PENN RELAYS

1200m start!

Seb Coe 

This weekend I hopped on a plane to Philly for the Penn Relays; USA vs the World.  Was it ever fun!!  Let's paint the picture.  Huge stadium filled with fans screaming their heads off for their favourite people, schools, and countries   It's a constant battle between the U.S.A chant and JAMAICA.  As for the athletes  well it has some of the best athletes in the World, present and past.

Canada had teams in the Men's and Women's 4x100m, 4x400m, Women's 4x800m and Men's Distance Medley (DMR).  I was on the DMR, which is made up of a 1200m, 400m, 800m, and 1600m.

Canada White

I know what you're thinking, I was the 800m leg....WRONG!!!  I moved up a little distance to that 1200m leg.  As I stepped on the line, I looked to my left and there's an Olympian and to my right a 1:43 guy, 2 other Olympians-one of which is a bronze world medalist, and others with much faster Pb's in the 1500m.
Umm.....YUP!

Let's rewind to last year in the same event when I ran the same leg.  I got a little antsy and put the first surge in with 300m to go and started the train to the finish....and with 50m to go....I rigged up and fell apart.  So going into this year, my coach was straight up with the strategy for me; sit in the mix and stay in contact. 

This year would be different.  I felt confident in my training and in my fitness.  So when the gun went off, I got right in the mix.  "Stay relaxed", that's all that went through my mind.  First lap was quick, second lap slowed....Now lap 3.  Last year I went with 300m to go.  I wasn't going to make the same mistake. Then BAM everyone started to ramp it up at 300m....HERE WE GO! I was tucked on the inside lane slightly boxed in and clipping (stepping on the heels) the runner in-front of me.  Gotta go wide...Nope!  Someone else had the same plan and got out just before me, putting me to a halt   Stay relaxed and keep pushing!!!  I came around the turn with about 150m to go and put it all out there.  As I came off the straight away I knew I was still strong.  I ran hard in handed off to my teammate and he took off.  WHACK!!!!  Team GB slammed into me plowing me over sending me straight to the ground.  

My time was 2:53.5.  I handed off in 7th, and 0.1 from 6th place (6th was the Olympian with a Bronze medal from the World Championships).  To put this race in perspective, last year I ran 2 seconds slower handing off in 5th, and in that same race 1st place last year handed off in 2:53. One other note....Team Ethiopia missed the World Record by about a half second this weekend. .......YUP, so I was pretty happy with my performance.

Battle Scars

Our team ran well.  We put it all out there and I'm happy.  I'm back in Flagstaff, and putting in one last cycle before heading to California for a blazing fast race on the 17th.  I'm a little banged up, but hey, chicks dig scars!!!

Battle Scars

If you want to watch the race,