What's the Hardest Track and Field Event?

As I woke up this morning (if you are wondering, it was NOT at 5AM) I smelled an unmistakable whiff of track in the air. It was a small mix of fresh cut grass and almost warm breeze--the kind where you can tell Winter is starting to give way to Spring. By the way, that's about as poetic as any of my blogs will get, so savor the moment.

I got goosebumps, my heart skipped a beat, and for a fleeting moment I realized how much fun track and field was for me in high school. Of course, there were those notsofun moments of track and field, which usually included 24x400 workouts (which my coach was famous for giving on the first day of track) and the occasional all out effort on the rubber oval.

I got on my bike for a training ride and started to daydream about track and field and realized that everytime I think about track and field I come to the same question:
What is the hardest event in high school track and field?

I finally came to my answer, and will leave it a mystery as I don't want to offend anyone...ok ok you pulled my leg. I think (in my totally unprofessional opinion) that the 800 meter dash is the most challenging event in a high school track race. In no other event could I imagine a sprinter and distance runner having a fair shake at winning evenly competing at. It takes speed, endurance, technical running skills, and even luck to put together the perfect 800 meter race.

It's the "halfway point" between those kids that refer to themselves as strictly distance runners, and the sprinters that would never think about going farther than a lap. One thing is for certain--if you take any stellar 400 meter runner and turn them into an 800 meter runner you will no doubt get a fast time if they put some distance workouts or mileage in. It take dedication and a ton of versatility to do this though, as most sprinters are already wrapped up in 4 events in a meet--the 100,200,400 and one sprint relay. The 800 is almost certainly viewed as more of a distance runners event, but I really think a lot of solid 200 and 400 meter runners are missing out by not training at least one year for this and trying it out.

For a track spike for the 800 I recommend a distance spike--although now you can find more and more middle distance spikes that have a small amount of heel padding instead of a full length foam cushion like all distance spikes have. This cuts down on weight and makes the spike more versatile if you are doing the 800 as your longest event (you can use a middle distance spike for the 800 down to the 100). A distance spike can be used for all events, but is a little heavier and the spikeplate is configured differently so as not to put you on your toes as much as a middle distance or spring spike would.

Fit Right NW has 5 different middle distance spikes from Asics, Brooks, New Balance, and Nike (the New Balance one is stocked in multiple widths).

For distance spikes they have 8 different options from Adidas, Brooks, Nike, Puma, and Saucony.

If you're looking for some options check them out!