Hometown Glory/Beethoven,s Unfinished Symphony

I make no bones about my love of New York City,while Philly has been home for coming up on 22 years now and South East London will always be home after almost 24 years living there b4 moving to Philly there,s always been an emotionial link to the "Big Apple"I love the city,the pace,the vibe,the attitude.................the fact New York feels as Irish a city doesn,t hurt,it,s no surprize some of my best performances have come in New York and also at The Armory.
Having missed #2 of the awesome "Thursday Nite At The Races"due to my Hartshorne Mile committment and will also have to pass on #4 due to the Masters Invitational 1,500m in Boston I knew I needed to take advantage of this opportunity to race here,ergo the short train/subway ride from Philly to New York.
Following my warm up it was straight onto the infield to get seeded for the mile,I used my 4.28 from my last race here and earnt a fastest heat spot,......they weren,t joking about fast,dear god,the winning time was 4.13,my 4.30.91. while being #6 on my all time list for miling found me nearer the back of the field than my 4.28.1 from last month which got me a 3rd place finish!!! as my friend Atilla who finished second that nite said pre race"this is going to be like a college meet"....he wasn,t wrong!!.
My splits were:34.08,32.16,32.84,32.66,{2.11}34.92,34.48,35.39,34.58.and while tonite that would only get me 9th in a 13 man field it,ll probably be good enough for me to medal in 5 weeks time at Indoor Nationals when I take on guys my own age!!
W/ little turnaround time I was back on the track for my 800m,I used 2.03 as my seed time based on a 4.28/2.05 mile/800m double last month,had a wry chuckle to myself, when speaking w/ "Dibble" at lunch time prior to the race he mistakenly thought I was running the 800m fresh and suggested I go thro the 400m in 57 seconds...............cha!!!,we,ll save that for a later date eh coach???
I got into heat 3,I could,ve squeezed into the tail end of heat 2 but stuck to my 2.03 seed time,unlike the 1,500m at the Mac Meet on Jan 4th and mile/800m double in #1 on Jan 8th tonite I wasn,t as rested as I was back then and during the mile I was feeling the effects of Saturdays XC 8K.
2.05 again but no victory like last time,my splits were 30,31,33,31,that third lap cost me a shot at 2.04 at least,had I,ve moved to the outside of lane 1 on the bottom turn instead of waiting to get thro on the inside I might,ve shaved a second off of that 33 second split and built more speed and momentum going into the bell lap,that said hindsight is a wonderful thing and too often we as runner don,t use races to test out tactics as we get caught up in the race it,s self.
All in all a reasonably good nite on the track,it speaks volumes of my own high standards that I can be mildly disappointed w/ a 4.30.91. mile but I,ve said time and time again as runners it,s not in our dna to be satisified w/ whatever we run,no matter how good or how fast it is.
W/ the working portion of my evening taken care of it was time to shoot the proverbial,I,ve been coming to New York and The Armory for three years now so I know lots of New York runners,and my bi yearly trips to Indoor/Outdoor Nationals have allowed me to befriend several of Central Park Track Clubs members.
I once joked to a CPTC member when she asked if I,d ever consider running for them that being raised Irish catholic it,s against the grain for me to wear orange! b4 anyone attacks me I,m very aware CPTC also wear blue vests so I haven,t ruled out the possibility of representing them one day in the future.
I have alot of friends on CPTC,I hope after my anti orange quote I still do!!!it,s a double whammy as I,ve recently befriended super talented and super sweet Jill Vollweiler who as well as rocking the orange of CPTC also went to Syracuse making her an "Orangeman/Orangewoman"!!!!
Jill typifies all that,s good in Masters running,she can boast a 70.01 400m time through to a 2.55.16 marathon{in New York no less!!},no wonder she earnt CPTC,s Womens Masters Long Road title in 08.
Jill and I spoke prior to her 800m,I was surprized not to see her in the mile till she explained she was feeling her 16 miler over the weekend.
As a friend and as a fellow athlete I tried to help her mentally prepare for her 800m,my advice was simple"don,t over think it, just run"and in typical tenacious fashion Jill was able to run the 2.28 800m she set out to do.
My final words on the nite are from Adam Duritz and Counting Crows who I listened to on the way upto Manhatten,while I was tempted to quote Adele{Hometown Glory} I also have to point out the Beethoven,s Unfinished Symphony reference came from an oxygen debt comment I made post mile{you had to be there!}.
"I am not worried I,ve done this sort of thing b4,but then I start to think about the consequences because I don,t get no sleep in a quiet room and the time when kindness falls like rain it washes me away and Anna begins to change my mind
And everytime she sneezes I believe it,s love and oh lord I,m not ready for this sort of thing"
"Anna Begins".