For me there,s something magical about running in New York City,w/ the exception of two 3 hour plus New York City Marathons,I,ve always turned in great performances in "The Big Apple"but never more so than on the track at MSG,5th Avenue Mile{yes I know it,s a road race but it,s a road race for track guys!}and my favourite venue in the world The Armory.
I always talk about the great Irish/New York connection and tapping into "the spirit of Eamon Coghlan"whenever I run in NYC but indoors over the mile/1,500m....c,mon!!
A downside of my stress fracture last December/ January was not being able to run at The Armory,in my humble opinion the mecca of indoor track on the east coast and maybe all of America,I came into this meet looking to run somewhere between 4.15-4.20 for 1,500m based on my 4.23 1,500m split the week b4 running 1,600m and seeded myself at 4.20 which got me into the fast heat.
14 of us w/ yours truly the elder statesman in a field of high schooler,I,m sure to the casual observer it wasn,t "youth getting served" more the old guy getting his arse served to him.........
Unlike the debarcle of last week I made sure to put myself on the outside of the starting line to avoid a repeat of a week ago and since runners 11-14 were moved upto the second line on the turn I got a clear run around the opening turn and positioned myself on the outside of lane 1 in third place.
I heard 61 seconds at 400m,a seven second improvement on last week and soon after I took the lead,not what I planned and tactically a bad move,that said today wasn,t about executing tactics it was about getting as fast a race as I could,there,ll be faster races this season and also more tactically astute races too.
I forget where I got overtaken all credit to him he hit the front w/ conviction and I couldn,t match his speed at this early stage of my season,if we were to run this race again in late Feb/early Mar I know I could answer that challenge,ditto for the second runner to overtake me,what I lacked in speed and sharpness I didn,t lack in inner drive, when a third runner overtook me I automatically responded not once but twice,first race of the year or not when third place was being wrestled away from me I dug deep to hold onto "bronze".
3.34 at the bell I felt strong enough to dig deep for one last 200m lap,rounding the final turn I looked up at the digital clock at the end of the track,4.04,50m to go dare I dream a sub 4.10 in my first race of the year?...."to dare is to win" according to the Spurs motto on the club crest....
4.09.27.......................holy mary mother of god!!!!when I won the 1,500m at Nationals in Spokane I ran 4.10.78 which was close to my peak in early August,my 1,500m split at 5th Avenue Mile was 3.56 so to run 4.09.27.on Jan 4th off of next to no speed work is amazing.
It,s a long season I can,t get carried away w/ this but yes it,s an unbelievable start to the year,I,ll enjoy it for now but come Monday it,s back to training for the next race which will be here at The Armory Thursday,based on a 4.09.27.1,500m a 4.24/4.25 mile is there for the taking.
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