It’s the end of high school track season in Southern California, and how better to wrap-up than to go to the CIF-SS Masters Track & Field Meet at Cerritos College, with the “Runners Reunited” group originated by former high school track star, Ralph Serna, including a whole lot of former high school track stars. As Ruth Wysocki stated, some people attend high school reunions, but for her, this is like “coming back home.”
For me, the most satisfying races to watch are the 1600m and 3200m distances. Of course my sub-2:00 minute half-miler friends here beg to differ, but they too appreciate the long distances. They also remember the days when I did run 800m and 1500m myself! The 1500 remains my favorite. On this night, I think the two that stood out for me were the boys’ and the girls’ 3200m. What a race when Jeff Thies of Edison HS came back to win in 9:04 with a big kick after losing the lead (which he led for the majority of the distance). And it’s always a treat to watch Sarah Baxter who won handily in 10:17.58, but behind her, in the race for qualifying (advancing to State), I was impressed by Beverly Hills’ Sydney Segal’s come-from-behind fourth place finish in 10:30 — this coming after she already won the 1600m in 4:51.69!
For meet results and photos, go to: PrepCalTrack
On this weekend, across the country in Boston, thousands of runners who did not finish last month’s marathon ran a symbolic mile to the finish line, as pictured and reported in this NPR story:
“We’ll Keep Running: Thousands Complete the Final Mile”
However, my friend and runner-I-coach, Jeaney Garcia, could not make the trip from her home in Honolulu and so crossed her own symbolic finish line a few weeks ago, by crossing the Honolulu Marathon finish line in Kapiolani Park, Honolulu, Hawaii.
As for me, with Boston in mind, I went out on another long walk this Memorial weekend in my new hat, which I love — thanks to Kathy Ash. 