It's All Part Of The Masterplan

Well it took nearly five years to run at Ocean Breeze on Staten Island but I can add it to the roll call of places in NYC I've ran
Sunday saw the USATF NYC vs NJ Open/Masters meet a meet I considered last year but didn't do....12 months later I was signed up for the 3,000m
Unlike meets I've run at The Armory & Tom's River in NJ  the field was set by time and not age which was a double edged sword, I'd be in w/ the open runner and runners from 30-54 but in theory this would pull me to a faster time
Had they split the field at open/49 I'd finish higher up the field but probably slower{for the record the winning time of heat 2 was 11.30.48}
10 of us toed the starting line and it would be the first and last time the field would be close......
Going to the rear of the field I realized w/in 100m I was going to get gapped if I didn't move up and moved into 8th but the lead 1-7 were already strung out,w/ hindsight prehaps I should have gone w/ them......

Going in I seeded myself at 10 mins in order to run that pace I would need 40 seconds per lap or 3.20 per 1,000m
My splits finished:41.6-38.9-39.4-40.3-41.2-41.2-41.7-42.2-41.1-43.2-43.7-43.5-43.3-37.8 my 1,000m split was 3.21.7 and 2,000m in 6.50.4{3.29} and I covered the final 1,000m in 3.32

When the dust had settled my  takeaways from the race were as follows: slower than I was hoping for however I believe I'm capable of running faster, were  I not in "no mans land" I feel my splits would have been a second or two faster per lap putting me closer to low 10s
Yes I won the 55-59 age group by some 27 seconds but there are sterner and stiffer tasks ahead
Ocean Breeze while a bitch to get to is a fine track facility and I hope to run there again b4 the Indoor Season ends in March.

Back to the drawing board? no I have almost a month b4 Baton Rouge,come Saturday I'll have an idea of the fields for 55-59 and who I'm up against and where I need to sharpen my speed