Jonny ran in the 800 meter run at the Rod Russel Invitational held at Mason High School just north of Cincinnati. He didn’t run until around 10:00 pm and didn’t make it home until around 2:00 and had to get up early Saturday to take the SAT in New Albany. Nikki and I did not make it to the meet as both our parents were in town for Ashley’s Graduation from Ohio State.
Jonny was told by the started that he was not allowed to leave his lane until after the first turn. He was put on the outside of the lane as well. He let the other kid in his lane get a better start and then the kid just settled back to the back of the pack and Jonny couldn’t get around him without stepping out the lane, which he was told he couldn’t do. After 200 meters he was already 30 meters behind the leaders and was finally able to get around the guy in his lane. He ran the next 600 meters hard to get back into 2nd place where he finished .7 seconds behind the leader. He ran the race in 1:58.77. Official Results can be found at Finish Timing.
After the race the coach told him he could have stepped into the outside lane and passed the slower runner to give himself a better position. I guess he can chalk this race up to a learning experience. He also needs to learn that he is one of the premier racers in the state, yet most of his starts show no urgency to be near the front of the pack at 50-100 meters into the race. I think if he decided to set the pace of the race from the beginning he could beat his personal best by 2 seconds or more, but he doesn’t like to dictate a race from start to finish.