlete by any means (at best, I consider myself "recreationally competitive"), but I'm fortunate enough to have a spot on Atlanta Track Club Elite as an "under 40s" member of their Masters Track and Field team. This weekend was our big annual meet, the Indoor National Championships, and it was epic.
Friday: 400m and 3000m
I came into the meet after a week of being "down with the sickness", and was just hoping that it would resolve itself in time for me to still run. I had had zero aspirations of fast times before getting sick (since I'm marathon training right now), but all hopes of decent performance was squashed after a few days feeling miserable in bed.
Fortunately, I woke up feeling a LOT better on Friday, and headed over to the track to cheer on my running bestie, Beth (who I'd recruited to come along as part of our team), in her first event: pentathlon. We warmed up a bit around the track, and then I did a couple extra miles outside by myself. Turns out, being essentially off for a few days is just like a taper, and my warm-up miles were sub-9, but felt just as easy as my usual-for-these-days 10:30. Heeeeeey-yo. Really need to save some of that for the evening's 3K....
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| besties |
My first event of the meet was the 400m. Honestly, I don't remember how this event felt, since I'm writing this several days afterwards. I do remember feeling really proud that I was able to hit a 1:30, though, which was good enough for a ribbon and my first contribution of team points.
The 3000m was later that evening. Due to event scheduling, we ended up downing some Moe's about an hour before the event. Not the brightest idea, but food was necessary, and it was far better to eat then and chance it than to not eat and run the 3K on empty stomachs.
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| hunger-crazed |
The 30-44 year olds all ran together in one heat, which meant we had a lot of teammates on the track together. It was pretty cool to start off with our coach, and get some cheers each time she lapped me.
With how I've been running, I was expecting to come in just under 20min, maaaaybe somewhere close to 18. The first five (of fifteen) laps weren't bad. I got lapped by the leaders; watching them fly by was incredible! The second five laps felt like the third lap of a typical track mile: you know you're so close to your last segment, but it's so tough to get through the penultimate one. The third five laps were super tough, and I was grateful to be done... in 14:31. :D :D :D
Saturday
Beth's coming down to Atlanta to run the Publix Atlanta Marathon with me in a few weeks, which meant I had a buddy who also needed to run insane miles during the weekend. The meet was held in Winston-Salem, a place we've spent many a chorus regional contest weekend together. Especially since neither of us sing with our respective Sweet Adelines choruses anymore, we were thrilled to get the opportunity to run our "traditional" Salem Lake route together.
There's something amazing about long runs. They're meditative, therapeutic, and just so calming. There's really nothing to do other than put one foot in front of the other, and just surrender to that comfortable rhythm for the next couple of hours. It's even better when you're running side-by-side with one of your best friends, talking about anything and everything (or even nothing, at times), on a course where you've already shared so many memories together.
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Fun Facts:
I had completely neglected to bring any long-sleeved running shirts.
It was in the high 30s.
I ran in my pajama shirt, and it was not awful.
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We finished up just in time to grab some waffles from the hotel breakfast, change clothes, and make it back to the track to declare for our next event with two minutes to spare.
The 60m was fun. It was quite obvious that I'd get the same points/placement regardless of if I ran my best race ever or walked, so I enjoyed a half-hearted effort, and focused on not straining anything. ;) We made friends with a couple super fast ladies, and it was fun to see them at other events throughout the weekend.
After the 60m, I went out and did a short warm-up (both to actually warm-up and to add mileage for the day). I struggled through a 10:20 mile, and figured my next event, the mile, would probably be around that same pace. There's something magical about being on the track, though, because I wound up finishing in 7:36... after running over 15mi ALREADY in the day, being on Day 2 of a track meet, being in the middle of marathon training, and having some other "extenuating circumstances". That race, out of all of the ones this weekend, is the one I'm most proud of/impressed by.
I (smartly) ate some food after that race, and waited for the best part of the weekend to begin: the relays. This is always my favorite part of any meet, because you get to enjoy running with other people, working together, and taking ridiculous team photos with the baton. :)
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| Atlanta Track Club women's relay teams |
It's also super fun to see a hoard of matching singlets descend on the check-in clerk, and really feel like you're part of something amazing. :D
We ran the 4x800m, followed shortly by the 4x200m. The officials (and some of our competitors) were a bit surprised to see us running "back to back events", though, due to the number of non-club and men's teams, they were about an hour apart.
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Woo, National Champions
(it's all who shows up--- and we were the only W30 team in the 4x8)
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We finished the evening off with some Outback to go, and much-needed "legs-up-the-wall" time.
Sunday
Mmmm, Sunday. After sleeping in (like a rock) until 6:30, we had a nice, lazy morning of packing, eating more waffles, hanging with our teammates, and, finally, making our way over to the track for the last day of competition.
By the time my 800m rolled around, I'd already run 2mi of warm-up, and my legs were exhausted from the past couple of days. I spent the race trying to focus on improving my arm swing, which is definitely the weakest part of my "track form".
I fit in another 5K before my next race, just enough to make sure I didn't have to run any more after our remaining events for the day. The 200m was fun. I was in a heat with ALL sprinters, so I knew I'd have the track pretty much to myself. Despite them being significantly faster than me, we all had seen each other in previous events and had some nice camaraderie.
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| the 200m winner was kind enough to take a picture of my husband and me :) |
The 4x400m relay was the last event of the day. It's "only two laps" (of the 200m track), but, man, I just died with 100m to go. I had no kick to give coming into the handoff, and it seemed that most everyone felt that way. Watching our third and fourth runners, our lead and I commiserated about how that had been the hardest 400m we'd run.
The weekend finished off beautifully. The Under 40s made a solid contribution and helped the team win the overall competition (814 total team points), taking home both the men's and women's team championship trophies. :)
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| Under 40s: We're here for the points. |
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| most of the team, celebrating our victory |
Summary
400m 1:30, 4th
3000m 14:31, 2nd
60m 0:13, 5th (bumped to 4th due to international competitor)
1mi 7:36, 4th
4x800m 3:37, 1st
4x200m 0:42, 2nd
800m 3:39, 5th
200m 0:43, 4th (bumped to 3rd due to international competitor)
4x400 1:37, 2nd
Total Points Earned for Team: 41 (5% of total)
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| (1) 1st, (3) 2nd, (1) 3rd, (3) 4th, and (1) 5th place finishes |
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