30 years ago today

30 years ago today: (01/25/87) I didn’t race much indoors my final year at U-Lowell, mostly my aim was to finish in the top 6 at the NCAA national championships.  As such I did a few “shorter” races along the way.  On this date my goal was to take a shot at the then school record for 2 miles which was held by Mike Hurton (8:48).  I was on a fast track (Harvard) and had a good fast field to work with but could not muster the turnover needed to run that fast.  After a slow first quarter (69) the tempo upped with splits of 63, 66, and 65 getting me through the mile in 4:23 and still having a shot at the record.  A 67, 67, and 68 put the record out of reach and I settled for a personal best of 8:52.1.  It was a bit disappointing as I had run as fast as 8:55 as a freshman five years before this.  I’d never run faster and indoor track races (with the exception of the mile) are now held in metric distances so the 2 mile record isn’t even listed anymore.