Dream Mile

Plymouth Whitemarsh and Oslo are not twin cities but for one nite last nite the high school track at Plymouth Whitemarsh became my Bislett Stadium as I recorded my fastest ever track mile.
As I had eluded to in Mondays entry I felt a 4.30 mile was possible,I don,t think I dared to think a sub 4.30 was on the cards but in fairness in any of my fastest races I don,t think I,ve set out w/ the purpose to set pr,s they,ve happened because I ran good races and things fell into place on the nite/afternoon/morning.
Conditions played a huge role,when the gun went off at 7.15pm the evening was warm but not humid,little to no wind and the preposed thunderstorms were nowhere to be seen,ideal running conditions,kudos to the officials for splitting the field into two races,I think either 10 or 11 of us toed the line in heat 1.
My 4.35 seed time earnt me a #2 seed sandwiched between a young high school runner Bobby and Bob McGinty a fellow masters athlete who I,d seen win the Mid Atlantic Indoor mile and finish 4th at Indoor Nationals,I knew not to underestimate him.Once again my reaction to the the gun was good and I squeezed between Bobby and Bob to hit the front going into the first turn,I think I,m a good front runner,whether I,m a natural front runner remains to be seen but I was comfortable taking the lead tonite and leading us through a 65 second opening lap,talking w/ Bob McGinty post race he said he didn,t think I,d hold onto that pace.............clearly he didn,t know about my mile repeats from Saturday!!!!
2.15 at 800m a 70 second lap I still felt comfortable and in control of the race,judging from his army of support high school Bobby was not far behind me and w/ 30 meters to go to the bell he passed me,I didn,t panic,if anything I was happy to let somebody do a little of the workload....and I do mean little!!!
3.26 at the bell a 71 second lap,I wasn,t about to play possum and sit back untill the final 200m,frankly Bobby,s move to the front lacked conviction,it wasn,t a decisive move mearly a positioning move,I swung around him going into the final turn and began my long kick for home,based on eyewitness accounts from the back straight from Chuck,Ray and Scott coming off the bend he tried to close me down but never managed to draw level w/ me,for my part I was focused on the track ahead of me,200m to go time to dig deep and wind it up,coming off the final turn I sensed him making one last move to reclaim the lead and here,s where being a wily masters runner trumps a youthful high schooler,I drifted off of the rail into the middle of lane one,in order to pass me now he,d have to move into lane two,after 1,500m the last thing you want to do in the home straight is jockey for the lane especially w/ real estate running out rapidly.
I still felt strong and full of running all the way through the finish line,I also knew I couldn,t ease up,race won and initally I belived I,d ran a 4.29 time,however post cool down Chuck informed me my official time was 4.28.9, a new pr and club record,my final lap was a 62 second finish to give me splits of 65,70,71,62.
Wow,in 18 months I,ve taken my mile pr from 4.44 to 4.28 and I still believe I can get faster,at 4.28 on the track{lest we forget I own a 4.25 road mile pr}the next barrier is 4.25,the question is when,after tonite I don,t see another mile happening till post Nationals in August if I run the mile at the Wisahickon Wanderers meet,I may run the 800m,after that it,s 5th Ave Mile where having ran a 4.25 last year I,m hoping to run faster this year.