My second event at the
Minnesota Senior Games was the one-mile power walk. This was my first time competing in a power walking
event.
There used to be two
different walking disciplines at the Senior Games. One was race-walking and the other was power walking. The two sports are almost identical. Power walking has slightly different rules
than race-walking.
I used to compete in the
race-walking events, which have more stringent rules regarding keeping your
knees straight. Starting this year, they
only have power walking events, so I switched to power walking.
To qualify for the power walking
events at the National Senior Games, you used to have to place in your age
group at the state level. Next year,
they’re making power-walking an “open” event.
That means anyone can sign up for a power walking event at the National
Senior Games without having to qualify.
I didn’t need to do this
event to qualify, but I’ve been very competitive in the race-walking events in
the past, so I wanted to see how high I could place in power walking.
The last time I competed
in the Minnesota Senior Games, I did two race-walking events on the same day,
and I placed first overall in both of them.
This year, I had lower expectations.
I haven’t done much training for walking, my overall fitness level isn’t
the same, and I wore myself out this morning by doing an all-out 5K run.
When I got back from my
5K race this morning, I only had five hours before this event. I took a bath, did some stretching, and ate a
light lunch. Before I knew it, it was
time to get ready for my walking event.
The race venue was the
track at MSU – Mankato. I’ve done
walking events on this track before.
It’s a 400-meter track. For a
mile, we had to do four laps, plus an extra nine meters. There’s a special starting line which
accounts for that extra distance.
I had nice cool weather
for my morning race, but this was a little warmer. By 2 PM, it was in the upper 70s. The race was short enough that I wasn’t going
to overheat, but I was careful not to spend too much time in the sun before the
race.
The race was conducted in
two heats. The women’s heat was first,
so I watched their heat while I was waiting for the men’s heat.
Yesterday, I found out I
was the only person in my age group. I
knew I would win my age group. The
question was how high could I place overall.
I also wanted to see if I could break 10 minutes. I’ve tried several times at home, but the
best I’ve done this year is 10:16. That
was on residential streets. I was hoping
I could go faster on a track.
I learned before the race
that there were two guys in their 50s who were likely to be much faster than
me. We were lined up close to the first turn. I tend to start fast, so only one of them reached
the turn ahead of me. The other one
passed me right after the first turn.
For the rest of my first
lap, nobody was near me, so I could focus on trying to go fast and not worry
about where anybody else was. I was just
coming out of the first turn of my second lap when I heard somebody behind me. Then I lit a fire under myself to pick up my
pace.
He was just behind my
right shoulder as we reached the next turn.
One of the judges warned him that he was “lifting” (i.e. he had both
feet off the ground at the same time).
He must have eased up to focus on his mechanics, because he was never
close to me after that.
By my third lap, I was
starting to pass people who were still in their second lap. I had to go around three of them in the first
turn, which was unfortunate timing. In
my last lap, I passed a few more people.
Again, it was in the turns.
I occasionally looked
ahead to see where the second-place walker was.
As I came out of the last turn, he was about 70 meters ahead of me.
When I finished, I was
disappointed to see that I wasn’t any faster today than I was at home, training
by myself. My time was 10:20. I felt like I gave it all I had, but running
that 5K race in the morning probably took too much out of me.
Because I was in the
second heat, I didn’t have to wait long for awards. I picked up my second gold medal of the day,
but nobody was competing with me in this race.
As I was leaving the parking lot, I saw some activity on one of the athletic fields near the track. I didn’t think too much of it at first. There were lots of different events going on. Then I noticed they were all wearing purple. That’s when I suddenly remembered that the Minnesota Vikings use MSU – Mankato for training camp. The Vikings were practicing right next to the track where we were walking. As I drove by, I spotted Justin Jefferson.
