Days at the Races

Saturday, June 5-Rustin Run. I decided to still do the 8:30 AM Rustin Run even though I had competed last night. I had a good warm up. The 60-65 degrees felt good. I figured I'd take the run fairly easy and run an even pace of 6:00 miles. I pretty much accomplished that, running 6:04, 12:10, and finished in 18:50. An eighth grader was ahead of me during the first mile. He set a good pace for me. I passed him after the mile mark. I just tried to stride, maintain a good pace and not run too hard. I did just that, not that the run was necessarily easy. With 200 to go, I saw 18:13, which puts my last 200 at 37 seconds. The award for winning the race was quite generous.

Friday, June 4--Ran the 800m at the Pennsylvania Distance Festival at Henderson. Got there at about 5PM, registered, and warmed up. Felt pretty good; the 75-80 degree weather certainly helped. The wind was a bit much. There were five heats, ranging in size from 10-20. I was in the third heat, where the seed times ranged from 2:01-2:06. I seeded myself at 2:06. I got out well but somewhat conservatively. The first 200 split was announced to be 29; I'd say I was at 30. The 400 was at 59/60; I think I hit 61/62. I was feeling pretty good, though I was moving towards the back of the pack. I tried to maintain my pace over the first 100 of the second lap. I slept a little bit on the next 150 because I wanted to have a bit left for the last 150. I heard 1:30 at the 600 for the leaders; I figured I was at about 1:33. I passed 2 in the final 150 and got passed by one myself. I came in at 2:06.67, on account of a 33 second last 200. This 200 was slower than I had hoped but otherwise felt pretty good. 30,31,32,33. Unfortunately, as it turns out, my time was given to Tom Ferguson (older brother of CHS senior James) or to the kid from Abington. They were in my heat, and I came in slightly ahead of them!  I was given 2:07.80.  It was great to see Tom, who's now living in West Chester, having graduated from Duke last year.

Goal for next week: 29,31,31,32.

Thursday, June 3--took the day off.