4:49.53

I jogged over to the BU track from home - about 3.5 miles.  After signing up with a seed time of 4:56 (4 seconds faster than what I ran in January), I walked over to the section where CSU gathers during a typical Thursday night workout. I sat down and took out my pair of Adidas Takumi Sen 2 that I've worn during all of my mile training with the exception of perhaps a few 200s. 

I saw Jon Waldron and Isaac, and made my way down to the center of the track and eventually back outside for another mile+ of warm up, then a few more laps with Isaac to stay loose. After we grabbed our numbers, we broke off to do our own routine of drills and strides and I felt nice and warmed up.

At the starting line I was ready, but nervous...it's strange, I don't get that feeling from any road race. Not for a marathon, or a 5k, or even for a road mile. Only on the track do I get that feeling. Anyways, once the gun went off I settled into a fast pace, but not the fastest...and so there I was running in lane 2 as we came into the bend off the back straight. I came through in 36.x for the first 200, and was stuck in lane 2 as we entered the second lap. I felt really good, and didn't want to risk getting tripped up, so I just kept an eye out for a gap to slip into, but none opened up. Another ~36 second 200, and I couldn't get the hell out of lane 2.  On the back straight of the 3rd lap I finally started to sneak into the outside of lane 1, but it was crowded.

Coming out of the turn, a young kid tried to sneak in ahead of me. There was no room whatsoever, and he tried to make some with a half hearted elbow. I may have mumbled a curse or two letting him know that it wasn't going to happen.

One of the side effects of that elbow was a shot of adrenaline. And even though I had just gotten into lane 1, I made a hard move after passing through 600.  I'm not sure what place I was in before 600, but by 700 I was leading.

One of the best benefits of this race and this venue was having Joe Fischetti belting out my splits as I was on the back straight. Every single split was under 37 seconds. I came through 800 in 2:23/2:24, still leading, and I still felt good. I could feel runners on my tail, but I had very even pacing.

Shortly after passing either 1k (or maybe 1200?), a train of runners passed me. I wasn't fading, but someone was making a hard push from 600 out. I kept my position in lane 1 and fought to hold good form.  Joe continued to holler out splits and I heard Jon Waldron say to Isaac, "you're racing for the win Isaac. You are racing for the win!" Isaac was in the train of runners who had passed me and he was looking very comfortable at this stage in the race.

With 400 to go I knew I would be close to hitting my goal, but I had no ability to do any mental calculations. All energy was focused on the task of holding good form and maintaining turnover. Joe Fischetti yelled my split as I entered the back stretch, and with 300 to go he yelled, "c'mon Pat, stick with it! How bad do you want it?! How bad do you want it!?" I had already been close, but from that point on I was red lining.

I hit the bell lap and had no clue about time or place. I was just trying to kick. I had very little left and those smooth 30 second 200s that I had run during workouts felt like a distance memory. I hit the final straightaway with the clock reading 4:44/5. I was able to find another gear and I made it in under 4:50.

All it took was about 3700 miles worth of running since my last mile attempt...

4:49.53.