New York,New York,Dublin,Doubling

There,s something about "Thursday Night At The Races"at The Armory,I can,t explain it,something that brings together middle distance track runners not just from New York but New Jersey and Philly it truly is a remarkable evening and one I hadn,t been able to enjoy since Feb 8th 07.
The 4 hour journey from work to The Armory {2.20pm-6.20pm}seemed to fly by the old walkman/ipod routine plus my dairy not to mention a well thought out letter to"The Queen Of The Slipstream"not only kept me occupied but didn,t allow me to over think my races.
I seeded myself at 4.25 in the mile and 2.03 in the 800m,my recent 4.09.27. lead me to believe a 4.24 mile was doable.
I need to give a big up to Andy Elken for giving me his spot in the fast heat of the mile I was still stretching when they seeded it and probably wouldn,t have gotten in unless Andy offered me his spot,thank you bud!
I was oblivious to what the rest of the field had seeded themselves at which actually served as a blessing as it made me focus on my race and nobody elses,up on the second line again at the start which suits me I had a clear run as we broke after the first turn and quickly found my stride and a clear run in the 12 man field.
Scott was calling out my splits and I did check the clock on each lap but to be honest I don,t recall any of them,I do know that Sundays 61 second opening 400m set me up nicely for the race and lack of speed work be damned I felt right at home up front w/ the leaders tonite.
W/ two laps to go I moved into third but lack that little bit of top end speed right now to close the gap on these younger guys,but trust me it,s coming once I get back into a regular three speed workout/two speed workout 1 race weekly schedule hopefully begining next week I,ll maximize my strenght and hone my kick finish.
Third again in 4.28.1,it wasn,t till the ride home w/ Scott and Chuck that I realized not only was this an indoor pr beating my 07 Hartshorne time of 4.29.12 but also my fastest track mile eclipsing the 4.28.9. I ran at Plymouth Whitemarsh on July 1st,two pr,s and two club records in 5 days....only at The Armory!!!
W/ little time to recover I soon found myself back out on the track for the 800m,I knew not to put myself into the lions den of heat one,most of these guys were running fresh and to compeat w/ a 1.54 winning time I,d have to be fresh,2.03. earnt me a second heat.
Disaster almost struck from the gun,the draw had seen me pick lane 5 as we broke from the gun and I caught my team mate Scott,s heal a few strides into my start,it thankfully didn,t effect him but stood me up momentarily,I was cast adrif of the 7 man field going into the first turn.
To my credit I didn,t panic and still went through the opening 200m in a brisk 30 seconds,I believe we went through the 400m in 64,down the back straight I made a move of epic preportion "T" maybe the "Queen Of The Slipsteam" but I slipstreamed the entire field in the space of just over 100m,from 8th to 1st and w/ 260m to go I was away,too preoccupied w/ winning the race to look at the clock for my 600m split I was focused on my form and my speed,neither let me down and I finished a good 3 seconds ahead of Scott in 2.05.8 to notch my second 800m victory of the season.
I,m telling you there,s electricity in the air when I race in New York,I arrived home at 11.50pm to a message from "Charlie Dibble"wishing me luck and also expecting"Chairman Of The Boards"behaviour,I think he got it!!!
No #2 of "Distance Nite At The Races" in two weeks time as I need to save myself for Cornell and the Hartshorne Memorial Masters Mile two days later,I will be back for #3 in a months time,fingers crossed my next race in "The Big Apple" is the Masters 4x4 at Millrose in three weeks time.