Its the gold shoes!

I brought a secret weapon to Saturdays 400 meter time trial... Kevin's gold shoes.

Lucky for me Kevin in a moment of despair about sprinting gave me his golden spikes, specifically designed for 400 meter racing. Kevin is a true sprinter. When you see his physique, your thought right away is "sprinter". Sprinting is fraught with danger as it requires all that explosive motion and intensity. For this reason Kevin has his love/hate relationship to sprinting and when it was not going well... I got these shoes. Thanks Kevin, if you ever want them back, they are nearly new.

I've rarely put them on. I'm NOT a sprinter. People look at me and don't think "sprinter". They think "Slightly big distance runner".

I decided to take the 400 meter trial seriously, hence the very serious looking golden spikes. When I laced them up, I imagined myself looking like Michael Johnson at the Atlanta Olympics. I even tried a bit of intense scowling and pacing around prior to the big Time Trial. In fact I did look like Michael! (from the bottom of the feet up to the ankles).

These amazing shoes did made me feel really fast. A couple of strides felt effortless. Was it my mind thinking I was driving a sports car, or was it the design of the shoes?. Either way, it was motivating. When the trial began, I felt I was flying around the oval, feeling quick the entire way, finishing strong, and not winded in the least afterwards.

All American for men 50-54 is 57.5, and I was 1.3 seconds (quite a lot for 400 meters) slow. I think I need a body suit!