Charlotte Track & Tri Club Meet

Time: 55:41
Distance: 7.41 miles

W/u: 15:17 for 2.13 miles
Race & W/o: mile, 800, 400
C/d: 25:28 for 2.87 miles

I got to the track and Tim Rhodes immediately approached me with a question about what I was going to run. I knew I was going to run the mile, but I had no idea of what time. My goal was to run hard and have a good time. I haven't laced up the spikes for a race on the track since... I can't remember when. I don't think I've run a track race since I started this blog which was the fall of 2007.

Tim's reason for questioning me was because a couple of high schoolers were present to run fast. One of them went 4:14 earlier in the track season. Basically, I would be racing my high school self as I, too, ran about 4:14 as a prep athlete. I've done well on the roads this spring, but here I was about to get humbled by a couple of high school kids. I had to start planning my strategy. Earlier in the day my plan was to run relaxed for 900-1000 meters and then really hammer the last lap and a half. I figured I could do the same thing and just sit off the kids before taking off.

The warm up around the tri-school area went fine. It was a great night to be at the track. Little wind, lower humidity and cooler temps. The number of participants and people in the crowd was way more than I was expecting. The all-comers meets in Santa Rosa would draw about 100 people total and this definitely surpassed that.

I lined up for the race near the outside. We were using the actual mile starting line and not the 400m mark. Gun was up and then we were off. Aaron Linz jumped out to an early lead for about 120m. The high schoolers then took over and I sat just off the second guy's shoulder. I was relaxed coming through 400m in 67. Coming off the turn on the backstretch I moved up into second place. The second youngster was clearly struggling as his breathing was taxed. I stayed in second position for 400m reaching the halfway mark in about 2:15. With 700m to go the leader started looking around and soon he waved me by. He was in the race to pace his buddy/brother and their race plans were falling apart. I started hammering the pace at 600m and never looked back. I closed the final 800m in about 2:05 with a final lap of about 61-62. Hand time at the finished was 4:19.90.

After the race Aaron and I jogged down to the AG track where Jay Holder was completing a ladder workout. He joined him for his 800m and 400m. I split 2:22.70 (3:46 rest), and 58.66.

We then had a nice long, slow cool down with a good sized group. I was pleased at how I responded to the faster pace. I believe you have to be in decent shape to run 4:15 for the mile and I'm fairly close to that. If I were to tweak my training just a little bit, I think 4:15 or faster would be attainable within a couple of weeks. There isn't really a reason to do that, but knowing I could is encouraging.