Notes
Patriot League Championships. Held at Pembroke this year. Not great weather, cold drizzle all weak. Running the mile, looking to PR and place top 6. Knew that from Pembroke we had Ryan K, Pony, Ryan M, Christian, Pat, and Eric in the race. Jonathon Mckinley of Duxbury, scratched, leaving Nate Stephansky (PR of 4:40) the only other good runner in the field. I was seeded 7th on the line.
Didn't have a great start- got into lane 1 quickly, but was caught behind a good clump of runners. Over the first 200 meters I tried to slide up on the inside. I felt like we were moving fast, and I wasn't particularly close to the front. Coming off the corner onto the home stretch of the first lap, I surged past a Silver Lake runner, putting myself into 7th, with a gap between myself and Pat, in 6th. I came through the quarter in 68? Over the next lap, I concentrated on reeling in Pat, and caught up to him by the 800 (2:20?) I moved past him with 700 to go and started trying to think about driving home, pumping my arms and lifting my legs. I came through the 1200 in 3:32. At this point, I knew that I had the chance to run a good time, and I really dug down. I actually closed on the WH kid (who was in 5th) by a good margin over this lap, coming within a second. With 100 to go, I moved outside and tried to sprint to the finish, but I couldn't catch him. Still, a PR- solid.
This was a good race. It was good to have this racing experience of not being with the leaders and still going out fast, as opposed to being in a slower lead pack. I think that if the race at D3s goes as I hope it will, I will be able to run 4:40-4:42.