I would have prepared myself better mentally

Fri, 6/28/24-Recovery.

Ran 2.3M in 19:00.

Lifted at the fitness center.

Ran back home .7M in 5:30

Thurs, 6/27/24-West Chester Henderson meet. 87 degrees with a slight breeze and some humidity, though not oppressive.

I arrived at WC Henderson at about 5:20 for the 6:00 meet, with my event, the 800m, scheduled for 6:40ish. I had a few pleasantries with Kevin Kelly. After paying the entry fee, I sat around for about 20 minutes, some of which I spent chatting with a young guy by the name of Steve Thompson, a 2014(?) Henderson grad and someone I had previously spoken to on the circuit. At about 5:45, I started warming up. I ran a mile on the infield and stretched in the shade (in a little dugout under the stands). At about 6:20, I grabbed my hip number and made my way to the 100m start area, where I could do a few strides (20-30 meters) in the partial shade. The 400 was going off then. At 6:30, I made my way towards the start. We were lined up, as the last heat of the 400 concluded.

Despite my mental preparation of watching my best 800m run as a masters runner and visualizing my race, I don't believe I thought much about my race plan as we lined up. I was just trying to get my head around the two laps I had in front of me. I was lined up in position 4, although my hip number was 6; there were a couple of no-shows! And the gun went off. I found myself mid-pack by the 100m mark. I felt like almost too relaxed, maybe leaning forward too much, too. Hitting the 300m, from afar I saw 48 seconds on the clock. As I approached the 400m mark, I saw 64, then 65. I scarcely saw 66 as I passed the clock. This felt pretty easy. I felt inclined to pass someone on the turn, but I held back. I waited until the backstretch, then passed two people. I was now in second place and within 10m of the leader, some youngster. I looked down at my watch as I hit the 600m mark; it read 1:39. For a second, I wondered if I could uncork a 31 second last 200 in order to hit 2:10! The youngster would double his lead in a matter of meters, while another youngster would pass me with 70-80 meters to go, owing to his much stronger kick. 

With a seed time of 2:14, I managed 2:14.32. Not bad, I suppose.

My first 400m was 1:05.83; my second was 1:08.48. Broken into 200s, I hit about 32.4, 33.4, 33.7, and 34.7. I probably could have been a little more aggressive over the first 100, which would have probably lead to a 31.xx first 200. I had hoped I would have prepared myself better mentally for the last 200. The last 100 was slower than I had hoped. Were I to run this race under identical conditions, I would hope to drop a second off of each 200!

Wed, 6/26/24-Just warmed up. Ran a mile and stretched.