Keep the comments on the intervals venue change coming – we are still weighing the move. Is the place important? What would REALLY motivate some of you to come out?
Tonight at the Lincoln track was priceless. It was sunny, warm and calm – a shirtless sun tanning evening. Coach Carlos was there and opened the restrooms; too bad the caffeine users weren’t there to enjoy the relief. On the infield was an adult league soccer game. They were good. We stuck around after the work-out to watch that battle. They had about 50 friends and family spectators in the stands, so when our first interval took off, I noticed the pace was pretty quick – we were all thinking, “gotta look good in front of these people.” As if they were going to watch us. We did two sets of one 800 and four 400’s. Old guys Frank and Jerome bailed before the end.
The last 400 turned into a spectacular race for us old guys to watch. Huy Nguyen had been dogging it with legs deadened by a fast bike ride the day before. But for this last one, as he passes Benton Wong in the first 20 yards, he shouts, “Let’s go for it!”
Benton looks at him and can only think, “I’m toast. I’ve been leading all these #@**# intervals … now he wants to sprint…” Carlos Roblado, being out of shape, had been jumping in and out of the intervals. He decides to cruise behind Benton. Leno, the old guy of the group, has to settle for watching younger legs fly. Huy has a 10 to 20 yard lead as he hits the 200 mark in 27 seconds.
As I’m waiting for Huy’s bike trashed legs to question his exuberance, Carlos, thinking, “What’s this? I just wanted to play. Now it’s a race. O.K.!” quickly passes Benton. On the back straight, three girls are in lane one watching the soccer game. Huy looses concentration and speed as he tries to figure out their next move. And Carlos accelerates by, making Huy look like he has stopped for phone numbers. Huy struggles to get going, but it is lost.
Carlos, thinking he now can coast, eases into the turn only to be surprised by a sprinter friend who jumps in to pull for the last 50 meters. Carlos, laughing, rises to the challenge and hangs on to finish in 57 seconds. Huy is is bit back in about 62, Benton around 65 and Leno wraps up the three miles worth of intervals with a fine sub 70 400. Four exhausted, laughing faces out there; now it’s time to rehash the fun. It was good to be 60 and out there watching that lap but … Oh! To betwenty-something again!