Notes
I absolutely loved lacing up the spikes and toeing the line again.
I live for racing, especially on the track, especially indoors, especially at Luther, and most significantly, especially with friends.
Emma and I warmed-up outside and met Flannery about a half mile out. We heard her plan was to go out at 5 min pace and Emma and I sorta laughed and said have fun, good luck. Our plan was to hop on the Luther train and try not to do too much work until later in the race. We knew Kenzie Carney had already run 5:23, and that seemed like a great place to start. I had seeded myself at 5:30, which was entirely realistic, and I really had no idea where I would be. I've been doing a decent amount of quality, and have been feeling good. However, I took a decent amount of down time post-half in November and December, and did quite a bit of skiing instead of running in the early part of January. But I guess the work I've done was beneficial, and like I said I was feeling pretty good. I am absolutely thrilled about 5:13, as I didn't expect that at all. Something right around 5:20 would have made me quite happy.
Flan took off at the gun as expected, and I settled in behind Kenzie and Emma. We came through the 200 in 40, perfect, and the 400 in 80. That was what I was hoping, and I felt really relaxed. Sometime over the next couple laps Lauren Mordini put in a surge and went to the front, and the pace picked up a bit. At some point Kenzie put in a surge, and then with maybe 2 to go emma went to the front. I simply tried to respond to each move and put myself in position behind the leader each time someone new took control. I ran a very, very selfish race. But hey, track is a tactical game, and the strategy and tactics of racing on the track is one of my favorite parts of the sport.
Throughout the whole middle of the race I just felt really relaxed and really good. I didn't know how anybody else was feeling, but I knew I still had plenty left. On the front stretch with just over 1 lap to go I took the lead and then just tried to close as hard as I could for 200 meters. My legs felt fantastic, and even felt better opening up. As we went around the first curve it didn't feel like anybody was responding right away, so I tried to push as hard as I could to open up a bit of a gap, and then when I came into the backstretch I saw Flan about 15m ahead of me. We hadn't seen her at all since the gun went off, so seeing her was a huge surprise. It didn't look like she was feeling great so I put my eyes on her back to see if I could get her in the last 100. Things felt smooth and came easy, and I was able to close really well.
I know I could have run faster than 5:13, and that is very exciting, but I truly am thrilled with the race. I think that's my fastest indoor mile.
In hindsight the middle laps could have been faster, and I guess I did feel a little too comfortable throughout. But it didn't feel overly slow, and I always knew I was in a great position to just race, and that was my plan all along.
What fun. I'm definitely going to have to find a few more races this spring. I would love to run a 5k at some point late in the spring. I think my classes finish up in time for me to be back in the midwest by last chance weekend. So perhaps there's a 5k at la crosse calling my name. We'll see.