I thought she missed the record, though it's probably a sophomore record at least.

I meant to say by the time she finishes HS she may be considered the best ever HS middle distance runner ever, not the best ever.

It would've been almost chilly there yesterday morning. Thus we can quite confidently dismiss Phil's counter from earlier and conclude that the Dawson's course is remarkably more conducive to PRs than is the Crofton Kiwanis 10k course --- and furthermore that me and Karsten put forth virtually equivalent 10k performances in our respective races. Case closed!

Phil, this is the recap of day 2 (yesterday) by two flottrack guys -- I found it very entertaining: http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/248612-2012-US-Olympic-Team-Trials-Track-Field/video/643643-Arrested-for-Crack-Recap-Day-2-at-US-Olympic-Trials

MTA: part two of above video: http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/248612-2012-US-Olympic-Team-Trials-Track-Field/video/643644-Crack-Recap-Saga-continues-in-Day-2-of-US-Olympic-Trials

The neglected Race Videos thread gently weeps.

Huh, I don't think I realized that runners remain in their assigned individual lanes the whole time in the 400.

Elizabeth Beisel qualifies by winning the Trials with a PR and world-leading 400IM.

CBRC Twilight Series 1500

26 June 2012

My goals across the board were fairly unambitious. I estimated 4:59.9 for my 1500 time simply because I wanted to break 5:00. This equated to something like breaking 5:20 in the mile, so I knew I wasn't presenting myself with much of a challenge. I just wanted to get a sub-5 time on the books and out of the way.

You never know with these races whether they are going to have much competition. I was the first to register, so I had the handicap of seeing none of the estimates made by my competition. Per usual, David Strickland arrived barely in time to register. He's always late to races in my experience. Regardless, I saw his presence as mostly a good thing. Sure, it meant I wouldn't get first, but it meant somebody would start faster than me. Which meant some people would follow. Which meant I wouldn't have to worry about front running.

It was not a hot day. It was a windy day. Winds varied between 10-15 mph most of the day. The forecast I looked at prior to the meet said it would be closer to 15mph at the start and die down to around 10mph by the end of the evening. This seemed to hold true, as I felt the wind on my 1500, but didn't give it much thought later in the evening.

Turns out David Strickland was patiently following his summer instructions, which included time off and easy running at the start of his summer. So he signed up for the B heat. They ran the B heat first. This gave me an opportunity to size up who was standing around and likely to be in my heat. Two high schoolers wore spikes. One wore black spikes and the other wore pink spikes. I didn't think anyone else would prove much of a threat. Then Caroline Parris appeared out of nowhere and I thought I should take her seriously as a competitor. Normally a Parris sister doesn't take these things too seriously, but she did have on minimalist shoes, so I didn't want to discount her giving it a strong effort. Then Perry came over, who up until then I wasn't sure would run the race. Others like Victor and Blaine were there, but Blaine had told me he was out of shape and I just assumed for whatever reason that Victor wasn't trained for shorter distances, which he seemed to affirm in his pre-race rambling.

While standing about, Josh Dawson asked me if I was Joe. I said yeah. He motioned to the kid next to him in a white shirt and black spikes that [I] was going to run it in 5:00, so follow [me]. The kid asked if I meant a 5:00 mile or a 5:00 1500 and I told him it was my 1500 estimate, but that I might run it unevenly (insurance so he couldn't blame me if I didn't put him on pace). Then I joked that I would now follow him since I knew he'd be running 5:00.

On the starting line I accidentally found myself standing behind the kid in the white shirt and black spikes who was supposed to use me as a pacing guide. Oops. Then we started. He was sort of in the lead and probably didn't want to be in the lead and wasn't sure what pace to run and it was a little confusing as we started down that back stretch. The starting line slowly dwindled from 8 lanes down to a few while some people ran ahead to blend in and most people fell in behind.

Approaching the first turn I had a handful of people merging to the rail lanes and I knew I didn't want to get stuck behind anyone about to fade, so I resolved to move up before even reaching that first turn. I was in lane 1 and had several meters of a gap between me and the kid in the white shirt out ahead. The kid with the pink spikes was mostly in lane 1 just in front of me, but somewhat riding the line between lane 1 and 2. He left me plenty of room to pass on the inside without making any contact. So I pass him, closed some of the gap on the guy in front of me, and put myself in a good spot going into the first turn where I wouldn't get stuck too far back in the pack, especially with the danger of some fresh runners suddenly fading.

