Perfect Symmetry

How fitting,the year began at The Armory on Jan 3rd,it ended at The Armory on Dec 27th,also my first major Masters title came in 06 in the 4x800m in Charlotte N.Carolina,I ended the decade w/ another 4x800m.
The plan was to go after the American Club Record which was 8.15.29. which was set 21 years ago by West Valley Track Club,we felt we could go for it w/ myself,Scott Landis,Bob McGinty and Nick Berra all more than capable of running 2.03 per man,and w/ that we headed to New York City and The Armory for a chance to rewrite history........and then some.

By the time we finally got onto the track we were more than ready,track is alot of sitting around waiting to run,I guess the trick is how to fill that time,while all of us were focused on going after the record the mood was relaxed and lite.
B4 I go any further I have to thank the B relay team,it was one thing for us to go after the record but those 4 guys Phil Reiley,Delvin Dinkins,Chuck Shields and a late stand in Tom Fitzpatrick all gave up the chance to run an individual event in order to help push us,one of our team mates Dennis had injured himself a week prior and we were hurting for an anchor on the b team,manfully stepping upto the plate was Tom Fitzpatrick who offered to anchor after his 1,500m....which finished prior to the relay,we owe Tom period,the fact he's not a GPTC runner made his offer even more valuable.
The order was Scott to lead off,Bob,Me and Nick to anchor,again mad props to meet organizer Derrick Adkins and announcer Ian Brooks who took the trouble to not only get the details from Chuck on the record we were chasing but also a little info on each runner,Ian announces most Armory races I run and knows how to get the crowd into it,they were very much the fifth man for us.

From the gun Phil and Scott duked out a mano e mano tussle w/ Scott going through his 4 laps in 31.92,59.01,1.29.50,2.01.43 {31.92,27.09,30.49,31.93.} w/ Phil giving Scott all he could ask for,seamlessly Bob and Delvin continued the duel as now Bob reeled off 200s of 28.39,30.09,30.89,33.47. and again Delvin was right there,my turn,just like Charlotte in 06 third leg on the relay,a new role for me but one I was more than happy to fill believe me w/ the stable of middle distance guys we have I'm gonna be hard pressed to make the 4x400m and 4x800m teams as I now own the distinction of being the "old man" on the team at 46.
Did somebody call last orders? cos this Paddy went off like a man possessed,how possessed??try an opening 200m of 26.16.!!!!sweet jesus!if I can't cut the mustard at 800m and 1,500m anymore maybe there's a future for me as a 200m runner,Paul Hession you're on notice,your position as Ireland's #1 200m runner is under attack!!!!
Clearly I couldn't hold onto such a brutal pace,29.59 for the second lap a 55.75 400m{can this be counted as my 400m split for Millrose?....anybody....!!!}b4 a third lap of 33.45.I was gassed.
In a solo 800m tying up over the final 200m only hurts you,I could not let my team mates down,I dug deep to get the baton around in a painful 36.55 but at 6.09 the record was there for the taking and very much in the capable hands of Nick.

What followed was a clinic in how to run even pace.....something I need to try once in a while,29.84,29.82,29.00,28.67. each split faster than the last and Nick crossed the line in 8.07.48.we'd shattered the 21 year old American Club Record by8 seconds.
It's not every day you're asked to do a lap of honour,but hey it's not every day you brake an American Club Record either,we also took down the American Record of 8.07.6,not to mention shatter the old GPTC record of 8.30.42.which Scott and I had been a part of in Charlotte in 06 at Nationals.
As we caught our collective breath and shared congrats w/ one another,the B team who'd been so instrumental, and from well wishers Chuck was off making sure all the i's were dotted and the t's were crossed,believe me you've NO Idea what paper work you have to go through to get a record submitted so it can be verified and sanctioned,to a man we on the A relay can never repay Chuck for his attention to detail and selfless pursuit of officials and mounds of paper work that go into this,don't forget our women set two American Records this year,us guys were biding our time for the right moment!!!

Photos posed for complete w/ hip numbers spelling out our time and w/ the club banner we hit Coogan's for a celebration,in over 3 and a half years racing here at The Armory I'd never been there,then again I'd never set an American Club record either!!
More symmetry! turns out Scott had just this year lost his High School 4x800m record this year after 30 years and now he'd earnt an American Club record,and it turns out that Coogan's has a tradition,they hang from the rafters the vest of schools,clubs etc who brake records at The Armory,and we just so happened to have an extra vest.....why?because I thought I'd lost mine so I asked Chuck{who else?} if he'd bring one so that IF we broke the record all four of us would have GPTC vests on for the photos.....and now there's one hanging in Coogan's!

As we reached the parking lot Ray called,just like our historic 06 4x800m relay Ray wasn't a part of it but we called him post race,anyway today he returned the favour and was pleased for us w/ our new American Club record......................
10 mins later Ray called back,he was on the World Masters Athletics web site,the World Record for Indoor Masters 40-49 4x800m was....8.07.6....we ran 8.07.4............................WORLD FRICKIN RECORD BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Even w/ the American/American Club record that needed ratification,ditto then for a World Record,but holy shit a World Record!!!I said this year my three "to do" things w/ my running were:World Champion,World Record and to run at Haywards Fields,one down two to go!
Clearly some rethinking needs to be done on my Top Ten races of 09 list for New Years Eve now!
Oh yeah,for the record the average 800m time per man for the four of us was 2.01.9.