Threepeat At 5th Avenue

"How can you say that I didn't try,you know I did you see things in the depths of my eyes
That my love didn't run dry I don't wanna cry again
So I read to myself a chance of a lifetime to see new horizons on the front page
A black and white picture of Manhattan Skyline"

Manhattan Skyline- A-ha

So for the 6th year in a row I was treading the starting line of the famed 5th Avenue Mile a race that has become a huge part of my season.
This years race was a little different,I'd never consider 5th Avenue Mile "just another race" but where as in recent years 07,08,09 and 10 I'd trained specifically w/ this race in mind this year saw me come in w/ a different mindset and different attitude,sure I wanted to do well here,why even bother to show up otherwise? but the fact was my Nov 6th date w/ destiny and the chance to erase my oldest pr in the book my 1984 10k had taken front and center for my training in the last 6 weeks so instead of my tried and tested mile repeats and 4x400m repeats for 6 weeks leading up to 5th Avenue Mile a la 07,08,09 and 10 I focused on 3x2 mile repeats for the Bridge Run 10k in 7 weeks time.

At least Fridays rain had gone come Saturday morning,one thing I've always enjoyed here at 5th Avenue Mile is good weather and despite the 87% humidity the temps were a runner friendly 73 degrees.
Thankfully no race number debacle this year and I enjoyed a stress free morning after my nite at Jazz On The Park on 8th Aveune and the short walk from 110th St down to 80th and 5th Avenue.
Met up w/ my good friend Tom Fitzpatrick and warmed up w/ him b4 putting my bag on the luggage bus and heading to the starting coral,if you have any ambition of doing well at 5th Avenue Mile the key is getting a good start.
Knowing I hadn't prepared like I was trying to win this years race allowed me to adopt a different race strategy,don't worry about the leaders just run my own race and I came through the opening 400m in 66 seconds,right where I wanted to be.

I'd have liked to gone through 800m in 2.12 w/ another 66 second split but was disappointed to see 2.19 on the clock a 73 second split,time to step things up and w/ the third quarter being slightly downhill I was able to freewheel a little and pick off a number of runners who'd made that fatal mistake in 5th Avenue Mile of going out too hard in the first 400m,tied up a little in the second quarter which is slightly uphill and now began to die in the third quarter.
3.26 at 1,200m a 67 second quarter,w/ the finish line in sight it was time to throw whatever I had at the final 400m,the leaders were well clear of me but that final lap instinct kicked in as I began to pass runners in my range,I missed the 1,500m split as I was busy passing runners as I got to the finish line.

8th overall in 4.36,a far cry from the 4.24 I ran last year but considering my lack of mile repeats in training I had little or no complaints.
Ran into Lance Elliott post race,I met Lance in Boston after the Masters Mile in February and we'd stayed in touch, sadly our race schedules since February had meant missing one another till today but it was good to catch up w/ one another and enjoy a easy 4 mile cool down through Central Park post race.
After catching the elite races I made my way back towards Penn Station and the Megabus ride back to Philly.
By the time I'd made a huge bowl of Seafood Linguine and enjoyed watching the Spurs Wigan game and "Doctor Who" I thought it was time to go on line and check the official results.......

I was somewhat gobsmacked to see I'd won the M45-49 race by a second over Francis Laros and two seconds ahead of Gladstone Jones and Chris Collins,I remember seeing Gladstone and Chris being ahead of me but must have caught them in the final 400m.
So most unexpectedly my third M45-49 5th Avenue Mile victory to go w/ my 09 and 10 wins I have to say I'm kind of taken aback w/ this because I went into this years 5th Avenue Mile w/ the mindset that it was the first of my 7 races in 10 weeks leading into the winter but I'm grateful for another 5th Avenue Mile title on my running resume and will look for a more conventional 5th Avenue Mile training schedule next year to aid and abet a 4th M45-49 title.