A New Version Of The Old Scene

I knew a week b4 Nationals that my proud record of 5 golds in 5 4x800m relays{ Charlotte 06,Orono 07,Spokane 08,Sacramento 10 and Berea 11}would not be added to in Lisle 12.
Originally on paper we had the makings of a kick arse 4x800m myself,Nick,Charlie and A N Other......but fate has a funny way of sticking it's nose in,Nick and Charlie opted to go Ad Hoc along w/ Scott Weeks and Lance Elliot to take a crack at the M40 American Record,which doubles as the World Record.
Not to worry we still had a decent 4x800m team,me, Rob,John and Mark....strike two,Mark Carver pulled out a week b4 w/ an injury leaving us w/ only 3 available 4x800m runners....but w/ Bill Yelverton available a 4x400m was doable.
I haven't ran a 4x400m since Millrose last year and frankly having moved up to 5,000m trying to get 400m speed was about as much fun as root canel,I hadn't planned to resume 4x400m racing till I turned 50 but frankly I'd rather run 4x400m than no relay at all......

For a third and almost final act of defiance Rob Schwartz pulled a hammy on Friday in the 400m and was out of the relay and we were up shits creek w/out a paddle or a 4th runner.....enter Nick
Very graciously Nick offerd his services after the Ad Hoc 4x800m to run a leg on the club 4x400m so we could run....there is no I in team!!!

Drawn in lane 6 w/ all 8 lanes filled we knew ahead of time a medal wasn't a lock,due to the make up of our team we had to run in the M30-39 race which had 4 teams,ourselves,So Cal,TNT and Nubian Striders,throw in the universal 4x400m powehouse Southwest Sprinters it was clear we'd have to earn our medal.
Thanks to a strong leadoff leg from Bill we were 3rd at the first handoff,running second was a new experience for me as I've ran all my previous 4x400s at either 3rd or 4th so the three turn stagger was new to me and meant I needed to stay in my lane till the top of the back straight.
Third at the hand off, I was relegated to 4th by 200m as TNT's second leg went by me,I had no idea where 5th place was but I wasn't planning on looking around to find out just get to the exchange zone and hand off to Nick.
Managed a respectable 61.1 split more or less what I ran at Ichan on June 12th,not bad after two 800m races and a 1,500m in four days.

Nick and John took care of business to bring the baton around safely and bring us home in 4th overall in 3.56.5. but good enough for bronze behind Nubian Striders and TNT in the M30-39 age group and give me a 3rd bronze at Nationals alltime and bring the curtain down not only on Nationals but also the outdoor track season{I do still have the Greater Philadelphia Track Pentathlon next Sunday but that's a multi event not a single race}
Not a bad weekends work if I say so myself,thanks to Bill for stepping in to the brink and giving us a chance to run 4x400m,ditto for Nick for going beyond the call of duty,to Rob for taking care of all the paperwork and for John anchoring us.