The Penn Relays is one of those events that, for me, seems to come around more than once a year. By the time your ears stop ringing and your heart rate slows down, it's time to head back down to Philadelphia and be shepherded around in that really small waiting area before emerging in front of 50,000 screaming Jamaican fans.
We ran three distance relays this year. Friday was the DMR, with Silas leading of in the 1200, Jalil Bishop '14 running the 400, Lukas Zirngibl on the 800 and Curtis anchoring in the 1600. We ended up 8th (9:54) in the open heat which was a solid result. Curtis, a freshmen who trains mainly for the 5k, got to rumble with the big boys in the 1600.
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| Hammerin'. (Tim O'Dowd photo) |
Next up on Saturday was the 4xmile, an event we haven't run while I've been here. I've always wanted to try it since it doesn't get run at any other meet, and my fellow classmates Henry, John, and Will thought it would be a sweet event to run as well (especially if we all grew some flow). As we found out, it's a really deep event that usually has teams with 4 guys who can run around or a little over 4 flat. I led off and surprisingly led the first 2 laps; for some reason no one went with me. Guess I missed the memo on sandbagging through the half-mile mark. Henry hung tough after I handed off to him with the whole field right there. The rest of the legs the pack dropped the pace down and we lost contact but finished solidly in 9th. We're all hoping to get another shot at it next year.
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| Big gulps. |
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| Goldilocks. |
The 4x800, always an exciting race, was our last relay on Saturday. Silas led off once again with a really solid leg. After nearly dropping the baton in the handoff (I'll admit, they might be made of lead), Luke Decker laid down a fast 800 and we were right at the front. Tim Gorman, after nearly impaling himself on a bike rack on a run on Friday, got us a small lead before handing off to Lukas who ran one of the more exciting legs I've ever watched. He battled to the line with one other team with the entire stadium on their feet for the last 100m. It was sick.
Gotta give the guys who doubled some face time:
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| Seabass. | | | |
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| Luke Z at the line. |
Thanks to Tim O'Dowd for all the photos. Check out all the Dartmouth athletes at Penn:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/86260910@N02/sets/72157633373545388/
Next weekend is the Heps. Time for the postseason!
-Steve
