Indoor Nationals-Long Version.

Coming into the 09 edition of Indoor Nationals illness and injury free was a huge boost,in 07 my Indoor Nationals debut I had put up impressive times and races through the winter leading upto Boston only to get sick 2 weeks b4,I dropped out of the mile w/ 2 laps to go, my first ever dnf in a then 31 career but rebounded the following day to a hard fought 4th in the 800m and thanks to Canadian Alain Boucher finishing 2nd I got a bronze.
Last year I went into Boston w/ 8 weeks of training under my belt coming off of my stress fracture and while 8 weeks was ample time to run it wasn,t ample time to run fast as I found out the hard way!!
This winter I had yet again put up some fast times and solid races leading upto this weekends Indoor Nationals in Landover Md and I was confident I was in medal contention for both my races,Saturdays mile and Sundays 800m.
Going into the mile I felt my biggest rivals for a spot on the podium were John Hinton,Pete McGill and Anselm Labourne,the latter two were no shows and John Hinton told me post race he was suffering from a cold,I,m smart enough to factor in several different race plans in my build up so that when the gun goes off I have a plan,what my mile plans didn,t factor in was Scott Hartley!!
Scott had ran a 1.57 800m 2 weeks ago so he was on my radar for the 800m,but his 4.36 mile time didn,t raise any eyebrows.............his race plan did!!
From the gun he latched onto John Hinton and tracked his every move,I got another bad start but quickly recovered and swung wide down the back straight to latch onto those guys,I need to work on my reaction to the gun in all my races from now on,there can be NO margin for error when I get to Lahti in August.
For once I took my watch off and to be honest wasn,t looking at the clock at the finish line or up on the scoreboard,my focus was fairly and squarely on John and Scott,I was oblivious to the fact we,d seperated ourselves from the field.
2.20 at the half?{I learnt this after the race}I was content to sit and kick however coming off the bottom turn w/ three laps to go I elected to pull up alongside John Hinton as I did Scott Hartley clipped my foot by accident, it thrust me into the lead and awoke a sleeping giant,all hell was about to brake loose over the final three laps now!
If the opening 5 laps had been akin to a funeral march the final 3 laps were the Indy 500,I forget when Scott and John went by me or in what order but what I do know is we went out 2.20 and came back in 2.12,2.13,2.14!!!!
Third in 4.34.43.I was far from happy,this was a race I felt I could win and had I not been forced into the lead w/ 650m to go I think I could,ve.
I do wish to state for the record that Scott Hartley clipping me was incidental,it, happens I just wish it,d happened at 450m to go I think I could,ve sustained a kick for home from there.
The time bothered me also I,d ran 4.28 and a pair of 4.30s this indoor season,4.34 just feels slow,but when you go through 800m in 2.20 that,s gonna happen,at the end of the day I,d gotten on the podium which is always important,never moreso than at Nationals period,but also at Indoor Nationals where I,d failed to get a top three finish untill today.
I was aware of Scott's 1.57 800m recently so knew to factor him into the mix in the 800m,I felt the same three protagonists from the mile would duke out the 800m....I wasn,t wrong!!.
I got lane 1 w/ Scott in lane 2,for some reason John was all the way on the outside w/#9,I had to react to the gun this time so being asked to stand up and reset was more weight on that,no worries I reacted to the gun this time and hit the first turn in front b4 predictably Scott flew by me,just like I wanted,my mantra pre race was"sit and kick,sit and kick"
30.02 at 200m{splits thanks to my team captain and road trip roomie Ray"what am I chopped liver"Parker}61.01 at 400m.
I knew John Hinton had to be close behind me,he,d left everything on the home straight yesterday to defend his mile title,sick or not he wasn,t about to roll over and play dead so I wasn,t surprized that he pulled up along side me as went through the bell in 1.32.37.
W/ hindsight I wish I,d tried to hold him off instead of allowing him to go by and then tucking in behind,I was still in "sit and kick"mode and believed coming off the final turn I could unleash enough fury to get to the finish ahead of those guys,as it was the day b4 2 seconds seperated us Scott 2.00,John 2.01,me 2.02.64.
I was alot happier w/ this race than the mile even though the end product was the same,3rd and 2 seconds off of Gold,at least todays 2.02.64 felt akin to the 2.01.17 I,d just ran at The Armory I feel you,ll always loose a second on a flat track over a banked track and once again I,d made it to the podium and added another National Championship medal to my tally,2 bronze to go w/ two silvers and five gold since Charlotte 06.....but the day wasn,t over yet!
Now that GPTC has grown and how,plus the fact this years meet was in Landover not Boston several more of the team had come to Indoor Nationals so for the first time in three years we had a 4x400m relay team,the same 4 who,d ran Millrose,Scott,Ray,Nick and I
Unlike Millrose we had Ray lead off,9 times out of 10 Ray leads off,he,s our natural 400m guy{4th in the m45 400m final noless!}we only swap him and Scott out at Millrose due to the tight track,our concern was the DC Capitals anchor who,s probably a 53 second guy going up against me a 54 second guy fresh,I,d ran 56.2 fresh on a tight track at Millrose and the last thing I wanted was this guy breathing down my neck coming off the final turn.
I needn,t have worried,Ray,Scott and Nick all put enough daylight between us and DC Capitals so that when I got the baton I was clear,that said this was my final race of the meet and the indoor season,finish in style baby!
55.41. those 4x400m repeats are paying off,Gold and another 8 point s for the team who racked up an impressive 124 points this weekend,go team!
As Ray pointed out I now have National Championship Golds at,4x400m,4x800m,800m and 1,500m,let me tell ya being a National Champion NEVER gets old!!
A great weekend,I,ll expand on some of the sights and sounds of Landover away from my races later this evening after my easy 5 miler,in closing I have to say yea to my beloved Spurs beating Charlie Dibble's Chelski 1.0,mad props and much love to Ireland winning the 6 Nations Rugby title too,a fitting way to end my unofficial ''Irish" week.............sure jaysus aren,t they all "Irish" weeks when you,re as Pale,Paddy and Proud as meself!!!!!
"I was born,I was born to be w/ you in this space and time.After that and ever after I haven,t had a clue.
Only to break rhyme this foolishness can leave a heart black and blue.Only love,only love can leave such a mark,But only love can heal such a scar."
''Magnificent"
U2