A Silver Lining Of Sorts

It's nine years now since I made my debut at The Armory,I ran an open 400m and then a 4x400m relay at what was then known as the MAC{Metropolitan Athletics Conference} C'ships it was as the movie says "the start of a beautiful relationship",I medaled in the 4x400m back then you couls medal,now the MAC is known as USATF NYC and for whatever reason non New York residents are non eligable for medals....not even Adopted New Yorkers like yours truly......but at the end of the day the only medals that matter to me are the ones handed out at Nationals if I'm being honest.

Knowing there was no medal at stake it allowed me that rare opportunity to "experiment" w/ a race,only having five races b4 Indoor Nationals doesn't allow much room for "experiments" period but #1 was to see "where I was at" #2 was to get on the podium at Hartshorne, #3 was to get a seed time for the 800m at Indoor Nationals.....which brings us to #4 the USATF C'ships 800m a final 800m dress rehersal b4 Winston Salem in two weeks time.

According to the "Status Of Entries" there were 30 800m runners,my feeling was 10 per heat based on seed time,my 2.10 would either get me in the lower echelon of #2 or the top of #3.....this worked for what I had in mind a straight up run against the clock,if I was in a heat w/ faster guys they'd help pull me along it sounded good in theory........but as the saying goes "theory and practice is the horse of a different colour"

Heat 4 was determined by age w/ the 50 plus runners all lumped into one heat w/  six runners,if I've learnt anything in nine years of running Masters track it's that once an official has made his or her mind up there's no point trying to convince them otherwise,it was what it was.
I knew Pete Kashulines had "credentials" to back up his 2.10 seed time, he'd ran 2.11 in January at the NJ C'ships was 4th at Septembers 5th Avenue Mile and last March won silver in Boston at Indoor Nationals however since there was nothing to lose other than the race its self I opted to go after it from the gun rather than try to out race him.
In an ideal world I'd have ran splits of 32,32,32,32 for 2.08 or at least 32,32,33,33 for 2.10 both of which are quicker than my 2.12.81 time from 17 days earlier but I went out too fast and clocked 30 secs for the opening 200m.......genie's out of the bottle now....
64 seconds at 400m a 32 second split,I senced Peter was on my heals but tried to focus on my form,kneelift and leg turnover.....and staying out in front!

1.37 at 600m a 33 second split,could I muster another 33 second lap for 2.10????....the answer was no!
W/ 100m to go Peter blew by me just like John Goldthorpe had in my last 800m only w/ 50m to go,second in 2.12.17.
The silver lining was a 2 100ths of a second improvement on my seasons best for 800m,I'd ran 2.12.39 17 days ago.
Obviously losing the race doesn't sit well but I rolled the dice and came up short,better to "crash and burn" here than Indoor Nationals in two weeks time.
Also NOT sitting well is this cockeyed practice of running heats by age and not seed time,both myself and Peter are 51 and seeded ourselves at 2.10,we could've more than held our own in heat 3 while younger runners in heat 3 would've been better served in heat 4,the proof is the results of heat 3
1st  2.04.55 age 40-44
2nd 2.07.61 age 40-44
3rd 2.13.10 age 45-49
4th 2.14.70 age 45-49
5th 2.18.03 age 35-39
6th 2.21.01 age open

heat 4
1st 2.10.63 age 50-54
2nd 2.12.17 age 50-54
3rd 2.24.82 age 50-54
4th 2.31.81 age 45-49
5th 2.55.11 age 55-59
6th 2.59.11age 70-74

You can't tell me if the great Anselm Lebourne had shown up he'd have been told he'd have to run heat 4 because he's 55......DESPITE having recently broken the world record for 800m at M55.......
Respect for ones elders,on and off the track please that's all I ask!!!!!!!!!!!!!