The conversation started innocently enough.

The NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships ended just a few hours before and my coworker and I were wrapping up some work for the USTFCCCA inside the press box at the Birmingham CrossPlex (a fine facility, if I must say).

I looked down at the track and asked him, “How fast do you think I could run a 60?”

“Right now,” he asked.

“Yes,” I responded. “Just like this. Minimal stretching. Wearing what I’m wearing.”

“Nine seconds.”

Gauntlet thrown. Challenge accepted.

Less than 10 minutes later, I crouched at the starting line.

When I got to the NCAA Indoor Championships, I recalled it was my first time at an indoor track & field meet since my final race as a Delaware Blue Hen in 2007.

I never ran a straight-up 60 in my life, so it was going to be an adventure.

On your marks… Go!

I shot out of the blocks and sprinted down Lane 5.

I heard the faint whistle of the air as I hit my top speed and crossed the finish line.

“What did I run?”

“What do you think you ran?”

Before I could answer, a media member ambled out of the press box.

“I had him at 8.55. What did you get?”

“8.76.”

“That sounds right. I started my watch right after he started.”

Let me put my blazing speed in perspective for those uninitiated.

  • If I ran in the men’s 60-meter final, I would have finished dead-last by 1.43 seconds. I mean I would have finished behind Tulsa’s Bryce Robinson, who came in eighth in an eight-man field.
  • TCU’s Ronnie Baker won the 60 in 6.47, which was the third fastest time ever recorded by a collegian indoors.
  • Here’s a fun fact: The men’s 60-meter final was the fastest final ever in the history of the NCAA meet. Five men went 6.60 or faster.

I guess you could say that went 0-60 real quick slow.

Here are a few other thoughts from my weekend in Birmingham, Alabama.

  • Indoor track & field meets always seemed to crawl by when I competed in them, probably because there were so many heats. That wasn’t the case this weekend. I don’t think I had a chance to catch my breath — or run back up to the press box — between finals on Saturday.
  • I thought our coverage was tremendous, which carried over from the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships in November. I churned out some good content, which you can read here, here, here and here.