beaming with joy and for good reason

Sat, Jan 11--Went to the Y and did a simple mile on the donut (6:23), lifted upper body for 4:00 (lat pull, fly), ran a mile on the treadmill (6:12), lifted upper body for 4:00 (shoulder press, arm curls), and then ran another mile on the track (6:00).  I topped off the workout with a bit of stretching.

Fri, Jan 10--took the day off.

Thurs, Jan 9--I left work much earlier than usual (3:10) to meet Rob at 3:40 at the Crown Plaza in Willow Grove to head to The Armory.  I arrived late.  By the time I finished changing in the hotel restroom, it was a couple minutes after 4:00 and we were ready to pull out of the parking lot.  We made it to NYC in no time, encountering modest traffic.  We parked at about 5:45 and waited in the lobby until we were permitted to purchase admission and head upstairs to the venue.  We submitted out registration sheets.  HS students were still practicing on the track.  They were dismissed at 6:30, at which time those waiting to compete in the evening's meet were permitted to warm up.   The meet was to start at 7:00.  The events for the evening were simple enough: 1000, 2 mile, 600, organized women before men and fast to slow.

I did a mile, some of which with Kevin Forde, who took the greater part of last year off.  It was great to see him!  I stretched much like I had for the Sprint Night in December.  I felt a little sore and had a major stomach cramp from a gas bubble.  Hated it.

Rob and I waited around a bit and learned that there were 4 heats of the women's 1000 and perhaps 6 heats of the men's.  We hung our on the infield.  And when the second event, the two mile, approached we began warming up again.  We soon learned that there would be 2 or 3 heats for the women and 4 heats for the men.  It was going to be a long night.  We continued to use the infield.  Between this round of warming up and the first, I must've run about 10 x 50m.

Eventually, our event was called and we checked in.  It was well after 9:00 at this point.  With a seed time of 1:29 (I changed it from 1:28, having initially thought about writing 1:27), I was placed in heat 3 lane 8, the farthest to the outside.  In looking at the heat sheet, one guys was listed in 1:26, 6 guys at 1:27, and I was 1:29.  Rob was assigned heat 5, with his seed time of 1:35.

If I heard correctly, the winner of the first heat crossed the 200 in 26 and the 400 in 55, for a final time of 1:24.  When our heat was up, I tried to turn my thoughts to pace, attempting to forget about being on the outside and evidently the last seed in the heat.  Six were on the back line, while a youngster (relatively speaking) and I were up on the front line.  We were to break at the 150m mark coming into the straightaway.  When the gun went off, I was not very aggressive at all.  I fell right behind the youngster.  At the 100m mark, I realized that the guys on the inside had made up most of the stagger and that I would be behind at the break.  I was right.

In order to avoid falling too far behind, I surged over the last 20 meters of the homestretch to beat someone at the turn.  I was in sixth place now, or there were two guys behind me.  I could see that Mark Williams was in the lead.  I certainly wish I could have been there.  I could see Andrew Hogue a few meters ahead of me.  Coming up the homestretch and closing in on 400 meters, I saw 58, 59.  I was at 59 seconds.  Knowing I should have hit the 400 at least a second faster, I started to push, going to my arms, trying to get my knees up and pressing with my toes.   I felt myself gaining on the group.  At the same time, someone was gaining on me.  With 100m to go, I got passed.  I kept driving, though.  I saw the clock as I hit the top of the straightaway: 1:22, 1:23, 1:24, 1:25, 1:26, 1:27, 1:28, 1:29....  1:29.22 it was.  A little more umph and I could have had 1:28.  Better yet, I wish I had gone with my original mind and kept 1:27 as my seed time.  That way, I would have had a better chance of being on the back line.  I think that would've helped me.  Then again, though, you never know.  The traffic could have been an issue.

Overall, I felt good about the race, particularly since I ran 29, 59 (30), and 1:29 (30).  Between this even race and the first one this season at Ursinus, I am pleased.  It's nice to know that my original goal/plan of 28, 57 (29), 1:27 (30) or 28, 58 (30), 1:28 (30) wasn't entirely unrealistic.

Rob ran a nice race as well.  He was beaming with joy and for good reason.

I am hopeful that we'll both reach our 400m and 800m goals this season.  I'd like to run :54 and 2:04, respectively.  30, 61 (31), 1:32 (31), 2:04 (32).  Oh smack!

Wed, Jan 8--after taking the morning off, I decided to accompany my wife to the Y in the early evening.  In preparation for Thursday's meet at The Armory, I did only a mile, a little lifting and a little stretching.