Three if we included the overriding influence of Dublin this past week, U2 on ''Letterman"all week,Mayor Bloomburg renaming 53rd St U2 Way and a six song set at Fordham Friday morning on "Good Morning America"and little ole me having finished Eamonn Coghlan,s autobiography I,m now onto the other great Dublin miler Ronnie Delaney....like I need extra juice going into a New York City race.....................
While the masses headed to Ursinus for Eastern Regionals I opted for The Armory and the Mac C,ships,as I stated in the build up to this race I,ve gotten sick the last two years at Ursinus right b4 Indoor Nationals,once you can say is unfortunate,twice,more than a coinsidence,a third time would be far from a charm so reluctantly I had to turn my back on my team mates from GPTC and fly solo to NYC,by all accounts they did fine w/out me and I look forward to meeting up w/ them in Landover in just under two weeks so we can do some major damage at Indoor Nationals.
Having focused on the 1,500m/mile throughout the indoor season it was important to get not only an 800m under my belt b4 Mar 22nd but also a fast one,hence the train ride along the North East Corridoor to Penn Station and the A subway to 168th St and The Armory.
I always knew there was potential for missing the last connecting train out of Penn Station at 10.14pm but I needed this 800m,that said I afforded myself a wry smile when the 1,500m went off as the second event of the meet.............
Eventually the call went up for the 800m,as is my won,t I elected to run in the open heat,my previous seasons best here at the The Armory in the mile{4.28 also a pr!}and previous pr at 1,500m{4.09} were in open races................if it aint broke,don,t fix it!!!
I just missed heat 1 by 1 spot they took the fastest 9 runners and I was 10th,that said judging from some of the enrties in heat #1 they lied about their seed times that ranged from 1.56 thro 2.02 where I had seeded myself,hey ho heat #2 it was.
A drawback of being seeded #1 was the inside lane in a "waterfall"start, 9 runners all shooting for the inside lane from the gun,I held my ground in lane 1 w/out getting boxed in or having to weave out into lanes 2 or 3,split seconds/one hundredth of a second in an 800m makes a big difference.
I can,t recall my 200m splits exactly,29,59 at 200m/400m,I was 5th,in the indoor 800m,just like the outdoor mile that third lap is key,half way down the back straight I moved into 4th and coming off the turn up the home straight into 3rd,2nd began to rig,game on at the bell.
1.31 I,d gone 29,30,32,thus far w/ a target to chase I gave it everything but couldn,t close the gap 1.58 for the winner,2.01.17 for me in second,2.04 for third.
2.01.17. is an indoor pr for me and also my 4th fastest ever 800m,I got what I came here for a fast time in my final Indoor Nationals tune up and a crack of daylight between me and the 2.03-2.05 pack who,ll be at Landover.
Knowing the 9.14pm train wasn,t an option I did my half mile cool down,collected my medal and shoot the proverbial w/ some Shore AC and CPTC friends b4 the mad dash back to Penn Station.
4 mins to spare,golden or so I thought, having bought a one way ticket up in case I copped a ride home I now had to get a ticket from the automated ticket machine,for some dumb reason none of them would take my perfectly working debit card,bottom line the 10.14pm NJT left w/out me...
No worries....he said I,ll crash in the waiting room till the 4.20am NJT to Trenton and jump the 6.06am R7 back to Philly.............a 2 hour limit is on the waiting room,so I was asked to vacate at 11.15pm and return at 1.45am....just where I was going for 2.5 hrs was debatable,so I took the 11.56pm out of Penn Station to arrive at Trenton at 1.33am some 4 hrs b4 the first R7 rolls out at 5.37am.
Mercifully the waiting room on platform 5 was open and Joe and I a fellow West Philly bound passenger hung out shoot the breeze b4 trying to rack up a few zzzs b4 a Dunkin Donut raid prior to said 5.37am R7 departing.
It,s funny how fate works,asides from being near neigbours in W.Philly Joe and I shared some common ground in terms of running and I was greatful for the company in the wee hours.
Home by 6.55am only to get changed and head over to work,the clock in my office hadn,t been turned forward so technically I arrived at 6.50am,10 mins on time.............for a 7am start!!!
All in a days work,next stop Landover.
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