Saturday, January 29, 2011

The Millrose Games

On Friday, after the panic of handing in her research paper subsided, my daughter texted me "So, are we going to Millrose Games tonight?" The Millrose Games is one of the premier indoor track meets and is held at Madison Square Garden. We went last year and had a good time. She mentioned in passing to go to the meet a few weeks ago but hadn't mentioned it since. I thought going was off the table but apparently, as usual, I was wrong. I was looking for a quiet night where I had a short run planned. Instead, I snuck out of work a little early, did my run on the mill, and we hopped on the train into NYC.

We had a good night at the Garden. A few things will stand out as I remember this night:
  • The moron screaming "Let's Go Rangers" near the end of the anthem before the Wanamaker Mile. I guess some habits are hard to break. Full disclosure: I used to be a season ticket holder for the Rangers until hockey went out on strike - I haven't seen a hockey game since.
  • We paid for cheap seats and moved down as the Garden wasn't nearly full. We were sitting with the University of Connecticut men's 4x800 relay team (who came in second by 0.11 seconds behind the University of Virginia). In a supportive tone one of the guys leaned over to another and said "I can't believe you let that FRESHMAN beat you, dude!"
  • Sara Hall won the Fred Lebow Women's 1500m run ten years after she won the Girl's high school one mile run.
The announcers were making a big deal about Sara Hall running in the Garden ten years ago and winning the girl's mile back then and the women's 1500m now. Then I thought a little bit (always dangerous). I last ran on the track at the Garden 33 years ago in 1978. This was when I ran indoor track in high school. It wasn't the Millrose Games and I probably came in last but still I should get some credit. I told my daughter and, without any words, she just rolled her eyes. I guess it is all about perspective.

3 comments:

Katie said...

That's awesome that you went with your daughter. I had thoughts of going to the games with my 5 yr old, but I didn't, maybe next year!

Kate Geisen said...

Our kids will always keep us humble!

I had to laugh at the boy comment you overheard. That is so characteristic of my boys. Support comes in the form of harassment, and you'd best have some thick skin.

Mark said...

Hahaha—If your daughter had a sense of humor, she would have convinced the announcer to announce your name complete with spotlight and ask you to stand and wave. Now, THAT would have been funny!

After that... you could have gotten out of your seat and taken a victory lap. Then, you could have went up to that FRESHMEN and said "Dude, lucky for you I'm not running. I would've kicked your ass."