Special mention to Sabra Harvey of Houston, who battled Chris Neugebauer neck and neck in the 5000 in Dallas.  Chris, you worked her well, as she showed up at the top of her game and set a W60 world record winning the 800 (2:34.66) and an american record winning the 1500 (5:22.5).  And, interestingly, her 5000 in big D was a little faster than Oshkosh, tho it was much cooler up north.

These events truly show the human spirit and make for an extremely fun weekend.  I hope at some point you can make one of these meets, as the participating in itself adds to the sport (22 M50′s came from around the country to run 1500M), and you get to see some outstanding age group performances, some by folks who did this in previous Olympics and World Championships.  Call it “aging gracefully,” “trying ’til you can’t try anymore,” “running the smartest or best you can for the day,”… whatever it is, it brings out a special camaraderie amongst the athletes.  Yes, there exists the serious competition to win, but you also see a lot of rooting for each other going on out there.

Our W80 part-time Austin resident (when not in L.A.) Sumi Onodera-Leonard ran and won the 100 in 21.47, 200 in 50.6,  400 in 2:05.8, and 800 in 5:42.4.  And, how about W75 Audrey Lary, who set 2 world records (triple jump 7.43M and 400 in 1:27.4) and an american record (weight throw 10.4m)?  Two 95 y.o. men went head to head in several events, Max Springer and Frank Levine, the second place finisher in the 400 (3:05.3 behind the winner’s 2:45.3) said though he ran faster than the american record, he got his heart broke today.  Maybe by the time he turns 100 he’ll learn how to keep that from happening:)  And, M95 Leland McPhie broke a world record by high jumping .98m (yes, that’s almost 1 meter). 

As for coach, put me in the participant’s category this tour.  My 8th in the 5000 had me behind the 6th pl seed and the 17:48 result was about 15-20 seconds short of what I started out to accomplish.  My 1st 200 felt easy but was fast @ 40 seconds, and mile was fine at 5:37, just couldn’t hold it.  The 12.5 lap trip itself turned out pretty uneventful, no-man’s land almost all the way, passing 1 runner with 2 laps to go.   The 1500 held a lot more excitement, something about that mile/metric mile… first lap in 75 and each lap from there on about same, 75-76, didn’t have a kick so just holdin’ on.  This trip was much more fun, I was way back from getgo in 1st 100, so chasin’ the pack the whole way.  In first lap I was passed twice but passed back on lap 3 and got 1 more.  Good workout? absolutely.