Sometimes, Showing Up Is Half The Battle
I had the pleasure of competing in the USATF Regional Championship, and since it was held in my home state, it was also my state championship. I went down with the expectation of competing in the 5000 meter racewalk (3.1 miles). The site was almost 100 miles from my home.
For those of you not familiar, racewalking is a judged event. The are two rules to the sport; the knee must be straight from when the foot is planted until the foot passes under the body, and one foot must always be on the ground (when observed by the naked eye). Form breaks result in a "call," and collecting 3 calls during a race results in disqualification.
My goal at this race, because I hadn't racewalked much recently, was to avoid disqualification. I have a history of bending knees, so the risk was substantial. The extra attention to form meant I had to slow down a bit, and I walked the race in 33 minutes and change. I was the third male finisher (the walk was a mixed sex event, and I was beaten by one woman). Since one of those finishers was from out of state, I received a regional bronze medal and a state silver medal.
Because fields were thin, my team wanted me to also race the 5000 meter run. It started about a half-hour after the racewalk ended, so on little recovery, off I went. I started a bit quickly, drawn out by efforts to hang on to some superior runners, putting up 90 and 93 second laps for the first two. It quickly became clear that this pace would be too much for me and I backed off. I held form pretty well for about 10 laps (the race is 12.5 circuits of the track), but really fell apart on the last two laps. I finished dead last among the men, but with the thin field, picked up some points for the team, and because I was one of only two competitors from my state, received the state silver medal.
As you can tell, sometimes just being there is enough. My team won the mens team title (and some money). I have mixed feelings regarding this, pleasure and pride at the team's achievement, yet disappointment that the level of participation was not greater. He was a case where showing up really was half the battle.
For those of you not familiar, racewalking is a judged event. The are two rules to the sport; the knee must be straight from when the foot is planted until the foot passes under the body, and one foot must always be on the ground (when observed by the naked eye). Form breaks result in a "call," and collecting 3 calls during a race results in disqualification.
My goal at this race, because I hadn't racewalked much recently, was to avoid disqualification. I have a history of bending knees, so the risk was substantial. The extra attention to form meant I had to slow down a bit, and I walked the race in 33 minutes and change. I was the third male finisher (the walk was a mixed sex event, and I was beaten by one woman). Since one of those finishers was from out of state, I received a regional bronze medal and a state silver medal.
Because fields were thin, my team wanted me to also race the 5000 meter run. It started about a half-hour after the racewalk ended, so on little recovery, off I went. I started a bit quickly, drawn out by efforts to hang on to some superior runners, putting up 90 and 93 second laps for the first two. It quickly became clear that this pace would be too much for me and I backed off. I held form pretty well for about 10 laps (the race is 12.5 circuits of the track), but really fell apart on the last two laps. I finished dead last among the men, but with the thin field, picked up some points for the team, and because I was one of only two competitors from my state, received the state silver medal.
As you can tell, sometimes just being there is enough. My team won the mens team title (and some money). I have mixed feelings regarding this, pleasure and pride at the team's achievement, yet disappointment that the level of participation was not greater. He was a case where showing up really was half the battle.
posted by Scooter at 6:31 AM
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