Mecca: The Armory

My friend Isang, who ran hurdles at Columbia when she was a student there, now coaches hurdles for a high school girls' track team. The indoor season just ended, and her school's final meet was an invitational at the Armory way up in Harlem near Columbia's medical school. Having never been, I decided to go watch the team, and it was a great experience!

The building was easy to spot from the street; it was huge, and had a line of flags with winged shoes on them along the side.  Once inside, I took a wide, patriotically painted stairwell up to the fourth floor, noting that each step was covered in material that reminded me of the surface of an all-weather track. Plaques bearing records set at the Armory for all kinds of events in all kinds of age groups lined the walls.

I was taken aback when I arrived on the track level. The facility was absolutely gorgeous. The smell of the place instantly transported me to high school again (in a good way). There is nothing quite like the smell of an all-weather track, and it was particularly concentrated in this enclosed space. All in a rush I felt the same excitement, nerves, and exhaustion that track meets always instilled in me back when I used to run them.

The stadium seating surrounding the track was occupied by a smattering of parents and spectating teammates. All in all, the place was pretty deserted. This made sense at the end of the meet when all the teams assembled for the awards ceremony.  The largest team had about 25 girls on it, while the smallest had no more than 12.

The meet itself wasn't particularly exciting. At least, it wouldn't have been for the average person. I am one of the oddballs who loves track meets, however, and so I really loved watching the girls compete and trying to figure out how indoor track differed from outdoor track. I learned that an indoor track is typically only 200 meters long, half the distance of a standard outdoor track. The turns are banked which makes turning on such a tight radius much easier if one is doing one of the faster events.  The schedule is different, and even the events are different sometimes; for example, there is only one hurdles event, the 55 meter hurdles, because you can't place hurdles on a track that is banked. (Isang had to explain this to me, which  made me feel a bit thick.) Due to the shorter track, the poor girls who ran the 3200 had to go around 16 times! One of them lost count and kept going after her 16th lap and had to be stopped by her coach. I got to watch a blazing fast girl destroy the competition in that race, and Isang later told me that she's going to the state meet. It's no wonder.

I really look forward to revisiting this track again during the next indoor season. I'd love to see a professional or college-level meet there, when the stands are full of fans and the competition is stiff. It must be thrilling to feel all that energy bouncing off the walls and ceiling! I'd also like to visit the attached track and field hall of fame. I'm glad I crossed the Armory off my list, though - it's been there since my first weeks in New York.