Throwback Nite @ The Armory

I said back in October when I ran the Masters 5K XC C'ships and I resurrected my Green Saucony Killkenny spikes,Shamrock bandana and Shamrock socks that it was time to get back into "Shamrock Warrior" mode/mindset and frankly where better than running the indoor mile than New York City last nite to make that a point,afterall my heroes Ronnie Delaney,Marcus O Sullivan and Eamonn Coghlan made a career of running the mile indoors in NYC and while I'm not in their league they are the  milers who inspired me 40 years ago as a high school freshman to be a runner,yes for a few years I lost sight of that......but when your dating "The Rose Of Galway" it's not difficult to find your way back to your green Celtic Paddy roots...

Arriving at The Armory at 6pm there could be little to no question whos mast I'd nailed my colours to,green Ireland baseball cap,Ireland half zip,Ireland rugby shirt,green Boston Celtics 3/4 length bottoms and green running shoes and come race time it was strip down to my kelly green running vest,running shorts and compression shorts,new Ireland running socks resplendent w/ a Shamrock on the ankle and Tri Colour on the heal and yeah and new green Saucony Killkenny spikes......make no mistake "The Shamrock Warrior" was back.......now all I had to do was turn in a performance worthy of messers Delaney,O Sullivan and Coghlan.........

Seeding myself at 4.50 I earnt a place in heat 2......but only because "the powers that be" felt it was ok to put 27 runners in heats one and two seriously????
It was what it was all I could do was focus on my race and hope for the best and as it was that's what I got!
#16th I got the inside of line two in lane 4 and got a good reaction to the gun as we broke at the top of the back straight I manoeuvred myself into position,however I must point out at NO time during the race did I have ANY clue to my overall position,glass half full my former coach often told me to"focus on feel" not time,pace,speed,position and last nite felt like a good nite for that!!!!

Seeding myself at 4.50 I did hope maybe 36 seconds per lap for a 4.48 and thro 400m I was on that pace.....frankly after that my splits became a blur.
No idea what my 800m split,1,000m and 1,200m or 1,400m splits were but coming up the home straight to the bell I could see a "clusterfuck" in lane 1{w/ hindsight I was about to lap runners} time to move out into lane 3 and turn on the afterburners.........

I would love to know what I covered the closing 200m in....it was brisk trust me,six weeks of closing my workouts w/ an all out 400m helped and while I got caught up the home straight I finished 4th in 4.50.95,last year I opened in 4.52.44 so either I'm better prepared this year or I'm REALLY  up for the challenge of my 40th season.
Sadly the "official" results don't have me listed.....fucked if I know, I know when I crossed the finish line I looked up at the scoreboard and saw 4th Forde 4.50.95 and that's good enough for me.

Next stop Ithaca and Barton Hall for the Hartshorne Memorial Masters Mile next Saturday