Keep the comments on the intervals venue change coming – we are still\u00a0weighing the move. Is the place important? What would REALLY motivate\u00a0some of you to come out?<\/p>\n
Tonight at the Lincoln track was priceless. It was sunny, warm and calm\u00a0– a shirtless sun tanning evening. Coach Carlos was there and opened\u00a0the restrooms; too bad the caffeine users weren’t there to enjoy the\u00a0relief. On the infield was an adult league soccer game. They were good.\u00a0We stuck around after the work-out to watch that battle. They had about\u00a050 friends and family spectators in the stands, so when our first\u00a0interval took off, I noticed the pace was pretty quick – we were all\u00a0thinking, “gotta look good in front of these people.” As if they were\u00a0going to watch us. We did two sets of one 800 and four 400’s. Old guys\u00a0Frank and Jerome bailed before the end.<\/p>\n
The last 400 turned into a spectacular race for us old guys to watch.\u00a0Huy Nguyen had been dogging it with legs deadened by a fast bike ride\u00a0the day before. But for this last one, as he passes Benton Wong in the\u00a0first 20 yards, he shouts, “Let’s go for it!”<\/p>\n
Benton looks at him and can only think, “I’m toast. I’ve been leading\u00a0all these #@**# intervals … now he wants to sprint…” Carlos\u00a0Roblado, being out of shape, had been jumping in and out of the\u00a0intervals. He decides to cruise behind Benton. Leno, the old guy of the\u00a0group, has to settle for watching younger legs fly. Huy has a 10 to 20\u00a0yard lead as he hits the 200 mark in 27 seconds.<\/p>\n
As I’m waiting for Huy’s bike trashed legs to question his exuberance,\u00a0Carlos, thinking, “What’s this? I just wanted to play. Now it’s a race.\u00a0O.K.!” quickly passes Benton. On the back straight, three girls are in\u00a0lane one watching the soccer game. Huy looses concentration and speed\u00a0as he tries to figure out their next move. And Carlos accelerates by,\u00a0making Huy look like he has stopped for phone numbers. Huy struggles to\u00a0get going, but it is lost.<\/p>\n
Carlos, thinking he now can coast, eases into the turn only to be\u00a0surprised by a sprinter friend who jumps in to pull for the last 50\u00a0meters. Carlos, laughing, rises to the challenge and hangs on to finish\u00a0in 57 seconds. Huy is is bit back in about 62, Benton around 65 and\u00a0Leno wraps up the three miles worth of intervals with a fine sub 70\u00a0400. Four exhausted, laughing faces out there; now it’s time to rehash\u00a0the fun.\u00a0It was good to be 60 and out there watching that lap but … Oh! To betwenty-something again!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Keep the comments on the intervals venue change coming – we are still\u00a0weighing the move. Is the place important? What would REALLY motivate\u00a0some of you to come out? Tonight at the Lincoln track was priceless. It was sunny, warm and … Continue reading