Redemption

B4 I get too far into my blog,a big shout out,made love,big ups much love and respect to my friend,team mate and fellow Irish running mafia buddy Sean for the ride up and back to New York last nite.
In frankly less than ideal conditions it was a treat to get a ride up and back to The Armory period,I couldn't have imagined taking the train or the bus and then the subway in all that snow,and riding in style in a Mini.....sweet!

We arrived at The Armory by 5.30pm w/ the meet going off at 7pm,sadly no getting on the famed banked track till 6.45pm but it allowed time to sit and relax b4 hand and shoot the proverbial w/ those who'd also braved the snow,low turn out tonite which given the conditions outside was to be expected,time to jog around the outside of the track b4 a quick two lapper b4 the call went up for the women's 1,500m,only one heat so the men were called to seed themselves.
The first heat began seeding at 3.45 but there were no takers till we got to 4.05 which is where I threw my hat into the ring,even at 4.10 I'd have made the first heat,frankly given the second heat was won in 4.22 I made the right choice in seeding myself in the opening heat.

Drawn 5th of 12 runners I got an ideal spot on the starting line,however my reaction to the gun was bloody awful,perhaps a reflection of my lack of racing this year{tonite was only my 6th race of the year} I went straight to the back of the field a la Hartshorne,there it was deliberate,tonite not so much.
33 seconds for the opening lap,I hadn't given much thought to splits per lap,I'd plucked 4.10 out of the ether as a target time unsure of how realistic or unrealistic that was.
My remaining splits untill the bell are a blur,I did see them coming through the finish line each lap but can't recall them now,however I will say I felt comfortable throughout the whole race.

Tonite I ran one of my more economic races,too often I'm all over the place like chicken shit on a farm but this evening I was able to stay in lane one almost the entire 7.5 laps moving out into lane two to overtake when I had the chance.
I had hoped to come through the bell in 3.35,it was 3.42 but unlike my earlier miles here and at Cornell where I felt I was dying over the latter half of the race tonite I felt the benefits of my 30 mile weeks and was able to produce a 34 second closing lap to finish 11th of 12 in 4.16.
Yes I'd like to have ran faster and finish further up the field but I'll take this,like I said heat two was won in 4.22,winning that would've done little for me.

Based on my pr's for 1,500m{4.07} and the mile {4.28} I'd say tonites 4.16 at 1,500m comes out to a 4.37 mile,not good enough to get me on the podium at Nationals BUT a world removed from the 4.51 I ran here seven weeks ago and the 4.48 at Cornell two weeks later,clearly I'm moving in the right direction and at the right time.
I still have four weeks b4 Indoor Nationals in Boston,providing the weather holds up I should be able to get four good weeks of training under my belt.
Well the good news I ran tonite,no thanks to more snow and though I say it myself I ran well,yes there's room for improvement but it's late Feb,the 1,500m at Outdoor Nationals isn't till late July.
Also I was able to erase the memory of that awful mile here on Jan 7th,next stop is the Mac C'ships here next Saturday in the 3,000m,let's hope the weather isn't too unkind to me over the weekend as I look to notch either 3x9 miles or 3x8 miles to put me at 36 or 33 mile for this week.