Tc,s Pr In Ma Ok{Ps I Heart JS Too!!}

Alrighty now that I,ve had the benefit of a hot meal and a good nites sleep in my own bed and not the floor of Boston airport I can relive my weekends experiences at the Masters Invitational 1,500m race at the USATF C,ships at famed Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.
As much as I tout New York as my second home I,m no stranger to Beantown either{notice I how I gravitate towards Irish cities......???!!}this was my 5th visit in 5 years.
Given the switch of venue for Masters Indoor Nationals this year from Boston to Landover this was my lone chance to keep a three year streak going,what,s an indoor season w/out a race in Boston afterall??
Having broken the 4.10 barrier at my first attempt this year at the Mac Meet on Jan 4th I had no doubts about coming up here for this race,and that was b4 Tony Young ran a *world record indoor mile of 4.13,I knew a fast race was on hand and w/ one eye very much on Worlds this summer I felt the chance to pop a fast 1,500m albeit indoors would hold me in good stead going into the rapidly approaching outdoor season.
I arrived in Boston Saturday afternoon and after checking into the host hotel Marriott Copley{if you,re gonna do it,do it up right yeah?}I made my way over to the RLC to pick up my race credentials and also check out the elite athletes,this was afterall our Indoor National C,ships.
I ran into good friends Francis Burdett and Mark Cleary at the end of the meet and joined them and Lisa Valle a runner in the womens Masters Invitational 400m for dinner.
There,s an old adage in running about not eating something different than you are used to the nite b4 a race but I hardly felt going Vietnamese and eating Chicken,Rice,Noodles and Veggies was going to be a shock to the system,and besides it beat eating dinner by myself.
I retired post dinner to my room and the softest bed I,ve ever slept on{kudos Marriott,kudos!}to chat on the phone w/ coach GP for almost an hour,we,d agreed on a race plan a while ago and felt no need to alter that plan,my head hit the pillow w/ a definative race plan in mind.
I awoke Sunday morning to a lite dusting of snow{blissfully unaware of the 8'' of snow that would fall on Philly airport and subsequently scupper my flight home}on the ground,I hit the buffet at Champions Sports bar to kill the proverbial two birds w/ one stone,breakfast and a chance to cop the Carling Cup Final between my beloved Spurs and Man Utd.
Alas Spurs lost 4.1 in a penalty shoot out,no repeat of last years victory but I wasn,t going to allow that to colour my afternoon,GP and I had joked about the risk of watching a Spurs cup final b4 a big race,"if Spurs lose you,ll be devistated"joked the Chelski fan,"no, if we lose I,ll be out for revenge in the race,if we win again like last year verses......Chelski I,ll be on cloud 9" I retorted,it,s typical banter between "Dib" and I.
Sitting in the hotel lobby killing an hour b4 taking the shuttle bus to the meet I was able to observe a who's who of US track and field,both past and present,Dan O Brien,Jon Drummond,Deena Kastor,Dan Taylor and Jenn Stuczynski,rather than be awestruck I chose to marvel how at home I felt,I may not be an elite athlete but I know how to get into elite athlete mindset,my race albeit a Master Invitational was no less important to me as winning a National Championship was for the top flight athletes gathered as we boarded the bus.
Upon arrival at the Reggie Lewis Center I took my place in the warm up zone,I had an hour to kill b4 begining my warm ups,it was interesting to observe up close how the elite are little or no different from me in their preparation to a race/event.
Prior to my mile warm up I got to meet the great Tony Young for the first time,I was impressed he knew who I was.
Tony like other elite Masters runners I,ve faced,John Hinton,Jim Sorensen{still hoping to meet Pete McGill}comes off as a humble man,not hung up on the fact they stand a few feet above the rest of the field,Tony,s attitude pre race"let,s go out and have some fun"if as I suspected all week Tony was gunning for the world record he wasn,t outwardly showing signs of worry about the prospect.
Mile warm up and stretches done we took the call from the clerks table at 3.50pm and walked to the athletes holding area,in what I hoped was a psychological move I made sure to be first out of the gym and first into the holding area.
