Did you ever notice the cast of characters at a high school indoor meet

Don't forget those guys that lap all the other runners in the distance races then think they're too cool to talk to anyone else at the meet and when you try talk to them they are complete a**holes

Dyestat used to have a very funny thread with dozens of pages just about this

In a non-high school environment, I once ran a collegiate meet unattached and warmed up in a coonskin cap and biology goggles over my head. Don't know why...didn't really care about the attention, I just thought it was humorous. Had a lot of people come up to me during my warmdown and ask why I took the cap off for the race. Probably because my head was 2000 fn degrees. *shrug*

Funny thread, though.

You could say this about any college indoor meet as well, except you left out the throwers......but that would be because almost all of the runners are afraid of them.

The pole vault females have the most attitude and are most likely with the multicolored sockes, often seen stripping down to sports bras and have the hair thing going on.

They are very hot too.

I have to chuckle at your post. Just saw pajama girl and earflap fur hat boy and my kids indoor track meet. Maybe they are at every meet in the US?

Always the really Old dudes that are the starters. Sometimes they wear Cowboy hats.

This sounds really similar to my experience at Wal-Mart today.

"We are the athletic equivalent of pickled bees' knees in the gourmet section at the Winn Dixie."

Hilarious and very true.

So you just provide to everyone that you are a very insecure person...

Good job

You just hurt my feelings but was I funny?

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm wrote:

So you just provide to everyone that you are a very insecure person...

Good job

How about the after race handshakers. They are more likely to be male than female and longer distance runners.

I like the handshakers.

I was one of the impressionable freshman taking in this scene during my first indoor track season in 85/86. It was mostly the same stereotypes but the fashion was different. What stood out to me was an 800 runner from South Division HS that warmed up around the little gymnasium track with his shirt off and his singlet tucked into his shorts dangling elegantly. He did lap after lap in front of the crowe an pulled on the singlet just as he got to the line. He torched the field with about a 1:56 (on a 180m gym floor). To a freshman this was an impressive scene and I modeled my future warm-ups on this memory. As an adult I would have been posting about him on Let's Run.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm wrote:

So you just provide to everyone that you are a very insecure person...

Good job

What, is he a bad person because of this? wtf?

Anyway, I got a good chuckle out of OP's post.

I think in general indoor track is such a circus that it provides the environment that you notice the characters a bit more. Everyone is crammed into a confided space to warm up, team camps and of course compete in. And then you are running meets week after week against many of the same schools, etc. so it's like the circuit in a "smaller world". You simply see people more often.

Plus the tracks themselves add to the whole show depending on building they are crammed into. Everything is so much louder indoor and most of the time the air is stagnent and hot so you sweat like a dog.

I ran on a lot of crazy indoor tracks as most people have. Over-size, 200m, 220 yd, 176yd, 160m, 146yd 12-lap to the mile wooden banked track, flat tracks, banked tracks, gym floors, concrete, etc. 3 lanes, 4 lanes and 6 lanes. Some with bleachers inside, tunnels, heating and cooling units above, etc.

One thing is for sure about indoor you always felt like you were running fast because you are flying by everything.

Funny story, one time in college we were at a meet and it was running 2-3 hours behind. By the time they got to the 3k it was midnight. For some reason I had one of those old-man flat bill hats that slant downward. I had it in my bag so I put it on which was out of character and kept on when I warmed up. The guys on the team took up a collection and offered me $ to put in on halfway through the race when I passed behind the bleachers. I told them if I was winning and knew I could win then I would do it.

So each lap I ran by they were holding the hat out and screaming at me to grab it. It was funny, but I was trying to win the darn race! I ended up in a battle with a guy all the way to the end. And right after the race he was like "man, what was up with those guys yelling at us each lap and holding that hat out when we ran behind the bleachers???"

Makes me chuckle just thinking about... :)

Haha, I gotta laugh out of this, because I've seen all of these types of people at the few indoor meets my highschool has each year

The good 'ol days wrote:

I ended up in a battle with a guy all the way to the end.

So, did you win?

I love the professional warm up routine people! They are so entertaining.

We have seen some impressive dance-like routines.