High Street Mile

I couldn't decide where I wanted to race this weekend (great problem to have) and eventually settled on the High Street mile.  I hadn't run a mile race since December of 2007, this would be fun.  I was still a bit sore from peakbagging so I didn't want to race on Saturday.  I felt pretty decent on Sunday morning and started the day with 30 minutes of water running.  After that I joined Petey and Scott Spence for 4 miles on the rail trail.  So with an hour of running already under my belt I headed to Newburyport.  It was raining pretty heavily when I headed out for my warm-up.  I checked out the course and then did a mile with strides.  After 5 miles (plus the four in the morning) I felt pretty well warmed-up.  I did another 10 minutes of running waiting for the start and finally we were off.

I had chatted with Reno Stirrat prior to the race and he was aiming for a sub-5.  I felt I could run around 5:10, so I figured I'd try to stay reasonably close to Reno.  Wow, people went out flying in the first 100m  I was probably nowhere near the top 50 at 200m in.  Then people started coming back.  Reno was a few steps ahead when I hit the 1/4 in 72.5.  I tried to focus on the line of people in front of me and hit the half in 2:28.8 (76.3).  I felt pretty good up until that point and really tried to work the third quarter, mostly because I knew I wouldn't have a kick at the end.  I hit 3/4 in 3:46.0 (77.2) still a couple of steps behind Reno.  People were still coming back and it felt good to be passing people this late in the race.  I saw the 200 to go sign and really went to my arms as I went by Reno.  At the same time the only person to pass me in the race went blowing by.  I held on and crossed the line in just under 5:02 (rounded up to 5:02) for a 75 point something last 1/4.  All in all I was quite pleased.  I think if I hit the track I could run under 5 minutes for whatever that might be worth.

    1   1/84   M1699    4:05  4:05 ABYIOT ENDALE        23 M     4 BRONX NY     

    2   2/84   M1699    4:11  4:11 HARBART OKUTI        25 M    12 NEW YORK  NY 

    3   3/84   M1699    4:11  4:11 BRIAN HARVEY         23 M     6 ALLSTON MA   

    4   4/84   M1699    4:20  4:20 JOE GENTSCH          23 M     5 NEW YORK NY  

    5   5/84   M1699    4:21  4:21 ANDREW HUEBNER       23 M   144 HAMPTON FALL 

    6   6/84   M1699    4:27  4:27 KEVIN ALLIETTE       30 M   345 METHUEN      

    7   7/84   M1699    4:29  4:29 ERIK NEDEAU          39 M   331 BELCHERTOWN  

    8   8/84   M1699    4:36  4:36 SEAN LIVINGSTON      42 M   295 BARRINGTON   

    9   9/84   M1699    4:36  4:36 MATTHEW ORLANDO      18 M    27 NEWBURYPORT  

   10  10/84   M1699    4:37  4:37 JOSEPH EKUOM         41 M   333 NEW PALTZ    

   11  11/84   M1699    4:40  4:40 JOSEPH KOECH         42 M   337 CHELMSFORD   

   12  12/84   M1699    4:52  4:52 NICK DESOUZA         27 M   334 SALEM        

   13  13/84   M1699    4:54  4:54 KEITH CONWAY         17 M   196 NEWBURYPORT  

   14  14/84   M1699    4:54  4:54 RON COOPER           33 M    73 MARBLEHEAD M 

   15  15/84   M1699    4:55  4:55 BRETT BUDZINSKI      36 M   109 NORTH ANDOVE 

   16  16/84   M1699    4:58  4:58 MATTHEW VALLI        23 M   348 NEWBURY      

   17  17/84   M1699    4:59  4:59 JOE SANTO            16 M    64 NEWBURYPORT  

   18  18/84   M1699    5:01  5:01 ANDREW ORLANDO       17 M    26 NEWBURYPORT  

   19  19/84   M1699    5:02  5:02 DAVE DUNHAM          47 M   279 BRADFORD     

   20  20/84   M1699    5:04  5:04 RENO STIRRAT         57 M   108 DORCHESTER M 

Buddy Bostick out on the rainy course