Lets face it the way I ever get on Ivy League campus grounds is through my running,back in the day my track repeats were all at Franklin Field at UPenn and now for the 5th time since 2007 I was back at Cornell......it's beginning to feel like home!!
Another plus of becomming a semi frequent visitor to Ithaca in January is getting used to the cold,I don't notice it as much now but dear God that first visit in 07......I remember running from the car into Barton Hall to escape the chill winds that blew around me......now I just take it in stride!!
I arrived at Barton Hall around 11am after a comfortable walk from the nearby hotel which allowed me half an hours worth of volume 2 of Queen's Greatest Hits to get the blood pumping and the juices flowing,after check in I "decamped" at the end of the 100m finish and began to ready myself for my 12.15pm race.
Following a mile warm up out on the Cornell campus I stripped down to my race clothes and took my place on the starting line,my first M50 race......lets hope things improve on this less than auspicious debut!!
I knew not to go w/ the rabbit and 2013 M50 5th Avenue Mile champ Alan Wells but taking full advantage of my #2 seeding I got onto the rail going into the opening bend and claimed 2nd despite the best efforts of Sean Smith who tried to claim 2nd after 100m......as we all know hindsight is a wonderful thing but if I'd been more aware of Seans credentials maybe I'd have let him have second and tucked in behind him....
36 seconds at 200m followed by a series of 33,36,37 laps for a 2.20 at 800m,things were ticking along nicely and when I clocked 3.00 at 1,000m I felt I was on schedule and for a brief second it looked like Alan was coming back to me......how quickly things can change w/ a lap!
At 1,100m Sean went by me,he had hung tough behind me for 1,000m b4 making his move and now I was third.......till 1,300 when Casey Carlstrom went by me,unlike Sean I was able to keep close to Casey as we went through the bell in 4.19 but I just couldn't reel him in over the closing 200m and had to settle for 4th in 4.57.1..............................
Nobody like to lose especially me but I give Sean and Casey all the credit in the world for their races,Alan was simply too good for me today.
Watching a video of the race{a Hartshorne tradition at the post race awards banquet} I was impressed at Caseys race he came from 5th to reel me in w/ a lap and a half to go and will be a favourite in Boston in the M55 mile.....I'm just glad I don't have to race him there!!
As I told Pete Taylor after the race when he asked me my comments on my race "National Championships are NOT won or lost in late January" and the old adage that" you learn nothing from a defeat" is looking at it all wrong.
I learnt alot from this loss,namely "know your opponent" I didn't do any research on Sean or Alan prior to the race which cost me and is one of the downsides of not being "on the circuit" for the last 18 months.
I also learnt the hard way that 30 miles a week is NOT cutting it,I fell away badly over the second half of the race as my 2.22/2.35 splits indicate so clearly upping my weekly total back to 40 miles per week will I hope serve me better over the 6 weeks of training I have between now and Boston and Indoor Nationals,as for my Hartshorne Memorial Masters Mile aspirations they will have to wait another 12 months....maybe sixth time will be a charm?
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