Race Report from Maryland

Friday I left Bangor at noon and got into DC around 230.  Former coach picked me up at airport and we headed to meet.

The 3-k was scheduled to go off at 6:45pm.  My heat was 30-44 year olds and the last race of the day.  I got in a 2.1 mile warmup with teammate Thomas Beckum who was running the 3-k as well.  They were a little behind and we started closer to 7:30.

I got a really bad start and wasted a lot of energy passing people and then in lane 2 for the first three laps.  Once I finally got out of trouble I stuck to leader through 8 laps.  Laps 10,11, and12 I fell off.  It was partially from wasting so much energy in first few laps, not being mentally prepared for a 15 lap race, and just not focusing these laps. Then on Laps 13,14, and 15 I started to get me gain ground, but I'd given up too much.  Winner was 9:16.46, and I finished second in 9:21.41.  Still way better than my seed time of 9:30, but without the mental lapse I went through I should have been closer to 9:15.

Got in about 2 miles cooldown on the track since no more races were scheduled for the day.

 The next day the 1500 was scheduled for about 4pm.  My heat was 40-44 year olds.  My plan was to get the lead from the start and run my own race.  I did about a 2.3 mile warmup.  I got the lead and took it through 100 meters.  A 800 guy then passed me and slowed the pace down the next 200 meters.  I wasn't having any of that so I took the lead again and progressively made each lap faster.  Had a bunch of guys chasing, but I managed to get the win with a time of 4:19.64.  About 4 seconds faster than I ran the 1500 at the USATF Maine meet a few weeks ago.

2.6+ mile cooldown.

The next day the 800 meters was scheduled for about noon.  My heat was 40-44 year olds.  This was kind of a bonus event since I was staying in town until Monday.  I warmed up about 2.2 miles.  I got an ok start, but the race went out really slow.  We ended up going through 400 in about 67.6.  I was in 5th place.  A couple of guys went past the leader and I should have gone then, but waited anouter 50 meters.  By the time I finally went the lead guy had a gap.  I got into 2nd place and pushed hard.  Ran out of room, but still got second which was good for the 800.  Last 400 in about 62.2 with a 30.32 final 200.  2:09.82 final time.

Cooldown of about 2.3 miles.

Overall it was pretty successful.  I'd like to run the outdoor champs in July.