Initially we were told we had 6 minutes b4 gun time,this suddenly w/in 30 seconds became 4 mins and in my haste to strip down to race gear and put my socks and spikes on and get onto the track for a few stride outs I left my trademark shamrock bandana in my spike bag,upon realizing it was too late,my basket had been transported to the finish area,no big I,d been calm and focused untill now,no point allowing this to throw me off.
W/ the late scratch of Birger Ohlsson we were now a 6 man field,my game plan prior to the race was go out w/ Tony and Birger and hang on for dear life,now I,d just have to go out w/ Tony,no small fete let me tell ya!!!
From the gun Tony impossed his will on the race as all great athletes do,off the first turn I settled into third behind Chris Simpson who Francis had told me had ran a 1.57. 800m the previous week,by the time we reached 300m I moved ahead remembering a pre Nationals comment GP had made about not allowing other runners between you and your main opponents.
Dispite a clock at the start and finish I don,t recall my 200m,400m or 600m splits,in fairness I was too preoccupied looking up at the big screen above the bottom turn to see where Chris was behind me,Tony was a good distance ahead of me by now,I just don,t have that speed right now to go w/ him,but I,ll get there trust me.
2.11 at 800m,Tony was long gone and I needed to focus on Chris,s challenge over the final 3.5 laps,I was running well w/in my comfort zone and w/ hindsight that,s prehaps my only gripe w/ my performance,I didn,t push myself harder,again this will come in time.
3.33 at the bell I was able to kick,by now it was clear Tony was on for the world record and how,3.57.91 shattering the previous mark of 4.02.80.
I finished second in 4.07.49. a 2 second improvement on my previous pr of 4.09.27. w/ Chris just behind me in 4.08.54.,my second second place finish here in Boston for Masters Invitationals,two years ago I finished 2nd in the 800m,but unlike then today I got a medal,a silver National Championship USA Track & Field Indoor C,ships Exhibition Masters 1,500m 2nd place medal as it says on the back of it.
I had a lot to be pleased w/ a 2 second pr,another step towards the 4.05 barrier, a part of history albeit 10 seconds behind Tony but also ANOTHER step up the ladder towards Lahti and Worlds this summer.
Post 2 mile cool down I caught a few more races b4 a futile trip to the airport for my 8.30pm return flight to Philly,so focused on my race throughout the day I wasn,t aware that 8'' of snow had fallen on Philly airport and all flights were cancelled,had I,ve known that I could,ve joined Tony,Chris,Paul,Jason and Francis at Doyles,oh well!!
Much like I wouldn,t allow Spurs Carling Cup defeat to ruin my day a nite at the airport wasn,t going to detract from another banner day in my career,I phoned GP and left a message for Chuck at GPTC and also Chris at work....clearly I wasn,t going to be in to work Monday morning!!
I spent 24.5 hours at Boston airport waiting for a flight out of Philly,I,d like to thank my new friends Roger and Gail for helping the day go by alot quicker and hope their trip to Liverpool for two soccer games is a blast.
I eventually arrived home at 10.03pm tired and hungry but happy to be home again,I was not going to work today either,I owed it to myslf to eat,shower,unwind and relax not to mention sleep and catch up on some rest post phone call to GP that "the Top Cat had landed".
All in all a brilliant weekend,and one I won,t forget anytime soon,and what of these rumours of me and Jenn Stuczynski sharing some "face time"together???well I plead the fifth,what happens in Boston stays in Boston,but it can be no coinsidence that we sat close by to one another in the Marriot lobby and Reggie Lewis gym and my final words to the first lady of American Pole Vault as she headed to the track on route to a new American record was "go get em!!",the luck of the Irish at full force yet again....begorah!!
Final words go to Miles Hunt and The Wonder Stuff who along w/ Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine are duking it out for discman/ipod supremacy right now.
"So he,d keep on moving, keep on moving,don,t let your feet stick to the ground when everyone else is moving all around.Don,t be stationery or laden down,don,t try to tell me that your feet are made of lead.Two choices,hang back or get ahead,lead the pack,get it in your head to keep on moving.
"Inertia"
The Wonder Stuff