Thursday, July 12, 2018

Des Moines USATF Championship Weekend

A few weeks ago I made a solo trek to Des Moines for the USATF Championships. My mom and I went 5 years ago when I was just starting to get obsessed with professional track and field, and it was such a blast to go back now when I'm full on 100% track and field nerd. At any given time you can find several hours of track recorded on my DVR from some Diamond League meet or another.

605 Running Co. asked me to take over their instagram to take them along for the trip, and it was such an honor and so much fun. I arrived on Friday which was day two of the competition with mostly prelim events.

Women's 800 meter rounds:






Women's 100 meter:


Men's 100 meter dash: Unpictured Noah Lyles' amazing winner's dance after the race, down the track. 


Day 3 was on Saturday. I started my day at the Farmers Market which was basically a million blocks of all the things and so very hot. After lunch I made my way back to the track. 





On deck: the women's steeplechase and the women's 1500 meter showdown between Shelby and Jenny. Go BTC!

Women's steeple:
















Women's 1500 meter: Shelby Houlihan is a beast and has a gear that is next level. UNREAL.










After Saturday's events, I walked next door to the Mexican food place that my mom and I had gone for dinner when we went to this event last. I had to laugh as I pulled up to the hotel, as I somehow had booked a hotel in the exact same neighborhood as before.



I was starving so I ordered entirely too much food. Oops.



Sunday morning it was up and at them for the final day of action. I wore my Bowerman Track Club tank in anticipation for hopefully meeting one of the Bowerman Babes. And to cheer on Shelby as she attempted her double in the 5k.




Women's 200 semis: Jenna Prandini is amazing and I've been a big fan of hers since her days at Oregon.


Women's 800 meter final: Ajee Wilson is amazing. So fun to watch her strength and speed. 



Women's 5k! It was cool to see Karissa Sweitzer in her first post-collegiate race, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't want her to join the BTC to continue her growth and domination. And then it was even cooler to see Shelby, yet again, turn on the sprinter's legs the final stretch of the race to dominate the field.




After the race, I had this grand plan to make my way over to the 100 m. curve so I could meet Shelby and snag a picture with her after she had done the post race interviews. Much as these gentlemen were doing with Clayton Murphy, 800 m. champ.


While I was waiting I noticed that the men's steeple was delayed. Which was weird as the meet had been spot on down to the second all weekend. Within minutes there was an announcement that a major storm was rolling through Des Moines and the meet would be suspended until it ended. I went next door to safe building and called Kyle to get a weather update as my internet was wonky. He thought it'd be done within 45 minutes so I opted to stick around. And while I was waiting, I ran into Laura Roesler, North Dakota athlete, and former Oregon Duck. She's basically the prettiest human in person and didn't mind putting her arm around me even though I was extremely sweaty.


About an hour later, I overheard some of the security guards say that the storm was just starting, and that it'd be at least another 2 hours before the race would restart. With a 5 hour drive ahead of me, I opted to hit the road, since I had to work the next day. I looked like a drown rat by the timeI got back to my car. And spent 4.5 hours of my drive in treacherous driving conditions. Uff da.




Don't worry, I'll be back next year!

No comments: