I went a bit outside my comfort zone and ran a track meet for the first time in many years this past weekend. Since this event was right in the Turtles back yard we were able to corral a few others into showing up as well.
Dave Principe and myself ran the 3000, 1 mile, 4 x 800 meter triple.
Bob Corsi ran the 3000 and the 4 x 800
Brad Highcove went a bit bonkers and did the 3000, 60 m hurdles and the long jump!
Last and least...Dan Hawkins, the "non master" ran the 4 x 800 meter relay with us.
I knew this was going to suck, but I thought I could do relatively well and I know my ability good enough, that I don't generally set completely unrealistic goals for myself.
I thought sub 10, sub 5 and if the stars aligned sub 2:20 for the 800.
The 3000 was up first.
I seeded myself at 9:45, but thought I could run around 10 flat.
I felt that I got out well and ran through the mile pretty good. Hitting that mark around 5:11 maybe 5:12. Maybe in hindsight, that was a bit quick...but I wanted to get out and get grooving. I ran alone pretty much the whole race in 3rd place...only to be passed in the last 2 pals and finish 5th and 3rd in my age group. I finished in 10:03.34. Just a bit over my goal, finishing pretty poorly in the lat 3 or 4 laps though.
Next up was the mile. There ended up being two men's heats in the mile, which unfortunately meant I would not race against my High School coach Norm Bouthiller, I was however in the heat after his, so I got to see what he ran before I toed the line.
I felt like I raced a lot better in this one. I got out slowly, stuck way back in the back and after going through the first lap in around 40 seconds, I made a move on the back stretch into 5th place and was able to pick off two more runners in the last few laps. I went though the "half way" split in 2:31.XX and finished off on 5:03.05...so pretty even splits. This was just over my goal of breaking 5 mins. I finished 3rd in my race and 1st in my age group.
Last race of the day was the 4 x 800 meter relay. I was able to get together a full team of Turtles, which was pretty cool. I wanted Dan Hawkins to anchor the team...but he wanted to go second...so the order ended up being Me, Dan, Dave, Bob. We were in a heat of 3 teams. The BAA and an unattached team.
I thought if the stars aligned I could go sub 2:20. I got out well, stayed behind the other 2 guys though around 400 meters in 67-68 seconds and then just faded a bit over the next two laps, finishing in about 2:21.
Dan had a pretty good gap to make up, which he did pretty quickly and then he extended it by a lot! Dan is more of a mid distance guy and it certainly showed! He came though in a split of 2:06.
Next up, a not so middle distance guy...Dave. He was pretty beat up after the first two events of the day and after the first lap it showed. He was slowing gradually and Chris Lawrence from the BAA was eating up the lead that we had. Dave was able to hold onto our lead by a few meters, running a 2:28, but we seemed doomed with Mike Galoob anchoring their team against Corsi.
Bob hung in strong the first lap, holding off Galoob until right after the start/finish line. With 600s meters to go after being passed, Bob only lost 4+ seconds to Mike, running around a 2:18.
So, we finished with a 9:15.45 to the BAA's 9:10.88, to place 2nd and 1st in the "open" division.
All in all it was a fun day, after that damn 3000 was over. There were a lot of people we knew there, so it was fun to see everyone race and do random laps in between races around South Providence!
Check out the FULL RESULTS!
When all that fun was over, we had a good group head over to Ogie's Trailer Park for some beer and food. The day certainly ended on a high note....I then headed home and passed out on the couch!
I seeded myself at 9:45, but thought I could run around 10 flat.
I felt that I got out well and ran through the mile pretty good. Hitting that mark around 5:11 maybe 5:12. Maybe in hindsight, that was a bit quick...but I wanted to get out and get grooving. I ran alone pretty much the whole race in 3rd place...only to be passed in the last 2 pals and finish 5th and 3rd in my age group. I finished in 10:03.34. Just a bit over my goal, finishing pretty poorly in the lat 3 or 4 laps though.
Next up was the mile. There ended up being two men's heats in the mile, which unfortunately meant I would not race against my High School coach Norm Bouthiller, I was however in the heat after his, so I got to see what he ran before I toed the line.
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| Me and Norm! |
I felt like I raced a lot better in this one. I got out slowly, stuck way back in the back and after going through the first lap in around 40 seconds, I made a move on the back stretch into 5th place and was able to pick off two more runners in the last few laps. I went though the "half way" split in 2:31.XX and finished off on 5:03.05...so pretty even splits. This was just over my goal of breaking 5 mins. I finished 3rd in my race and 1st in my age group.
 |
| TNT 4 x 800 Team |
I thought if the stars aligned I could go sub 2:20. I got out well, stayed behind the other 2 guys though around 400 meters in 67-68 seconds and then just faded a bit over the next two laps, finishing in about 2:21.
Dan had a pretty good gap to make up, which he did pretty quickly and then he extended it by a lot! Dan is more of a mid distance guy and it certainly showed! He came though in a split of 2:06.
Next up, a not so middle distance guy...Dave. He was pretty beat up after the first two events of the day and after the first lap it showed. He was slowing gradually and Chris Lawrence from the BAA was eating up the lead that we had. Dave was able to hold onto our lead by a few meters, running a 2:28, but we seemed doomed with Mike Galoob anchoring their team against Corsi.
Bob hung in strong the first lap, holding off Galoob until right after the start/finish line. With 600s meters to go after being passed, Bob only lost 4+ seconds to Mike, running around a 2:18.
So, we finished with a 9:15.45 to the BAA's 9:10.88, to place 2nd and 1st in the "open" division.
All in all it was a fun day, after that damn 3000 was over. There were a lot of people we knew there, so it was fun to see everyone race and do random laps in between races around South Providence!
Check out the FULL RESULTS!
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| Group at Ogie's |
When all that fun was over, we had a good group head over to Ogie's Trailer Park for some beer and food. The day certainly ended on a high note....I then headed home and passed out on the couch!
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