Cruising In Syracuse

There's an expression in sport"you learn nothing from a defeat"I've always thought that was bullshit,you can learn a lot,I learnt a harsh lesson last year in Syracuse when my sights were on a sub 17 5k and I could only muster a meager 17.20.
Fast forwarding 12 months I returned to Syracuse for the USATF National 5K Road Race C'ships w/ serious 5,000m track credentials to my name, a bronze medal at Nationals and a serious lowering of my track pr 17.03-15.36 so it wasn't an unrealistic expectation coming into Sunday's race that my 5K pr of 17.09 as a master and an all time pr of 16.44 set in 1990 were about to go bye bye.

A lot of races lay claim to a fast flat course,Dave Oja at Syracuse delivers which is why for three years this event has been held here and looks to become a regular fixture on the race calender and why masters track and road runners make the journey to upstate New York for the Syracuse Festival Of Races at the beginning of October.

I was due a big 5K on the road,granted I don't do much in the way of road racing but I believed coming in to this race my long overdue increase in weekly mileage from 30 miles to 50 and some times 60 miles a week was about to pay off so it was w/ no sense of irony I warmed up w/ Francis Burdett and John Cunningham two runners and close friends who have been on at me for two years to up my mileage and drop one of my repeats per week to two,my times and results this year have paid off w/ dividends and I owe those guys a great deal of my success.
Couldn't have asked for better conditions come 9am sunny and mild w/ very little in the way of wind,unlike last week when I had several race plans today I had only one and I stuck to it.

I got out reasonably fast but not too fast and was soon into my stride and getting a reasonably clear run at things making sure I was able to follow the orange lines{we are in Syracuse after all!!} to run the shortest line.
3.01 at the first kilometer and 4.53 for the opening mile unfortunately nobody was calling the half way split.
6.03 at 2k by which time my hopes of a medal went bye bye as Jim Derick passed me w/ Pete McGill and Francis already well clear of me,9.06 at 3k and no 2 mile marker.

Now I had to dig deep,I heard 12.47 at 4k and knew I was close to a sub 16, making the turn towards the finish John Tuttle and Dave Cannon went by my...these guys are in the 50-54 age group and they were overtaking me and I was running my fastest 5k road race ever!!!
Making the final decent towards the finish line I thought I'd given everything I had but when I heard the announcer say Francis had crossed the line in 15.33 I knew I was going to have to find another gear if I had it.

Pat McCarthey went by me on my right hand side and in giving chase to him I caught and passed Dave Cannon on my left,I chased Pat as hard as I could to try and reclaim 4th in the 45-49 age group but it wasn't to be,13th overall 5th in the age group and what I initially thought was a 15.58-15.59 time........
However my time was rounded up to 16.00 which I have to say is a pisser as I SO wanted a sub 16 5K,that said it is a 69 second masters pr and a 44 second pr plus a new club record by 13 seconds.

Post race at brunch I got to see my team mates on the M50 team win gold which was great for them and good for the club, my friends on Westchester Track Club took silver in the M40 and I hope next year when we return to Syracuse Greater Philly will have a M40 team....and I can go sub 16