Food For Thought Or Getting My Lunch Handed To Me?

Final Indoor Nationals tune up race 10 days from Winston Salem and a return to the mile after back to back 800s.
My last mile race was back on Jan 23rd at Cornell when I ran a 4.51.74 so if nothing else on Tuesday nite I was looking to lower that time not to mention get a confidence booster 10 days out from Indoor Nationals.
I wasn't helped by a power outage at the World Trade Center which shut down the A,C and E lines to 168th St,my prefered line of choice is the A express but now that wasn't an option so after hot footing it up to 42nd St I made my way through the masses to the #1 platform.....I had to settle for the #3 which I took to 145th and Lenox Ave b4 walking  23 blocks up and a few blocks over to 168th and Ft Washington,hardly ideal preparation for a race but what the hell I'd made it w/ 25 mins to spare if not a shade damper than I'd like to be.
Quick change into my warm up gear and onto the track for a mile warm up b4 getting the heat assignments heat #3 of 7.

18 of us lined up,I got a good reaction to the gun and when the field merged at the top of the back straight I nestled in mid pack w/out having to veer off into lane 3 to get a clear run.
36 seconds a 200m I had no idea of my postion w/in the race although that wasn't ultraimportant.
2.24 at 800m still on 36 seconds per lap pace which is where I wanted to be,the pre race goal was 4.48 off of 36s per lap,I was on pace for that.
W/ three laps to go Conor O Driscoll went by me,why is this a factor? Conor is one of my rivals in the M50 Mile in Winston Salem next Saturday and the ease in which he not only went by me but left me for dead was frightening.
I should have reacted,I didn't I'd like to think were lightning to strike twice and for it to happen again in ten days time my reaction would be better w/ a gold,silver or bronze medal up for grabs.
Conor powered his way to a 7th place finish in an impressive 4.46.36 while I had to settle for 10th in 4.50.81,chalk up a signifigant leg up to the Wexford man.......
It's small potatos that I took a second off my seasons best of 4.51.74. while Conors 4.46 makes him the second fastest in the field behind Chris Chisolms 4.45.

I hate to make excuses,on the nite I wasn't good enough...thankfully tonite was mearly the dress rehersal next Saturday is the main event and rest assured I won't take Tuesdays defeat lightly as the late great Jumbo Elliot famously said of his charge the legendary miler Eamon Coghlan "you might beat Coghlan once,you won't beat him twice" words to live by I hope.....