From PR To WR,The 09 Season In Review

Or,the year I wanted to be World Champion but had to make do w/ a World Record.
The year could not have gotten off to a better start, on Jan 4th at The Armory I set a pr for the 1,500m w/ a 4.09.27.eclipsing my 4.10.78. from Spokane four months earlier.
Four days later I returned to The Armory and set another pr this time 4.28.1 for the mile followed by a 2.05.8 victory in the 800m,considering the lack of speed work I had under my belt these were impressive times.
I had to settle for third at the Hartshorne Masters Memorial Mile two weeks later in 4.30.14. but the real story of my race was my dramatic lean at the line to edge out Dan Franek 4.30.14. to 4.30.22. believe me if you've seen the photos of the finish it was that close!
January ended w/ a 4th place finish at the Millrose Games Masters 4x400m,4th again,but this year I wasn't just coming off a stress fracture as I anchored us in 56.2 to a 3.46.94. a marked improvement on 08's 3.52.54.

Next up was a complete change of pace as I heading to Derwood Md for the Winter Nationals Masters XC 8K,a distance and a terrain out of my 800m/1,500m comfort zone,that said I more than held my own as I finished a respectable 33rd out of 142 and clock a pr 28.50.81. thanks to yet another furious finish.
I was mildly disappointed w/ my 4.30.91. mile at The Armory b4 winning another 800m in 2.05.

March began in dramatic fashion as I shaved two seconds off my 1,500m pr w/ a 4.07.49. some 10 seconds behind the winner Tony Young who shattered the World record,little did I know it was not the last World Record I'd be a part of this year!
Finally a fast 800m 2.01.17. at The Armory at the Mac C'ships,my 4th fastest ever 800m and my fastest indoor 800m,the stage was set for Indoor Nationals in two weeks time.
After getting sick at Indoor Nationals in 07 and still recovering from my stress fracture in 08 I wanted my third Indoor Nationals to be something to remember.
I came away from Landover w/ 2 bronze medals in the mile 4.34.43. and the 800m in 2.02.64. b4 anchoring our 4x400m relay to gold in 3.46.75. thanks to a 55.41.as I commented to my team mates Scott,Nick and Ray as we cooled down"being a National Champion never gets old".

W/ indoor season over it was time to get ready for the most important outdoor season of my career,I had almost a whole month of uninterrupted training b4 my outdoor debut a 4.32.08. mile victory after I opened in 60 seconds,I was instructed to take it out hard from the gun!!
Two weeks later in front of another 47,000 crowd at Penn Relays I anchored the team to a club record 3.38.93. thanks to a pr 53.6. things were ticking along nicely,little did I know I'd reached the high point of my outdoor season four months too soon.
A nagging achilles tendon issue flared up two weeks later as I hobbled to a 4.13.38. 1,500m at Swarthmore,the painful walk home confirmed my fears there was a problem and thus began five weeks of treatments and not being able to train or struggle thro training,all the while the clock was ticking down towards Lahti and Worlds.....tick tock,tick tock.

After losing three weeks of training and another week of speed work the final roll of the dice came on June 16th,w/ Worlds now five weeks away and my opening round of the 800m six week away I had to nail my 4x400m repeat,my splits were very little to write home about but despite two weeks of not running my achilles bothered me at the end of the workout.....a minutes silence please,my dream of being a World Champion has just died.

Over the next six weeks I was forced to wear a surgical boot,I couldn't run at all although I did buy a bike to allow me some sort of training routine so that upon my return to training I wasn't starting from scratch,I still recall that tentative first mile on July 27th,the time of 5.49.06. was nothing to write home about but the fact I got through it pain free was worth its weight in gold.
On August 10th I clocked a 4.59.10.mile at my 6th attempt which I then lowered to 4.54.51.on the 17th,life in the old dog yet I'd say!!

W/ 5 weeks till 5th Avenue Mile I began to crank up my training,first my first 4x1 mile repeat followed by my "in and out"400s a repeat workout that had been a huge part of my 5th Avenue Mile titles in 07 and 08.
To gauge where I was I took the road trip to Langley Va to run on Labor Day,neither my 4.49.01. mile or 2.10.76. 800m were anything to write home about but it felt good to race again after over four months,but frankly the 4.49.mile didn't fill me w/ much hope of anything special at 5th Avenue in three weeks.

If this were a video montage they'd cue up Phil Collins's hit "Against All Odds" as I finished 4th overall in 4.34. but took the 45-49 age group category,granted not the overall 40-49 race like the last two years but in all honesty this was far more than I could've asked for.
Sadly a week in running is a long time, eight days later I crapped out over 5k,I wanted to brake 17 minutes and believed the six weeks of 5x1,00m repeats would help me to do that,not for the first time in my career I got my pacing all wrong over the opening 1k and 1 mile and blew up to a 17.16.76.you win some,you lose some.

I'd already opted against xc racing for the fall,my achilles was still recovering,post Syracuse and the Masters National 5K C'ships I got back into my racing flats,I'd tried to wear them six weeks into my recovery but found out the hard way it was too much too soon but now w/ 12 weeks recovery under my belt I felt it was time to test the waters again and I saw the difference in my splits.
October,November,December saw a steady diet of 6x600m,5x1,000m and 4x1mile repeats,the return to"The Death Zone" aka 6x600m would get me ready for the 800m and help me on my 4x400m relays,I'd enjoyed the 5x1,000m so much in preparation for Syracuse that I kept it in my rotation and the 4x1mile much like the 6x600m was a bread and butter repeat.

On December 6th I kicked off the indoor season w/ a 57.08. 400m at Seton Hall in the hope of posting a 400m time good enough to make the upcoming Millrose Games masters 4x400m relay in January,I did hope to run an 800m the following week at nearby Haverford but got sick so when I headed back to The Armory to end the year where it had begun I wasn't 100% sure what 800m shape I was in,I hoped 2.03,that's where I kicked off the last indoor season at on Dec 21st at Swarthmore.
By now we all know what went down on Sunday,not only did we take the American Club record for the Masters 40-49 4x800m but we also took the American record which as later found out was the World Record.

And there you have it my year,in spite of my injury I managed to notch 23 races and tomorrow nite I'll list my top ten,but one final foot note,of the six 800m races I ran this year four were at The Armory,2.05.8,2.05,2.01.17,2.05.8.how spooky is that to begin w/ a 2.05.8. and end w/ a 2.05.8?