Sabra is an 800-1500 specialist on the track.
On Friday,
Sabra Harvey, 68, of West Houston was named
USATF Athlete of the Week, her first time thus honored, after having the
top age-graded percentage at the USATF National Masters
15K Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She ran the 9.3 miles in 1:07:24 — a 7:13 mile pace. Oddly, the announcement story gives no details. But I contacted Sabra, a
world champ and WR-holder at 800 meters. I asked her what her longest races are. She replied: “I usually do a 10-miler in Houston, have run the CRIM 10 Miler in Michigan twice, and have run Tulsa several times before. In fact, in 2015 ran only a few seconds faster on the same course so was happy to run well again this year. Great to have a competitive field of F65s racing. Tough, tough course — ’12 on a scale of 1 to 10,’ said one well-known participant. The finish is a particularly challenging mile and a half-steady climb into downtown from across the river. Conditions were very cold with some bit of wind, making the feel-like temp dip somewhere below 32. No time to stand around at the finish line if you wanted to be warm again!”
But then I learned her bigger challenge: “Maintaining a semblance of racing form in the wake of being flooded out of our house as a result of Hurricane Harvey on August 28. It will be months before we can move back in.”
Oh my.
So I wrote back asking about the flood.
“Bill and I are living in a 16-foot travel trailer parked in the driveway of our house,” she said. “We are located in West Houston, just south and east of two reservoirs from which the Army Corps of Engineers released water to ease pressure and overflow from the two earthen dams controlling the reservoir pools. That’s ultimately what flooded our house and stayed there 11 days.”
Amazing what a runner has to put up with, but good for her she can race past this ordeal.
2 Responses
I like Sabra a lot and am saddened by the flooding of her house. I do marvel at her ability to maintain “a semblance of racing form” while living in a “16-foot travel trailer parked in the driveway.”
Sabra started competing when she was 50 or 51, and what a wonderful addition she has been to our program. I like the fact that she’s all-world at the 800 but can go long when she wants. She would be a wonderful subject of a profile by our PR people: Novice at 50, big star at 68.
USATF added race details to its release:
http://www.usatf.org/News/Sabra-Harvey-wins-Masters-15K-Championships-to-ear.aspx
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