Getting Coached In Gatorville (2024 SEC Championships)

Wouldn’t it be great, if we could all remember that we come away from each new experience… a different person? We are changed by each experience just as each person we react with is changed by us; that each new encounter frames the arch through which we see our world and therefore shapes what we will do and will become. – Dr. J. Robert Cade

Marty Liquori didn’t recognize me, but I did finally get to meet Byron Dyce. So I consider the weekend a complete success. As evidenced by the fact I made it home safely. Always my bottom line.

Completely missed Day One of the 2024 SEC Track & Field Championships, Percy Beard Track at James G. Pressly Stadium, University of Florida. On Woodlawn Drive.

Got to Gainesville Friday, precisely at 4:23 pm. Early, because I decided to man up and take I-75. To my mind, the Interstate is a metaphor for modern life. Or a 4 x 100m relay, and you just hope nobody drops the baton at 80 miles per hour.

No sooner sat down high up in Section B before LSU Frosh Ja’Kobe Tharp dominated the field, won the 110m hurdle title in 13.18. Learned later he broke Renaldo Nehemiah’s American Junior (U20) record set in 1978. But at the time, I said out loud, “Oh My Gosh, that’s faster than Rod Milburn’s world record!”

They released the dove just as the gun sounded to start the steeplechase.

A couple of world leaders today. And a couple more World Leaders on Saturday. Yikes.

Only $15 – albeit $5 for a bottle of water – for what some say is among the top handful of meets held in North America. Throw in Central and South, for that matter.

Coach K.P. Harper – who drove down from Virginia – explains why.

Here is my reasoning.  (I probably should qualify the statement to “one day” of track & field excitement.)

#1.  Any USA Olympic Trials day with multiple finals.

#2.  The Prefontaine Classic. Our only Diamond League event.

#3  Final day of NCAA meet.

I would rank #4, #5 and #6 as SEC and the two NCAA region finals. (Being a SEC fan to the core I would put SEC #3.)  

For more concrete reasoning for putting SEC #4, consider the following:

Track & Field News has 7 of top 10 men’s NCAA teams coming from SEC.  Also 5-6 of top 10 women’s NCAA teams are from the SEC.  There will be great head-to-head competition in the NCAA regions, but probably no better than what we saw in the SEC.  When you throw in the team rivalries in the SEC (WHO PIG SOOEE and the Gator CHOMP, for example), I think the atmosphere at the SEC puts that meet #4.

The Penn Relays is another consideration, particularly if you are a fan of the relays.  Since I lean towards individual competition, I would put Penn at #7 but maybe with an asterisk.  Also, with Penn being in April and the SEC and NCAA regions being in May, athletes are closer to peaking.

As Alex Hawkins said, “That’s my story and I’m sticking to it”.

The best meets are the ones I can get to. Fifteen years since the Gators last hosted the conference championships.

Parker Valby

Racing on her home track for the first time in her collegiate career – can that be right? – Valby easily retained her crown in the Women’s 5000m. Her 15:07.86 stands as a new program record, breaking her own mark from last year by nearly 18 seconds (15:25.03). Parker now holds the new SEC Outdoor Championship meet record, the Percy Beard Track record and ranks #4 in NCAA history. She did good. 

Valby became the first Florida Gator female athlete since Shelly Steely (1984-1985) to win back-to-back SEC Outdoor 5000m titles. Coach Roy Benson told a Shelley Steely story I can’t remember.

Parvej Khan

This freshman snagged my attention during the indoor season, when he put his head down, caught his gold necklace between his teeth and unleashed a kick that could only be described as Wottlesque.

He’s even more fun outdoors. Think Indian Pre. A second comparison, I know, but he’s that exciting.

Parvej became the first Florida Gator to win the 1500m at the SEC Outdoor Championships in 41 years, since Todd Sinclair in 1983. Nobody told a Todd Sinclair story.

An hour later, the 19-year-old competed in the 800m and won the bronze medal in 1:46.80. The Indian athlete overtook six runners down the final stretch to finish third.

Sam Whitmarsh won the 800m race with 1:45.27 ahead of Anass Essayi, who clocked 1:46.06.

“1500m was kinda easy for me,” Parvej told Citius Mag. “I did not give my 100 percent in it because I had the 800m an hour later. I was just going at a comfortable pace and only pushed in the final 200m.”

In his 1500m heat, Parvej toyed with the field drifting back before moving past everybody, then waving to the fans in the stands down the finishing straight. He said he did it for the cheering crowd; his intentions were not to taunt nor disrespect his rivals. Very Pre-like.

Dr. J. Robert Cade

Back in the day, we only had water and we were hardly even allowed to drink that.

And then, Dwayne Douglas, a security guard for the University hospital, as well as an assistant coach with the UF football team, asked if Dr. Cade, a kidney specialist, could explain why his players couldn’t urinate after a game. The players were getting sick in the brutal Florida heat. Could he offer a solution?

Boy, could he ever.

Saturday morning. Walked in the park. I wanted to run at six-minute pace for an hour, but my coaches suggested we walk slowly for I have no idea. Really were alligators roaming.

