800m at The Armory: Night at the Races.

Fri, 12/17/21-6:00AM 5-mile recovery run at Mountainview Park. 8:35, 8:20, 8:10, 8:05, 7:45=40:55. Windy.

Thurs, 12/16/21

800m at The Armory: Night at the Races. 

After a long, 1 hour 40 min drive, I arrived at The Armory after nearly two years to give the 800m a whirl. Upon arriving at about 7:00, I checked in and adjusted my seed time from 2:12 to 2:15. I was able to accomplish an 8-min mile mile before the track closed for the women's mile. I'd stretch for a good while until the men's 800 was called at about 8:15PM. I would be in heat 2 of 3, position 11 of 12. I'd get on the track at about 8:25ish. 

I got out pretty conservatively and found myself in the 8th or 9th position immediately. A little jostling led me to cross the 200 in 32/33. More jostling put me at 66/67 for the 400. I was passed by one of two guys before the 600m mark (1:41.xx). I held my own over the last lap, closing in on a guy before running out of real estate. My mark of 2:15.90 was humbling but otherwise about what I expected. At least my race was well paced and even: 33/34/34/34. Now I just need to shave a second off each lap by this time next month  (2:11) and two seconds off by mid-February (2:07).

I marveled at Mark Williams's 2:03, after running a 4:35 mile not 40 minutes beforehand. He then ran on the fun 4-person, 5K relay, each running managing a total of 5 200s. He's a beast!