The Stork Stops Here: Southeast Showdown

Sunday morning, JP ran the 800, then the 2 mile, in the KYAC's Southeast Showdown at Norton Healthcare & Learning Center's indoor track facility in Louisville. Although it's not in the best part of town, it's a beautiful facility with tracks indoor and out. Really, really nice.

We arrived in plenty of time for JP to warm up and for me to watch various other track and field events. 60 yard dash. 200 meter dash. Pole vault. It was all going on simultaneously, as the organizers made use of every square inch of space to efficiently run a large indoor track meet. It was very different from the indoor track meet a few weeks ago at Vanderbilt. Less crowded. Bigger facility. Better organized. All events running on time.

While I waited for JP to run in the second heat of the 800, I set up my camping chair in a quiet spot and read the New Yorker. That's me, I guess. The urbane track and field dad. Give me the New Yorker and, really, I'm fine, anytime and anywhere.

JP finished second in his heat, clocking a 2:00:01, which was 10th overall. The winner ran 1:55:95, so the top ten were bunched pretty close together. I think JP would have liked to go under 2:00:00 because that seems to be the dividing line between the fast and really fast 800 runners. He got squeezed, again, at the beginning of the race. My thought, and probably his, is that if he would have fought to hold an inside position early, he likely could have run a 1:58:00. Still, a good race overall and part of the learning process for him.

The 2 mile race was interesting, as it was one he hadn't run in competition before. I was looking forward to seeing what and how he would run, from a strategy and performance standpoint. He ran in the first of two heats.

When the race started, there was some jostling near lanes three and four, where JP started out. He shouldered a boy that tried to squeeze past him, holding his position in line, which was the right move. I think that's the kind of aggressiveness he's looking for in the 800 and the mile moving forward.

JP quickly moved into third place and stayed with the first group of four runners as they pulled away from the pack a few laps into the race. 16 laps total is a lot of laps but JP told me later that Coach Russ and suggested he break it down into 16 one lap races and try to hit his time for each lop, which is what he did. It would have been difficult for me to keep with what lap the boys were running were I not standing across from the start/finish line with a clear view of the man changing the lap sign as the boys ran by him.

Not quite halfway through the race, JP and two other runners pulled away from everyone else, as it became apparent it was going to be a three man race. A young, African American runner led from the beginning and stayed in the lead, with JP running a comfortable third behind the second place runner, a senior from Beech HS. I knew JP had a move left in him. The only question was when he was going to make it.

At the beginning of lap 15, JP began to surge. He passed the runner from Beech HS and as they ran down the far straightaway, I heard the announce say "JP Newman has moved into 2nd place . . . ". My adrenaline surged as JP closed the gap with the leader on the far turn and approached the line. He's going to get him, I thought. The bell rang signaling the final lap and JP ran by me in 2nd place.

Suddenly, as he ran through the near turn to begin the final lap, the Beech HS runner turned on the speed. He started sprinting, passed JP, and began to run down the first place runner. He caught him on the far turn and sprinted to the finish to win in a really strong race for him. JP finished third at 9:41:80, four seconds behind the winner and less than two seconds behind the boy who led most of the race.

In retrospect, JP thought he probably broke too early and should have waited until the final lap, like the boys from Beech HS. That would have made for a helluva race. Still, you live and learn, right? It was JP's first time running a 2 mile race and, really, it was fascinating to watch. I was proud of him, of course. I can't help but be excited about what is to come.