Pretending To See The Future

"We keep our secrets to ourselves we live those lies for someone else
We rise above what we used to be don't get discouraged easily
That's when there's no more crying causing crying never makes no sense
When too much has gone on for it to ever be coincidence
Who's gonna take you to the moon,who's gonna take you to the stars
Who's gonna wait around for you,who's gonna bring you back from Mars
I'm gonna take you to the moon,I'm gonna show you round the stars
But if I take you to the moon will you come back the way you are"
Take You To The Moon-Big Country

It's Saturday....can't you tell?b4 I recap last nites race this morning I was out semi bright eyed and semi bushy tailed at 10.35 am along Cobbs Creek Parkway for my 10 miler.
Not sure if it was the heat,the effects of yesterdays race or both but this morning was the first time I can recall in recent months having to dig deep over the second half of my out and back 10 miler to see it through.
I had to call on all my years of experience to dig down mentally and physically to round out my week at 45 miles,I wasn't too surprised to see 67 mins for the run,hey it's done,it's in the books now and not only do I have a rest day scheduled for tomorrow but also a Fuck Off Day on tap{a fuck off day is any day I don't have to leave the house,don't have to go anywhere,don't have to be anywhere,and can just fuck everything off....ergo a fuck off day,they're few and far between so trust me I try to make the most of them when they do come around}

So last nites 5,000m at Henderson,conditions were hot and overcast by the time the 5,000m went off at 6.35pm w/ a field of 13.
Based on seed time I was ranked #7 only a second behind the #6 seed,the game plan going into the race was to work off the #3 seed who had a 15.45 time and I tracked him for the opening three laps b4 swinging wide coming up the home straight w/10 laps to go and settling into 6th.
My only criticism of the meet was the lack of a clock at the finish line,in my opinion any race above 400m should have a clock so you can tell what your pace is,not only was there not a clock nobody was calling out the time at the finish or at the start minus the few coaches calling out individual splits for their athletes.

The leader and eventual winner went out in 70 seconds a pace I've opened w/ in my prior two 5,000m but tonite I thought it prudent to take a little off the opening mile,instead of a 4.58 I came through in 5.06,sadly I never heard my 2 or 3 mile splits,oh well.
W/ the field well strung out after three laps I focused on the runner ahead of me as we worked well together in the middle part of the race,he pulled me,I pushed him and slowly we closed the gap on the 3rd and 4th place runners.
W/ three laps to go I moved into third,second was some 13 seconds ahead but 4th place was now sticking to me like glue,fair enough I'd worked off of him for a number of laps.
As we came up to the 600m to go his coach yelled"his wheels are coming off"referring to me,I understand the need for a coach to try and galvanize his or her athlete but he could not've chosen a worse thing to say in my mind.

The bell came, sadly no lap time,had I've known what my split was a la Swarthmore when I clocked 14.47 and knew I had to drop the hammer maybe last nite I could've gotten under my 15.56 pr,it wasn't to be.
Down the back straight the 4th place runner made his move,I was happy to let him go by me....I knew what lay in store w/ 200m to go.......booyah!
A hellacious kick put 5 seconds between us over the closing 200m....so much for my wheels coming off.....hey coach....that foot...must taste real good eh??
I was forced to swing wide of the 12th and 13th place runners w/ 120m to go,it probably added a second,the 12th place runner offered an apology as I went him,these things happen,no big.
Charging up the home straight oblivious to my time I finished strong and heard 15.59.62 as I crossed the line in third.

Obviously I'm disappointed to miss out on lowering my pr but I'm reasonably confident come Nationals I'll make a sizable dent in my 15.56.6.
All in all a good nites work,my third sub 16 5,000m in a row and the third place finish was nice,tonite unlike Penn in April and Swarthmore in May I felt I raced against the runners not the clock and while I'm still a ways off last years 3rd place finishing time at Worlds 15.38.2. I feel I'm doing what I need to do for this year,as the clock ticks down towards Sacramento and Nationals I feel I'm getting closer to where I need to be,next stop Ichan Stadium in New York City on Tuesday....you know me and races in NYC......