The Little Chemist That Could: USATF Indoor Masters National Championships

So, about a month ago I signed up for this thing. I had no idea what to expect and no relevant experience to contribute to the event other than I can run. It turned out to be an amazing weekend of new experiences, meeting new people, and being part of a team.

Friday
I'd arrived Thursday evening and basically went immediately to sleep... was a little nervous about the morning because of how little preparation I had, but was informed that my running bestie was going to accompany me to the track even though it was a super early morning for her and she didn't have events until much later, but she was going to help orient me to the event and what to expect. I was relieved to have company, to say the least! I got over in plenty of time, picked up my packet, and declared for my first event.

The way these things work is a little complicated... first, you sign up online for your events several weeks before. Then, an hour before the event starts, you have to "declare" i.e. state that yes, I'm here and I plan to participate in this event. Then ~15 minutes before the actual event, you have to check-in where they organize you into your heats, give instructions on the specific event, and walk you to the event start area. It can be a bit of chaos, but once you figure out where to go/ who to look for, it gets a little easier.

My very first event was the pentathlon (5 separate events throughout the day), beginning with 60m hurdles at 8:30am. I'd hopped over a hurdle exactly once before this event, and figured out that I was safe if it was the "short" hurdles but the tall hurdles were likely not possible for me to clear. I had no idea there were so many hurdle heights. As I looked at the hurdles that were set on the track, I was very relieved to see they were the short ones - hooray, I was going to be OK!

Short hurdles!

I found my group of pentathletes and immediately felt comforted by the kindness and support of the group - they were giving tips and pointers, sharing their stories of "first pentathlon" and other such anecdotes. I felt much better knowing there was a variety of experience levels in the group. Clearly, some were VERY good at the events, but even they were very humble about their abilities saying, "oh, don't worry, I don't really know what I'm doing either!"

We were in the midst of getting our final instructions for the hurdles, being informed there were 3 heats and I was in the third... the first and second would go, then they would "change the hurdles" before the third heat because we were all a younger age group. I nervously asked, "Does that mean they'll get taller?" 😬 So now, I was nervous again. But no chance to back out now, I just had to go for it!

Nervously standing on the start line.

On your mark.... set... BANG! Off I went and magically cleared the first hurdle... then the second... then by the third I realized I WAS DOING IT! I WAS GOING TO CLEAR THEM ALL! I felt SO relieved that this event was over.

Not even close to the finishers ahead of me, but I was proud that I had successfully completed the event. On to the next... high jump!

Here, the first order of business was asking each participant (there were about a dozen of us) what our starting height for the bar was. I had been instructed to request the "meet minimum" height as a starting point... which got a chuckle from the official. We got our jumping order, were given a few practice jumps, I got a few tips/pointers from the other girls, and we were off! My starting height was 0.73m, which is just barely above the height of the mat on the other side of the bar. It felt easy to clear for the first few jumps, and the height was increased by 3 cm each time we'd all cleared it.

One of the first jumps

Around 0.9-something it started to feel challenging and I knocked it down for the first time. I got some more pointers and then starting putting some real effort into jumping... took 3 tries to clear around 1.03m and when I finally did it, the official said, "See, you've just been playing around..." Heh. I felt good that I'd surpassed 1m, which was my goal, so I kept going just to see how far I could get.

Not terribly graceful.

I topped out at 1.09m and lost my rhythm, ended up just running straight into the bar a few times. Honestly I think I was just tired by then! Flinging your entire body into the air takes just about every muscle in your body. Some of the other pentathletes hadn't even started jumping yet by the time I was "out" but I enjoyed watching them for the rest of the time. I think the highest ended up being 1.56 or something like that... this is not a sport for short people.

Next I had my first overlap of events... the 400m run was scheduled just a few minutes apart from the shot put. I spoke with the officials and they told me to go ahead and run, I'd just throw towards the end of the group. Whew, OK!

First event for "just running" and honestly, I was probably a little too excited. I went out WAY too fast, thinking "it's just a quarter-mile" and not recognizing that I was only about halfway through my day. Yeah, it didn't involve all that much running from a distance perspective, but the repetition of short, hard efforts is surprisingly taxing! I was excited though, since this was my first run with A. :)

Runnin' fast!

I think my official time was 1:18... FAST. But as soon as it was over, I hopped right back to the shot put circle. No photos of that event, but it was pretty quick and my longest throw was 5.5 meters. Woot. Next... long jump!

The long jump is pretty simple... run down an aisle towards a pit of sand, jump when you get to the white board (but don't let your toe touch past the edge), and jump as far as you can into the sand pit. The closest mark your body makes to the board is where they measure.

Sizing it up.

Here goes nothing...

Jump!

Longest jump was 3.2 meters (a little over 10 feet). Again, nothing impressive. FINALLY we were onto the part of the pentathlon that I felt best about... running 800m! (half mile)

Run!

This was the one event I was actually mid-pack as far as performance goes. I finished in 3:09, the fastest finished just 20 seconds ahead of me. I was happy to finish the day on a high note and get to the next order of business... FOOD! It was like 3pm by this time and we'd not eaten any lunch yet. Yes, the 3000m was still on the schedule, but man, we needed some food.

So excited for Moe's.

After chowing down on Moe's burrito, we had about an hour before the 3000m. Turns out that was NOT sufficient time to digest and though we had no mishaps, it was definitely not comfortable running.

Ready for the 3000m!

Lap Splits... so many laps!

Finished the 3000m in 13:01, and I was happy with that. Definitely not super fast but with the long day I'd had, I was just glad to finish out the final race and collect my medals!

Day 1: success!

We hit up Red Robin on the way home and then crashed immediately upon return to the hotel.

Saturday
Yes, that was all just ONE DAY. A & I started Saturday with a long run (because, oh yeah, we're both still marathon training, too). We got to run at Salem Lake, a favorite of ours from years past, and did two loops around the lake = 14 miles. Nice warm-up for the day. Also discovered that EVERY muscle in my body ached SO MUCH. Who knew doing brand new sports with no training would end up making me sore??

Lake run!

We made it back just in time to change, eat, and get over to the track. Event #1: 60m dash.

Discussing goals and the merits of starting blocks.

Neither of us really gave effort on this given the muscle fatigue and soreness, so we decided the only goal was to not pull a muscle. Mission accomplished.

Not even close.

Dashing ladies

We had a little break for lunch until the next event: one mile.

Splits

I felt good about my performance, and it was consistent (check out those 200m splits). Definitely not my fastest mile by a long shot, but I didn't totally phone it in. The rest of the day was a bit of a blur... there was some chaos getting the relays (4x200 and 4x800) organized... although I'm told it was better than last year. We were all so hungry by the end that we just wanted it to be done so we could go get food!

All the ATL relay ladies

Relay team gold!

We ordered takeout from Outback, ate in the hotel room, and again went to sleep quickly.

Sunday
Third and final day... tired and ready to be done, but still enjoying the whole experience! Thankfully we had a relaxing morning as our first events weren't until about 10:30am. Hooray!

We seriously didn't take many photos... it was that kind of day. Only 2 events for me, the 800m run and the 4x400 relay.

800m splits

I was happy with my time for the 800, especially with how tired I was. Again, pretty consistent, so I judged the level of my tiredness accurately haha.

The 4x400 was our final event, same relay team as Saturday's, and boy we were all TOAST. I still think we got a silver medal though... the other 30-34-year-old team (your team's age is your youngest competitor) was the overall winner, if I recall correctly.

But hey... it all turned out well in the end...