Sprinting At 60

2024 USATF National Masters Outdoor Championships Sacramento, California July18-21 Full Circle at 60! Today is my fourth day in Sacramento. As I have probably already mentioned in previous posts, I competed here in 1982 in the California State Championship Meet. I ran the 400 meter race. I didn't place in the race because the state had a bevy of very talented athletes, and I was out performed, even though I entered the competition running 48.50 seconds in the 400. It was a great experience, one of the highlights of my youth. So it is GREAT to be back at age 60 (!) to compete in this meet. I arrived Wednesday evening--flew in from Minnesota--and checked into the hotel that a teammate (Alison Schwalm--amazing athlete and all-around super star person!) found. The place is only 8 minutes from the track. My preliminary race was on Thursday afternoon (in 105 degree heat!). I was a nervous wreck before, but luckily I found Wally Hernandez, another teammate and great runner,  and his wife

Tuesday, July 9, 2024 Recovering (still); "Wait and See" period Arrived in Minnesota late Saturday. Three-day drive, not so bad. On Sunday, June 30, I ran in the Mid-Atlantic/NJ Masters meet at Kean University in Union, NJ. I only registered for the 400m. It wasn't a great meet--the heats were organized so strangely. They had a heat for each 5-year age group, so some heats only had two runners, and a few had 4-5 runners. There was no other runner for my age group, so they tacked me on to the 70-74 group, which seemed odd because there were two runners in the 65-69 age group. I asked to be switched, but I had to stay in lane 7--the other two guys were in lanes 2 and 3. I never really saw them during the race, though I did hear Jeff Flock's footsteps when I rounded second curve, so it kept me motivated, so I'm grateful I got into his heat (he's a strong runner at 66!). I ran 1:05, two seconds slower than my first race on June 3rd. Also, in the last 100 meters or