Insane Bolt

(The start bit of this post really should have been published about three weeks ago.)

This afternoon, I saw a sporting feat that left me speechless. Usain Bolt from Jamaica became the first person to run the 100 metres in a time under 9.7 seconds *. And wasn’t even trying for the last 25. 

9.69.

That time is as long as it takes to read that first paragraph.

I thought that the TV had broken at first. That victory margin was so immense, it couldn’t be real.

Watching that started me thinking about my days as a champion sprinter, running the same distance in 11.07 seconds, ooh, more than a decade ago. After thirteen years away from the track, and numerous bacon sandwiches later, what would my time be now?

The other thing in my mind was Michael Johnson doing something similar at about 4am in Atlanta, in 1996 in the 200m. In some ways, the Michael Johnson race is more outstanding; Bolt shaved 0.03 seconds from the world record in his victory, in 1996 Johnson took 0.4 seconds off a record that had stood for twenty years, destroying a world class field. The pace even dragged the surprised Frankie Fredericks under the then world record mark.

(Fast forward a few days…)

Usain Bolt took Michael Johnson’s 200m world record away from him with another blistering performance to take gold in Beijing, reducing the mark from 19.32 to 19.30. 

(Further days pass…)

So, I stepped on the track, and after some practice and re-acquaintance with blocks and on track psychology, ambled to a decade’s best of…15.44s.

Can this be bettered? With I ever get close to 11 seconds again? Is there a better way to time these things than with an iPod and shouting?

All these questions and more will be answered over the coming month, in a quest to shave a second or so off this fastest time in thirteen years.

*With a ‘legal’ wind speed of less than +2.0m/s, accuracy fans.