Free admission at the Gatorade Museum. And I have my own tour guide. Who assures me the famed inventor spoke just like Truman Capote.

Roy Benson: “Only those of us survivors remember any of this and how much fun it was working with Dr. Cade.”

When I arrived at the University of Florida in 1969, the Florida Track Club’s influence, thanks to Jack Bacheler, had all of the middle and long distance runners doing big miles. As in 100 (plus or minus) miles per week.

Therefore, 20-mile-long runs were pretty much the standard distance.

Dr. Cade had just started marketing Gatorade and we all loved it. Except it turned out to be too nutrient dense and it caused occasional upchucking, due to the slow gastric emptying time.  The problem was the amount of sugar which had made the electrolytes palatable. So, the distance runners started diluting the formula by half and never had any other problems.

Unfortunately, when Dr. Cade found out about our tinkering, he decided, after getting pretty upset with us in his friendly, cherubic way, to do an experiment on volunteers at the Florida Relays annual marathon, which I directed. He divided the volunteers into three groups. One drank only plain water, one drank half-strength Gatorade, and the last group drank full-strength Gatorade.

To test his claims,  he created a virtual lab at the 10-mile and 20-mile marks in the back of a U-Haul truck. The runners were tested on their way out to the turnaround and on the way back, measuring their stride length, as speed photographed against a life-size grid. The doctor took their rectal temperatures and several other measurements I’m not sure about.

It turned out to be holy hot that day, and everyone ran quite slowly. I suspect that the full-strength runners had enough time between feedings to completely empty their stomachs, thereby not suffering any absorption delay and stomach distress. 

Doc Cade declared victory, and it wasn’t until years later research by other companies found that, indeed, Gatorade was too dense.

Dr. Cade was what you call a ‘renaissance man.’ Not just a legal juicer, he collected Studebakers and violins.

“Too dense” sounds like an apology my wife might make on my behalf. And it was way past my bedtime before the relays finally commenced. The team race – “Pig sooey!” – still to be determined. Crowd growing restless as the climax builds. Track is back and it is noisy and it is exciting.

T-shirt in the stands – STANDARDS DON’T NEED MOTIVATION.

Thought in my head – GRIT PROVIDES TRACTION. And sometimes I feel completely worn smooth and shit is slippery.

Remember what Dr. Cade said?

“Wouldn’t it be great, if we could all remember that we come away from each new experience… a different person? … that each new encounter frames the arch through which we see our world and therefore shapes what we will do and will become.”

I remember.

I remember because I couldn’t help noticing my companions are coaches. Everybody’s nickname is “Coach.” That’s how I figured it out. Distance specialists even. Seasoned types. Just the kind of people I need to hang with. These guys know track & field. They also know how to motivate, how to improve performance.

For starters, I would NOT be in G’ville without the gracious invite. And I always get the front passenger seat – also generous – because I am the tallest and the least foldable. One coach showed me the correct method of getting behind the wheel. For those daylight drives.

At lunch, drink orders. I hear the entreaties of a sirenian can of Guinness, and before I can make the wrong choice, I have agreed to a Corona. Thank you, Tom.

First four months of 2024, we have managed some most of us to get together four times already. Never the same place, always new to me. I am mechanically dyslexic and I learn by repetitive use. Was fifty-five years old, before somebody finally thought to tell me, “Righty-Tighty, Lefty-Loosey.” I can’t tell you how handy that little tip would’ve been earlier in life.

You can ask an old coach to show you how to turn on the shower. Okay, maybe not ALL coaches.

Now, I can look at a huge red button that cries push me and not see it. And as a large child, I broke most everything expensive-to-replace in an aspirational 1950s home.

Not your stuff. don’t break it. That’s not an actual tattoo I have on my ass, but it’s etched into my psyche.

Wasn’t me this time. Coach Dave tried everything I tried – and I’ve been showering since the 1940s – and finally – getting on his knees right in front of me – pulled on the bottom of the tub spigot.

Spurt!

Won’t be restoring classic cars any time soon, won’t start playing the violin, but I came home from this new experience a different person. (Excuse me while I cry. Promised myself, after my young grandson died, I’d be a better old man.)

Long story short. If you are looking for the results of the 2024 SEC Championships, these are not the sports pages. Nor Track & Fields News “The Bible of The Sport.“

If you are seeking some improvements in your life, find a coach. Hell, do what I did – find a half dozen.

If you can believe this, I actually came home more confident. Who’da thunk it?

Out the door not long after dawn. Stretching more. Getting in the car right. More patient.

Which reminds me. I don’t use the phone to talk. But the coaches all agreed, especially when we are together, like a team, I should turn my phone on. Maybe activate the ringer. Answer if it rings. Trying to convince me there’s this whole process. They finally got through last month. I finally got with the program.

Sunday. Despite enticing offers to stay another day, Mother’s Day, I have just gotten on the Interstate.

Kick it up to 80mph with a sense of self-satisfaction.

I have my phone on.

I hear my phone ring.

Answer my phone,

“You forgot your briefcase.”

Precisely my style.

Now well coached, a better man, I turn around.

Old dog learned a new trick.