Just after I passed the kid in pink spikes, he says for anyone to hear, "I think some people are going a little too fast for a 5:00 pace." This annoyed me for two reasons. First, I felt like it was directed squarely towards me and used as a verbal comeback to the fact that I had just passed him. Secondly, it offended me mathematically, because I knew the opening pace was in danger of stalling and that my move was the only thing keeping me on good pace for a possible 5:00 finish. Temporarily annoyed, I was happy to just keep running the race. I was where I wanted to be entering the turn and everything was going fine.

Then the kid in pink spikes used the grass at the end of the turn to pass the entire field in front of him so he could come up on the shoulder of the leader. I wasn't sure if he was just doing it to clown around or because he thought he'd pass me on the inside to send some kind of message. it didn't matter. I was officially annoyed. The race just turned into a crime scene for voluntary manslaughter, as I was suddenly determined to run this kid down. Everything that happens after this -- all of the confusing split times, the weird jostling of positions, the gaps created or closed -- makes sense in the context of this purpose.

So this kid decided he wanted to run abreast with the leader as we turned into the headwind. Fine. You can have it. And if you both want to slow down in the wind because you don't like leading, well, guess what? I'm going to make you keep leading. Here, have a second lap of it. And so that's exactly what we did. We ran the second lap with them still in the lead. They didn't mind when they had the tailwind. And when we came back into the headwind they slowed down again. It was unfortunate for the kid in black spikes, but he can blame his friend in the pink ones for causing it. At this point Perry pulled up on my shoulder. The pace was slow. I knew the pace was slow. That didn't worry me. I was just trying to make sure the kid had to eat the wind for a few while the pace was slow, because I needed him tired for when I would make my move. I had a mental conversation with Perry in my head where I said, Yeah, the pace is too slow. Just follow me when I go.

When we reached the end of the finishing straight and therefore the spot where the headwind would begin to diminish, I accelerated around the leaders. I used the third lap to try and make a small gap. I imagine this move broke the field up a bit, but I wasn't looking behind me to see. My plan was quite simply that anyone who planned to draft me for the next tailwind was going to have to cover the move immediately. It seemed to work, because when I hit the headwind I couldn't really sense anyone directly behind me. I'm sure people were there just a couple of meters back, but nobody was on my shoulder. Coming around the turn again and into the back straight I could sense people coming up. The kid in the white shirt passed me. I wasn't too concerned. I had made my move and expected or even hoped people would have to use a lot of energy to get back in front of me. So that was his response. I was just going to have to reel him in again and hope he's sufficiently tired.

Ahhhh, but why do it right away? I wasn't exactly feeling chipper at that point in the race. There I was convincing myself I could wait a few moments longer to respond when Perry started to pass me on the back straight. Good show, chap. I still wasn't convinced I had to wake up yet. Then I realized the turn was coming up. Perry was a shoulder in front of me and had his eyes on getting to lane 1 for the turn. The high schooler was a good 10 or 15 meters ahead and I had to ask myself, How in the hell am I supposed to catch that kid if I have to get past Perry first? And what if Perry slows up on the turn once he's in front of me? So I had to fight back right away to try and get a good spot for the turn. Unfortunately for Perry this meant he had to fight me on the outside of the turn for a few moments longer before he successfully pulled in front of me anyway. Well, crap!

The kid was 15 meters ahead as I came out of the turn. Perry was probably a good 5 meters ahead. I kicked. The whole sprinting thing seemed to be working fine, so I kept doing it. I passed Perry. The other guy wasn't returning to me quickly enough. I finished 2nd and Perry finished a close 3rd. I saw Perry in my periphery and motioned to shake his hand or give him five, but he was already turning around to go catch is breath somewhere in particular, so I just sort of swatted imaginary flies instead of Perry's hand until my arms came back to me. I patted the kid who finished first on the back. Perry came around to shake hands or something.

And then I tasted it. A gross, dry acid began to overwhelm my palate. Back deep in my throat like a phlegm balling up I tasted it. It was the taste of anaerobic running. It was coming on strong. I had forgotten how bad it tasted. I sipped Gatorade. This just helped give my acid bile some lubrication for when I would try to spit the taste out. I swished around some more fluid and spit more out. I just went right back out into the grassy field nearby and started jogging. It was like I had a dry loogie I wanted to cough up, but there was no thick liquid to be had, because the problem was my burning throat itself, which could not be so easily spit out of my body. I jogged and periodically spit until that no longer seemed helpful. Hello, acidosis, my old friend.

That is quite surprising that everyone was over 2:40 at the 800, as that necessitated major negative splits from everyone hoping to break 5:00. The youth with the white shirt and black spikes must've been Mitchell McCall (who's true strength obviously lies in the 400!), but who was the pink fiend? Matthew Sebacher? John Hancock? Either way he obviously fell back by quite a few steps, despite his corner cutting.

I'm also curious to know how Phil's running went.