The Magic May Be Missing,But The Thrill Is Still The Same

I could reel off a laundry list of things my stress fracture has cost me,speed,strenght,stamina,confidence and somewhere on that list would also be running at my beloved Armory in New York City.
It,s a little over two years now since I made my Armory debut at the MAC C,ships a love affair began that nite that has since continued,some of my best races and best times have been ran on this track and tonite saw me belatedly make my way upto 168th St and Fort Washington for a final chance to race there this indoor season.
I opted for the mile dispite the fact I,m not racing the mile in Boston at Indoor Nationals in three weeks time,GP has always supported my choice to run the 3,000m/800m double at Nationals and when we first began to plan for that right after Millrose it was jointly felt that of my 4 pre Nationals races/2 back to back meets that keeping the mile in there would serve it,s purpose in prep for the unique double I want to take on.....besides I love running the mile......and running an indoor mile...........................
Coming off of a semi disappointing 4.59 mile in Landover 2 weeks ago I was looking for a major improvement and seeded myself at 4.40 which earnt me 9th seed of 12 runners in the opening heat,using the california start I was on the outside of the track from the gun b4 the brake line just off the first bend,as the opening lap shook it,s self out I was probably in 7th going into the second turn,a 35 sec opening lap and it felt comfortable,ditto for a second 35 sec 200m,I,m not 100% sure of my 600m split but I went through 800m in 2.20,averaging 35 secs per lap.
From here on in it began to get a little tougher,I was not only relegated to 8th but then found myself cast adrift in no mans land again just like Landover 2 weeks ago,I don,t recall my final 4 splits,I do recall not having the will to fight for 8th spot going down the back straight which is SO NOT ME,minor places be damned I,m used to be able to dig deep at the business end of a race but I,m just not there yet........more,s the pity.
9th in 4.47.01 a 12 second improvement on Landover and the feeling I am at least moving forward,albeit slower than I would hope for,my 4.47.01 was at least good enough for a bronze in my age group so thankfully I didn,t leave The Armory or NYC empty handed.