SuperFitTv Blog

After sitting on the couch for two consecutive Olympics, I finally decided to get up and do something more than just think about what could have been. I started my track training around the end of 2006 at California State University Northridge. While training on my own and running some of the drills I learned back when I attended Americus High School, I was recruited to run at LA Valley in Glen Oaks, CA by my current track Coach, Yannick Allain.

At the time I was 33 years old, and just wanted to finally do something with the running talent that I had been dodging all these years. So, being that I had served almost 6 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, and attended a community college where I did not participate in athletics, I was eligible to participate in track and field at LA Valley College. By then it was 2007, and we started out with a pretty good 4 x 100 team that would eventually fall apart due to the poor grades of some my teammates. Besides running the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400, I also ran the 100m(11.09), 200m(22.34), and finished 2^nd in the Western State Conference in the 400-meter with a time of 48.52. My fastest time that season in the 400 meter was 48.32, which I ran in the meet prior to beat out my 19 year old rival and teammate Anthony Baker.

After finishing second in the Western State Conference, I took a break and flew to Jamaica to marry my wife, Antoinette. After returning from the wedding in Jamaica, I decided to run in my first National Competition in Orono, Maine (having not practiced in 1 month). It was almost a great end to my season because I finish 3^rd in the 400 meter in that competition (despite running a 49.98), only to find out hours later that I had been disqualified for stepping on the line during the race (just like Wallace Spearman in the 100 meters in the 2008 Beijing Olympics). It was pretty devastating to finish that way with all the people back home supporting me, but I just used it as motivation to train better and harder.

I took the rest of 2007 off and began my training for my 2009 season in late July of 2008. Practices were grueling as usual with the weight room on Tuesdays and Thursdays before track practice and everything from 800 meters down to 50 meters on Mondays and Wednesdays. Start/finish drills, plyo metrics, sand dunes, and long runs in the hills, were just some of the training methods used!

My initial races this year took place at UCLA. They were open meets where you were likely to see the faces of athletes like Shawn Crawford and Allison Felix preparing for their big races by running in these fast college meets. There was no first place finish there for me, but running with these world-class athletes was definitely preparing me for my competition ahead.

I started to track my progress around May 23^rd, 2009, which is when I ran my first Masters Meet (Southern California Striders Meet of Champions in Costa Mesa, CA.). There I won 1^st in the 100m(11.55), 200m(23.32), and 400m(49.40) sprints. The time of 49.4 in the 400m was my fastest time this season, but far from the 48.32 PR (personal record) set in 2007.

My next meet would take place in Aliso Viejo, CA on June 6th. It was the USA Track & Field Southern California Association Championships where again I finished 1^st in the 100m(11.32), 200m(22.59), and 400m(50.50) sprints. Being a little unsatisfied with my 400m results, I decided to participate in another college meet to challenge myself more. This meet was the Oxy Invite, which took place at Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA. There I finally broke the 49-second barrier I had been experiencing all season by running a 48.99 in my 400m races. I reached my personal goal for that moment by less than .01 of a second, but for me this was a sign that the best was yet to come!

I was scheduled to run again in Aliso Viejo, CA. on June 20^th in the USA Track & Field Regional Masters Championships, but gladly postponed the meet and the 400m sprint due to the birth of my newborn son Kingston Mitchell Spann, (born on June 20^th, 2009 at 4:20pm). With support from both my wife and mother-in–law, I returned to the track on June 21^st to run and win the 200m finals in 22.53 seconds!

Next up, was the 2009 USA Track & Field Masters Championships in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Here I redeemed myself of my 2007 dilemma by finishing second in the 400 meter with the same time that I finished second with in the 2007 Western State Conference (48.55). This was definitely a sign that the best was yet to come! I also won 3rd in the 200m(22.51), and finished 4^th in the 100m(11.13).

NEXT UP, THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS:

I had been planning for this moment since I started training in 2006. I was now 35 years old (on July 20^th), and was eligible to run in the Masters World Champions in Lahti, Finland (July 28^th - Aug 8^th). I had ran a 400m time of 48.55 and finished 2^nd at the Masters Nationals, and dominated all the Masters Meets prior to it. Almost everything was pointing at the World Championships except the fact that I had just become a new parent, had already sacrificed leaving my newborn son to run at the Nationals in Wisconsin, and this World trip would be a great expense. Not to mention my training had suffered because of the lack of sleep with our newborn. So what do I do?

Well, with wanting this dream of competing in a World Championship to become a reality, I pitched the ideal of a birthday party/fund raiser to my wife. Then on my birthday weekend, with the support of family and friends we raised enough money to offset the cost of the trip. So, on August 1^st, 2009, I was headed to Lahti, Finland to compete in the 400m race in my first Masters World Championship competition!

ABOUT THE RACE:

No question, hands down, this race had to be the most stressful, and at the same time most invigorating experience in my lifetime. I definitely have a newfound respect for fellow athletes that compete at this level. After leaving Los Angeles International Airport on Saturday, August 1^st, I arrived in Lahti, Finland on August 2^nd. With a day of rest in between, I was scheduled to run the quarterfinal races on August 4^th. Pacing myself (as not to exert too much energy before the finals), I won my heat by running a 50:0 flat. My Coach keeps it pretty simple in teaching that it’s all about executing your race despite the elements that surround you. Therefore this is exactly what I did. Each race was exactly the same. If you start fast you will finish slow, but if you start slow you will finish slower. With this in mind, after resting all day August 5^th, I won my semi-finals by running a 49:48 in the 400 meter.

August 7^th, 2009 would be my big day. After all the blood, sweat, and tears that I put into my physical training, none of it was good enough to prepare me for what was to come. On August 7^th, 2009, I laid down around 12:15am to sleep and rest myself for the race to come. After lying there for two hours straight with thoughts and images of the race rushing though my head, I realized that I wasn’t going to get any sleep that night! Not to panic, being that my race wasn’t until 5pm that evening I embraced the fact of not sleeping, and posted some videos to my website (www.superfittv.com) for the remainder of the morning. Once done, I headed to breakfast around 9:30am, returning around 10am. With the college dorm being empty at this time, it was a prime opportunity for me to get the much-needed rest to properly prepare for the race. I slept until 3pm. After waking, I went though my standard routine of a rub down with mineral ice, a 30-minute warm-up in the park across the street, and then I changed into my U.S.A. track & field uniform and calmly walked over to the track.

Once I reached the holding area at the track, I changed into my red, white, and blue sprint spikes, ran one practice start out of the blocks, then stood by with the other seven competitors silently awaiting our turn to run our race. Men’s thirty-five 400m, lane four, in the Masters World Championships, I am really here. I stand in my lane awaiting the start commands! RUNNERS TAKE YOUR MARK, GET SET, BANG! Forty eight point one four seconds later, I am a MASTERS WORLD CHAMPION!