About As Organized As A Tossed Salad

I feel guilty being critical of the Thursday Nite @ The Races series at The Armory in New York,w/out them my Indoor seasons for the last  nine years would have been non exsistant or I'd have been going to shitholes like Glen Mills and Albright...that my sound harsh....moi harsh????? but it's the truth,that said this seasons Thursday Nite @ The Races seies has been flawed.
#1 no mention of a 800m on the online schedule till I get there,granted my plan was to run the mile but it was the start of a slippery slope....
#2 was scheduled for Jan 29th only to be rescheduled due to the snow{although said 8'' of the same snow didn't require the Armory Invitational to be rescheduled the following two days......just saying!}
Then the following Monday after an ice strom the scheduled New Jersey Varsity meet got cancelled,to be rescheduled the Thursday thaT the previously rescheduled TNATR #2 was penciled in for.....and subsequently cancelled......

This brings us upto date to the TNATR #3 on Thursday,again according to the online schedule the running order was:800m,600m,5,000m so figuring on threen or four womens 800s b4 the mens heats I timed my warm up for 6.35pm to 6.50pm,figuring I 'd be on the track by 7.30pm.......
Not only did they put the mens and womens 600s on the track first but then three sections of a mens 300m......
Following four sections of the womens 800m it was time for the mens 800m, nine sections......fastest to slowest.....which then became fastest,slowest to fastest,then fastest,slowest,fastest to slowest....I went from being in heat #4 to heat #6 to eventually heat #5 meanwhile nobody had a clue which heat # they were running,we were told to ignore the heat sheets on the wall.....to whit one runner questioned "why are they up there then?"
Eventually I got on the track to run in heat #5,no time for stride outs and I wasn't even in the set position when the gun went off,despite being the #4 seed and third on the starting line I got the worst possible reaction to the gun and found myself near the rear of the threeteen man field and stuck on the rail,having made mental errors in the mile here on the opening nite and then gotten stuck on the rail at Hartshorne in my second race of the season this was hardly the start I wanted for my third race of the Indoor season....

Swinging wide off the botom turn and moving out into lane 3 on the back straight I began moving through the field,33 seconds at 200m but no idea of my position w/in the race.
W/ "open road" ahead now I was able to get into a good stride pattern and hit the front at 400m in 65 seconds a 32 second split.
It's been a while since I've enjoyed being out in front in a race but it's a feeling that never gets old,the trick however is to make sure you're still out infront come the finishline......
1.38 at 600m a 33 second split,I glanced over my shoulder to see my teammate John Goldthorpe on my heals,I haven't raced John that often as we're in different age groups but I knew he wasn't going away on the bell lap.
Down the back straight I tried to relax but also get the most out of my knee lift and leg turnover,it's not often I get run down in the closing stages of a race but tonite younger faster legs won out as John went by me as we came out of the final turn,a moral victory for Greater Philadelphia Track  Club to go 1-2 in the heat john in 2.11.10 me in 2.12.39.

Yeah it sucks to lose,team mate,friend etc losing is losing but tonite was about posting an 800m seed time for the upcoming Indoor Nationals which I did and on the bus ride home I duly threw my hat into the ring for the 2015 Masters Indoor Nationals at 800m and the mile.
I still have four more weeks to improve and hopefully get faster than my 4.51.74 and 2.12.39,to that end I still have another crack at both distances b4 heading to Winston Salem,let's hope the next race is a little more organized!!!