New Balance Indoor track

Next up I really changed gears, hitting the Indoor Track for a Mile!  Shawn Conway had given me the scoop on this event which was part of the grand opening of the new track at the New Balance building in Boston.  I’m not much for going into the city but could not resist the call of getting on the track and seeing what I could do for a mile.  This would be the first time I’d ever done an indoor track race in April.  I’m much more of a morning runner than evening and usually asleep by 7pm which would be the start time for the first heat of the mile.  I did my normal Friday with a run at 4:30am on the rail trail, then off to work.  I did another 5 miles at lunch and after work headed to Boston.  I had a little less than 2 hours to kill which I spent reading and keeping hydrated.  Finally 6pm rolled around and I was able to pick up my number.  The facility was incredible!  Seating for nearly 4,000 and a state of the art track.  The meet would feature six heats of the mile and then an attempt at the world record for the Distance Medley Relay.  All entrants (no entry fee!) were given NB socks, hat, and a pair of foam fresh training shoes.  What a deal!  I headed out for a wake-up and warm-up 3 miles and then headed indoors for final preparations.  I got in another mile with some strides while watching the first heat break in the brand new track.  They had introductions for all competitors and we ran down the infield while fireworks shot off around us.  It was wild, as if I needed more reason to get the heart really pumping! I was the slowest seed time in my heat but a couple of others had put themselves at 5:30 so I was hoping for company.  I could not have been more wrong.  I got a slow start (hoped for 1:22’s) and by the ¼ mile I was already 6 seconds behind the next person.  Essentially I did the entire race alone, but I did get a few cheers of “go double-d” from some of my fans.  I kept it together and ran every quarter a little faster than the one before and got to within 2 seconds of the next competitor by the end.  Although I finished dead-last, it was still a good experience and in some ways “fun”.  Since I was not really expecting to be racing until July, every race I’m doing this Spring is a bonus.

 

1  Eduardo Tapia           Team Mimosas  5:01.9   1:15.3   1:14.0   1:17.2   1:15.5

2  Eric Hunt                                          5:02.8   1:14.6   1:14.6   1:17.7   1:15.9

3  Dan Donato              Notch NA          5:11.1   1:16.8   1:19.9   1:21.9   1:12.6

4  Matt Rabasco            Old Goat TC      5:11.7   1:15.1   1:19.3   1:22.2   1:15.2

5  Seth Waltz                                        5:11.9   1:15.9   1:18.3   1:20.3   1:17.4

6  David Westenberg     GLRR                5:14.5   1:15.4   1:18.6   1:20.1   1:20.4

7  Ian Wright                                        5:22.4   1:19.1   1:22.4   1:20.8   1:20.1

8  Richard Knight                                  5:24.7   1:19.1   1:22.4   1:24.5   1:18.7

9  Tyler Niskanen                                  5:26.2   1:15.9   1:20.7   1:23.9   1:25.7

10  Mark Mayall                                    5:30.3   1:18.4   1:22.2   1:25.4   1:24.3

11  Dave Dunham         CMS                 5:32.5   1:24.2   1:23.1   1:23.0   1:22.3