Now while Thursday was my 2014 Outdoor season opener it wasn't my "first rodeo" and despite a status of entries that had 3 sub 4.00 and 5 4 flat times i know that runners tend to "embelish" their times,that said I was under no illusion that this was going to be a "baptisim of fire" for me,the question was did I go for broke and try and hang w/ the big dogs or play safe and work w/ the one 4.29 and other 2 4.30 guys?????
For once I arrived at Icahn w/ oodles of time to spare,thanks in part to scheduling a day off from work and being able to cop the 1.30pm Megabus out of Philly to midtown,and while i may not be able to take off the first three Tuesday Nite Speed Series races{I am off next Thursday for #3 of the Twilight Series and #4 of the Tuesday Nite Speed Series} I think the 1.30pm bus is the way to go,we arrived in midtown Manhattan by 4.05pm roughly 2.5 hiurs after leaving Philly as advertised,the problem w/ the 2.30pm bus is the always infamous Lincoln Tunnel,I've made the ride up to NYC more times than I care to remember where I've made great time untill the Lincoln Tunnel and than the proverbial shit has hit the fan and while the train would avoid that pratfall the difference is it's roughly $25 one way from 30th St to Penn Station where as the bus can be as cheap as $6 but given the 1.30pm got there w/ time to kill maybe I'll keep taking that even on the days I work....ho hum I guess I'll just have to leave early.........what a wrench eh???
I took my time getting to Randall's Island and still got there by 5.15pm,as it would turn out 2 hours b4 race time but I'd rather sit and relax in the stands than be stuck in traffic entering the Lincoln Tunnel b4 I even reach midtown muchless walk over to the #6 stop on 33rd and take the #6 to 103rd St and then walk over the footbridge onto Randall's Island or take the express to #125th St and then the bus to Icahn Stadium.
Shot the proverbial w/ Peter Brady in the stands Peter was one of the 4.00 guys in the field we met two years ago at Icahn in one of the Tuesday Nite Speed Series races and pretty much run into eachother in New York races as we both run 800m and 1,500m.
By 6.30pm I felt duty bound to warm up,opting for the soccer field next to the track and not the track it's self as the 400m Hurdles was first up plus the astroturf would provide a softer surface to run on even though the mondo tack at Icahn is one of the nicer track surfaces to run on.
I waited till the women's 1,500m runners went through the bell b4 stripping down to race gear,the wind off the East River down the back straight can be chilly....even at the end of May but as I joked w/ Mark Williams pre race "we'll all be bitching about the heat in North Carolina in seven weeks time!!"
Two no shows from the 15 man field but I was asigned #15 which put me on the outside of the line up,fine by me as it would allow me a clear run down the back straight.
I saw 48 seconds at the finish line and heard 65 seconds for the opening 400m,both splits were a little ahead of where I thought I might be,I was hanging off the back of the chase group w/ at least two runners behind me,one of whom was the other 4.30 guy{one of the two no shows was the other 4.30 runner} but feeling ok.
1.58 at 700m a 1.10 split and still feeling good the two runners ahead of me were not getting away from me and not leaving me in the dreaded "no man's land",however coming off the bottom turn the other 4.30 runner went by me and kept going,oh to have been able to go w/ him.....
3.13 at the bell a 75 second lap at this point I was still on pace for a decent time but try as I might over the final 400m I couldn't find any more leg turnover or knee lift as I crossed the line in 4.31.50 off a disappointing final lap of 78 seconds.
So ten weeks since I closed the Indoor season in 4.32.58 I opened the Outdoor season in 4.31.50..... hardly the return on my investment I was looking for,but I take heart from my 2012 Outdoor season opener over 800m at Swarthmore where I had loftier expectations than a season opening 2.11.7 b4 rebounding 11 weeks later at Nationals in Lisle w/ a silver in the 800m in 2.06.1.
While I'm disappointed w/ my time last nite in fairness I wasn't looking for a major improvement on 4.32.5,I wrote 4.28 in my log book b4 leaving as my target time but despite falling to do that now's not the time to "spit the dummy out" or "throw toys out of my pram" it is however time to regroup,refocus,rethink and do it all again next Thursday and hope for a better outcome
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