I do a lot of “doubles” running twice a day at least 5
days a week, but I rarely do double races. No surprise that as I’ve grown older
I find it takes me a lot longer to recover from races, even really short races.
I really wanted to race on New Year’s Day since it is always a nice way to ring
in the new year. I also wanted to do the B.U. mini meet since there aren’t a
lot of chances to run 3,000 meters on the indoor track. I figured doing “only”
a mile the day before the 3,000 wouldn’t hurt too much. I wasn’t so sure about
that when I got up on Saturday morning and staggered around the house.
I gave myself plenty of time to drive into Boston and
arrived just as registration/number pick-up began. I got my number and found a
nice spot in the stands to relax. This is a great facility with plenty of room
in the stands and a two lane practice track around the actual track. That means
you can warm-up inside which is a nice bonus this time of year. I took
advantage of this heading onto the track for 3 miles of comfortable running
while waiting to see which heat I’d end up in. Unfortunately it is hard to tell
how many people are entered in each event so it is hard to time out when you
will start. At 9:55 they announced the heats and I found that I was in the
5th of 7 heats. That meant I had another 45 minutes until my race
would start. I headed back to the stands and watched the first two races before
heading back to the track for a second warm-up. I switched into racing flats
and did 2 miles including some strides. I was pretty nervous and wasn’t
enjoying the hot dry air of the indoor track.
I was seeded 5th of 19 people in my heat with a
10:10. I thought that was just about perfect, thinking I’d have enough people
in front to key off of. I chatted a bit with fellow road-runner Terry McNatt
(CSU) who was hoping to run 40-41 seconds per lap which was my goal as well.
Wow, the gun went off and everyone shot out like mad. When the outside lane
starters cut in it was something of a football scrum. I was pretty aggressive
making sure I didn’t get tripped up. I found myself in about 10th
place through the first 200 meters but people were already slowing around me. I
passed a few people each of the next couple of laps and went around Terry at 800
meters (2:43) on the slow end of what I’d hoped for.
Once I passed Terry I was on my own. John Blouin was four
or five seconds ahead of me. I tried to concentrate on hitting 40-41’s but they
were mostly 41’s. By the mile (5:27) Blouin was a good 7 seconds ahead and no
one behind me was taking a turn at the front so essentially I was doing a track
workout on my own. I felt pretty tired but did not want to give up any ground
as I knew that if I faltered there were a bunch of folks behind me who would
pounce. Among others, Fernando Braz was on the infield yelling “they’re
coming!” It was nice to get the encouragement and there was no way I was going
to glance back. I knew a group was closing but I was turning it over as fast as
I could. I ended finishing second 5 seconds behind Blouin and only .3 ahead of
McNatt.
 |
| splits for each 200 meter lap |
I got some dry clothes on (drenched in sweat from the hot
track) and headed outside for a nice four mile run along the Charles River. I
was pretty happy with the sub-11 equivalent for 2 miles, about 10:58 converted
to the full 2 miles. There is plenty of time to get faster, the key will be to
stay healthy. I’m hoping to hit the track again by the end of the month.
1 10:08.7 John Blouin
2 10:13.8 Dave Dunham3 10:14.1 Terry McNatt
4 10:14.4 Jared Wolf
5 10:14.9 Aly Wayne
6 10:15.1 Catlin Malloy
7 10:17.7 Heather Mahoney
8 10:18.5 Peter Hauman
9 10:18.8 Audrey Gould
10 10:20.0 Michael Urquiola
11 10:21.5 Brian McNeiece
12 10:25.1 Zachary Cloutier
13 10:27.6 Catherine Knox
14 10:29.0 Ryan Ducrow
15 10:38.0 Taylor Blow
16 10:46.4 Peter Crapsy
17 10:55.4 Samantha Kitchen
18 10:55.5 Cat Chviruk
19 11:04.1 Audrey McCarthy
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