Sprinting the 100 meters

For good results on the sprinting track, it's best to be well prepared. The more and better you train yourself, the faster you can go and the better your time is going to be. But you need more than training to get good results. If you, e.g. sprain your ankle midway through the run, or have a graceous fall a la Merelene Ottey, you are not going to be able to complete the run in an acceptable time - and maybe you are not going to complete it at all. Furthermore, if the there is a northern gale blowing right in your face, you know that the race is going to be all uphill. But no matter what the atmospheric conditions are, and no matter how well or badly you are trained, once you are in the start-blocks you automatically start to hold your breath, your eyes are focused on the track in front of you and you start to concentrate on the job you have in front of you. Then there is the B of the bang andyou exhale, extend the whole body so there is a straight line through the head, spine and extended rear leg - body approx. 45 to 60 degree angle to the ground. You keep your eyes focused on the track just in front of you, keep low and relaxed and then run (but not step or jump) out of the block. Once you're off you continue to keep your eyes focused on the track and keep the body low to allow the build up of speed. As you proceed you keep the whole body in a forward lean, with a straight line through the head, spine and extended rear legs. You start fast leg action, using a good stride length allowing continual acceleration. Of course it is also important to have the appearance of being smooth and relaxed but driving hard with elbows and legs (right!). If you are following well the description, then what comes to your mind is approximately what you see on this picture.
Now cancel the image you have of the perfect athlete, and substitute it with someone that is completely out of shape. Someone that actually hasn't run the 100 meters before, EVER!!! Then imagine that instead of maintaining the drive for approx. 20-30 metres and then letting the whole body slowly come into a high tall action, this out-of-shape-never-run-the-100m person keeps the drive for approximately 100 meters, only allowing himself to relax a little bit on the last few meters. If you can develope this picture in your brain: an out of shape athlete that is running the 100m with the whole body in forward lean, keeping the eyes fixed on the track, not allowing himself to look at other runners, the crowd that is cheering or, let alone, the finishing line...then you've more or less got the picture of my mum the past two weeks. If you then change the 100m track with 168 pages of legal text (a summon) in Italian that had to be translated into Icelandic during the race, then the picture becomes more clear to you. Lastly, if you substitue the stadium into a 3 room flat in Ponte San Pietro, and the crowd into 2 little children and a husband, then the picture is more or less complete. Luckily there were no misfortunes during the race (the kids kept healthy...fingers crossed that this continues for a good while), and the wind did not blow too strongly against the runner, and despite quite a few extinct italian words that needed to be tamed during the sprint, it all went quite well in the end. The thrill of the race is over by now. The job has been completed, the finishing line on the 100m track has been passed (a part from having to legalize the translation at the courthouse next week), and the un-ambitious icelandic housewife can focus again on dusting, hoovering etc. and maybe write a blog or two if she's up to it!