Indoor Track Wrap Up

Team TWSS finished off its 1st indoor track season two weeks ago at the Front Runners indoor meet at NYC. Looking back we've had a great season; we had fun and ran some great early-season times. Considering that we have no indoor track and that those of us who even bothered to run workouts did them at Gilman in the dark or on the icy streets - we had a damn good track season.

One of the best things about this season was all the different people who weren't "scared" of indoor track and were willing to come out and race. Looking at the numbers on our team though, it's also one of the biggest areas we can improve in. Indoor track can be a great way to shake off the mid-winter dust and relight your fire for the spring. Remember, track races are cheap, actually pretty low-key - and always warmer than outside. There's no reason not to come out and run one as a "workout". So I hope to see more of you out next year!

Here are the final compiled results from our Team TWSS indoor season. Since this is the 1st year we are running indoor track as a squad all the top times are team records!

*slow clap*

Everyone has a lot to be proud of and quite a few of us earned PDAWs with our performances this season but I've given out a few awards for the standouts. Enjoy and be sure to congratulate them next time you see them!


I am the Team Award: Claire Lears

Claire Lears was the girls squad this year. No, literally Claire was the only girl who raced for us. While Claire enjoyed the full cheering support of the men's squad ("CLAIRE BEAR STARE") she did have to put up with our smelly uniforms, off-color jokes and pointing out every hot girl at every meet - and that takes the strength of champions.

I think Dr. J also jumped on the women's side but I don't have her results.

Utility Runner of the Season: Barf (200m, 400m, 800m, 3200m, LJ)

There is considerable debate surrounding Barf. Namely, if he trains, how he trains, how soon till he gets injured again, how he's not injured right now, what he's talking about etc. One thing there is no doubt about is that when Barf races - he races hard. In our sport most distance runners are scared to run races without training for at least 8 weeks or to run without their precious $200 heart rate monitor to tell them if they're going too-hard. Barf gets props for throwing down and just racing like we're supposed to. Though we're pretty sure he's going to hurt himself if he keeps doing hurdle drills...

Most Races: Barf, Alex Viana (5 races plus 1 LJ session, 6 races)

Nuf' said. (Barf may have jumped at 2 meets - I'm not sure - in which case he get the award to himself)

(BeBop & )Rock Steady Award for Least Improvement: Claire Lears (13:03.0, 13:03.8)

This award goes to the runner who hits the two closest times. Claire beat my out 1.1 second 3200m improvement for this award by running a 3k and a converted 3,200m within a 0.8 seconds of each other.

Drop It Like it's Hot Award for Most Improvement: Tom Stott (5:16.3 to 5:02.1 1600m)

While in high school this award typically goes to the athlete who trains the least in the off season, sandbags the hardest or blows up the most spectacularly during their first race (typically a combination of all the above) Tom Stott started out fast and just got faster with an eyebrow raising 14 sec 1600m improvement in just 2 weeks. Why don't you pee into this cup for us Tom...

Centurian Age-Group Award for Most Worthless Record: Alex Viana (2:15.7 800m)

Some people are born great. Other's have greatness thrust upon them. Others become "great" because there is no one else around. Just like 99 year-old age-groupers who set USATF national records because no one else is alive to compete against them - I hold the 800m record on our team...mostly because no one else ran it. While the other records are legitimately fast I earned my record in a painfully undistinguished heat of a PG meet - while still taking 2nd after getting kicked down by a 54 year old.

C's Get Degrees Award for Narrowest Achievement: Ryan McGrath (4:59.3 converted 1,600m)

In college some people turn just getting by into an art form. While I suspect that was the case for Ryan in school it's certainly the case for him on the track where his NYC 5:00.99 mile converts to a just-barely-sub-5 4:59.3 1600m. Like the Germans, Ryan's time is efficient...and hilarious.

Most Impressive Performance: Arjun Majumdar (4:31.9 Mile)

While the rest of us "showed a lot of heart" while racing senior citizens and high school kids Arjun legitimately ran the pants off of college runners when he dropped 62 sec closing quarter for a PDAW winning 4:31.9 mile in NYC. By comparison the 1st and 2nd half of Arjun's mile would have been the 3rd and the 1st fastest 800m times of the season, respectively.

Other highlights:

8 athletes
26 races
6 sub-5 1600m times
5 sub-11 3200m times

Lastly, my personal favorite memory from this indoor season that I just can't help but bring up again:

Ryan and I were talking near the jump pit and all of a sudden Barf comes flying through the air next to us and face-plants into the pit. We didn't even hear him coming. It didn't look like he was jumping. It looked like he was thrown or fell from the ceiling. Camera in hand, I was distracted and missed what would have been the Time Photo of the Year.

Don't worry - he's ok.

Peace,
a