4,4,5,5.

"If I could open my arms and span the length of the isle of Manhattan,I 'd bring it to where you are making a lake of the East River and Hudson.
If I could open my mouth wide enough for a marching band to march out,they would make your name sing and bend through alleys and bounce off all the buildings"
Marching Bands Of Manhattan-Death Cab For Cutie

The photo is from Friday's 5,000m at Henderson,since I'm sans digital camera I have to rely on pulling race photos off of the internet to spruce up my blog,maybe there'll be official photos at the final Icahn meet in two weeks time to add.
So last nite's 1,500m,a final chance to improve on the 4.15.0 I ran here 5 weeks ago,I learnt a vital lesson that afternoon,don't take the 3pm Bolt Bus from Philly if you want to be at Icahn by 6pm,catching the 2pm bus I arrived in Manhattan by 4.05pm and was on Randall's Island and at the stadium by 5.05pm,ample time to relax b4 the meet began at 7pm.

A bigger turn out than weeks 1 and 2{lest we forget I didn't make week 2 due to the rain}and idyllic conditions,sunny and warm,not too hot and thanks in part to the temporary stand on the back straight for Saturday's Reebok Grand Prix no pesky wind coming off the Harlem River,trust me in a 1,500m race negotiating the back straight 4 times w/ the wind coming off the river is a beast.
Warmed up w/ my good friend Conor O Driscoll,it was Conor who gave me a nugget of advice back in Febuary at The Armory,ironically after a 1,500m about the upcoming season that may well ring true.....

Warm up and stretches taken care of it was over to the starting line,some over zealous officiating almost resulted in a 40 man 1,500m.....madness,I've ran 35 man 5,000m races which are fine but 16 to 20 is enough for a 1,500m,thankfully common sense prevailed and a two heat race was decided.
22 of us toed the line,my reaction to the gun was good again,I've gotten better in recent races w/ that but yet again my positional sense needs some work,I got caught on the rail briefly down the back straight but was able to swing wide coming up the home straight and move out to the outside of lane one b4 going through 300m in 51 seconds in 5th.
I heard 68 seconds at 400m as I settled into my rhythm,1.58 at 700m and 2.15 at 800m.

The lead 3 made their move at 900m,this is where I paid for not doing a better job tactically as when they made their move I wasn't close enough to cover it,I moved into 4th w/ 5th right behind me but the gap between us and the lead three was too great to close.
3.05 at the bell and even though I was too far off the lead three I picked up the pace and shook off the challenge of 5th place.
Off the final turn I could see the clock at the finish{something sadly lacking at Henderson last Friday!}and picked up the pace,4th in 4.11.8.

My splits were:51,67,67,66 which bodes well for next Friday's mile at Henderson if I hope to lower my 4.28.9.
Tonite in finishing 4th I took 4 seconds off my previous time 5 weeks ago and ran my 5th fastest 1,500m of all time hence the title.
If I can take 4 seconds off in 5 weeks again I'm looking at 4.07. at Nationals in 7 weeks time,the road to Sacramento goes through Henderson and New York again starting next Friday