Nothing like putting in a seed time of 4:47 and being in heat 25 out of 26. There certainly were a lot of fast runners in Boston this past weekend...
With the first heat of the mile at the BU Valentine Invitational scheduled to go off at 3:35, I had plenty of time in the day to recover. Yes, recover...not from any particular workout, but to recover from taco night. Because the only thing better than tacos, is tacos + homemade margaritas. Am I an idiot or what? Good work with the self sabotage the night before a race.
Anyways, I wasn't feeling that bad, but I was certainly sluggish throughout the morning. When I arrived, BU was packed and I had a limited warm up, limited drills, limited everything. And so I walked to the starting line with very limited pop in my legs and a slight fog remaining in my head.
The race started quickly. I got to the line without much of an announcement, and the gun went off. My hope was that the race would start out at a too-quick of a pace, and I could be mid pack. Instead, only one runner took it out hard, and unfortunately, I was in lane two for the first two laps.
Heading into the third lap I found a spot on the rail. As the lead runner who took it out too hard was fading badly, I was stuck on the rail boxed in at a dawdling pace. As we came through 1k, I could feel the pace slowing even more, so I made my way into lane two once again. After seeing one runner give a slight push to another runner (for seemingly no reason), I accelerated with elbows ready and made my way to the front.
Shaun Dever, my friendly rival from the Turkey Day 5k, was the announcer on Flotrack, and as I pushed the pace from ~1100 to ~1400, he did a fantastic job of announcing my presence:
"And coming there on the outside is PATRICK BUGBEE, wearing hip number 13. We didn't see him on the start list there. Patrick Bugbee of the Cambridge Sports Union. Bugbee now going to take control of this race. 3:34 through three quarters. Bugbee in the black kit, the purple shoes. A staple at the Saturday morning Fresh Pond races here in Boston..."
On the bell lap, I was passed by four runners who made an immediate hard push, and I dropped back to 5th place. And I was hurting..."we'll see if Bugbee can answer." I could, sort of. I did a good job of regrouping and fighting for 3rd place in a time of 4:44.28.
The time meant I successfully hit my 'B' goal. After setting a recent PR of 4:48+ on January 2nd, I came back a month and a half later to take 4 seconds off. I'm certainly happy with that. I'm also glad to know that all the time in lane two means that in the right race, I can do even better. However, that is going to have to wait as this was the last mile race on my calendar. From here on out, my primary focus will be on marathon training.
http://www.lancertiming.com/results/winter16/buvalentinem.htm
Why did he say black kit? Did you go incognito without a CSU singlet in order to avoid the drug testers?
ReplyDeleteJohnny Cash - Man In Black
ReplyDeleteWell, you wonder why I always dress in black,
Why you never see bright colors on my back,
And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone.
Well, there's a reason for the things that I have on.
I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down,
Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town,
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime,
But is there because he's a victim of the times.
I wear the black for those who never read,
Or listened to the words that Jesus said,
About the road to happiness through love and charity,
Why, you'd think He's talking straight to you and me.
Well, we're doin' mighty fine, I do suppose,
In our streak of lightnin' cars and fancy clothes,
But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back,
Up front there ought 'a be a Man In Black.
I wear it for the sick and lonely old,
For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold,
I wear the black in mournin' for the lives that could have been,
Each week we lose a hundred fine young men.
And, I wear it for the thousands who have died,
Believen' that the Lord was on their side,
I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died,
Believen' that we all were on their side.
Well, there's things that never will be right I know,
And things need changin' everywhere you go,
But 'til we start to make a move to make a few things right,
You'll never see me wear a suit of white.
Ah, I'd love to wear a rainbow every day,
And tell the world that everything's OK,
But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back,
'Till things are brighter, I'm the Man In Black.
That pretty much sums up why I wore the black kit.
Delete