When you live one block from a track, the competition is right in your ears.
That’s been the case ever since my wife and I moved to an apartment complex across from a community college. Whenever there’s a track meet, every few minutes the starting gun snaps its report and my body twitches in Pavlovian response, nerve endings conditioned to fire after two decades of two-command starts.
So as the races started for last week’s Tracksmith Twilight 5000 at nearby Laney College, the sound of the starting gun through the open window got my dander up.
Held in beautiful, downtown Oakland, California, the community meet was the second of Tracksmith’s summer track events in the Bay Area. Heats started in the early evening and ran into the night.
I was in a muddled headspace as I warmed up along the infield with friends.
Our daughter was born a month ago and we’re still in the early throes of first-time parenthood. Only…
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Footnotes to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.