January 2nd was the third and final installment of the BU mini meets, and with vacation plans switched around, I was able to show up with less miles in my legs than usual (though perhaps still a tad sleep deprived from a NYEve wedding). I woke up feeling fresh with none of the aches and pains that have accompanied my higher mileage of the past few months. My left knee felt a little loose, thanks to an unleashed dog at Fresh Pond the day before, but it was nothing serious and I was eager to try my first BU double. I enjoyed my typical cup of coffee and granola, and told Elizabeth I'd see her in a few hours.
After a nice 3m+ run over to BU, I walked in only to find a huge registration line stretched around the corridor. I don't think people have a New Year's resolution of running more indoor track, so I was left slack jawed and wondering if I would be able to register for the 3k in time. Luckily, a separate line was created for 3k runners, and I signed up within 5 minutes. I put my things down in the stands, and continued to jog around the outside of the track for a bit to stay loose, before switching into flats. I ended up in heat 4, so that meant I had ~30 minutes to continue my warm up and do some drills.
I toed the line with 19 other runners, and I had a lot of pre-race nerves going on. This being my first 3k race, I wasn't sure what to expect, but most of these indoor races start off with someone going out way too fast - so once the gun went off I happily took up the last place spot. I missed the first 200 split, but ended up at around 1:18 or 1:19 through the first 400, and that felt very comfortable. Still, I I had 2600 to go, so I was in no rush to press the issue.
I focused on staying relaxed and out of trouble, and remained in last place through 1600 at about 5:11ish. When I passed the clock, I wasn't doing math so much as taking inventory of how I felt with 1400 to go. And I felt fine. I noticed some large gaps, and started to slowly tighten the screws. I was trying to be as efficient as possible, and I was passing in groups of two and four on the straights throughout the remaining laps. With 600 to go, I still felt completely in control and pressed a bit harder for the next 300, and finally with 300 to go I began a long acceleration. I think I passed a pack of four during this stretch, but didn't have enough real estate for the next group of two or three guys and I ended up in 8th place with a time of 9:36:08 establishing a new PR that I would consider improvable but not soft. I was very happy with this result.
I had plenty of time before I raced the mile, so I quickly got my watch ready to give Terry his splits as he ran the 5th section of the 3k. As one would expect, Terry was like a metronome with every split between 40.3s and 41.6s except his final 200, which he closed with a 37.11 to finish a mere .37s behind Dave Dunham - good for 3rd place.
After probably two hours of staying loose/warming up with Kevin and Neil, the 10th of 20 heats was finally about to start. This would be the first time that Kevin and I were able to get into the same heat. As they were getting the clock ready, we had a good old fashioned stare down that went something like this....Shortly after the gun went off, I took a quick look at my watch and used the same strategy I had in the 3k and went straight to the back. I still came through the quarter in about 1:11 even in last place. With everyone in our heat seeded around 4:55 give or take, I again wasn't about to press the issue and I kept the stride relaxed.
I was still in last place when I passed the half mile mark in 2:25, and finally passed someone ~900 meters in. Both Kevin and I did a fantastic job (in my opinion) of staying out of trouble and not getting crazy over the first half of the race. This was evidenced by us steadily moving up during the second half of the race. But I think Kevin did a slightly better job than I did. I avoided passing on the curves just a little bit too much, and this resulted in some slower middle laps. Nonetheless, I found myself in good position for the most part, and once again with 300 to go, I began to accelerate.
With 200 to go, I lengthened my stride and started to make up some ground on a Somerville Road Runner who had maybe 10 meters on me. On the back stretch, I accelerated just a bit more to get him within ~5 meters, and then with maybe 50 meters or so to go, I gave it my final sprint home. I ended up just behind Titus Mutinda (GBTC) and another runner for 3rd place in our heat. After watching the video, I'm actually a little disappointed in myself that I didn't go for broke trying to win the heat. If I had started to hammer it with 100-125 meters left I think I would've had a very good shot, but all in all I am very happy with a new PR of roughly 4:48.27.
Splits:
36.79
35.02
36.64
37.02
37.98
37.26
35.52
32.04
4:48.27
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