I competed in the USATF Master's National Track and Field meet last weekend. My goal was to get to the finals at the 800m, and hopefully acheive All-American status. I had a good race in the 800m trials, and moved up substantially from my seed, running very even splits and hitting 2:11.93, for the 6th fastest time and qualifying me for the finals. At the final, it was 94 degrees and humid, and except for the two guys who won the sections (Landen Summay and Kevin Forde) the rest of the group all ran slower in the finals. I ended up 7th at 2:12.98, and I missed A-A status by 0.93 seconds.
In the 1500m, I was dead legged, and the race was early in the AM after racing the afternoon before. I went out perfectly at 2:25, but then I couldn't hold the pace and fell off, finishing at a rather disappointing 4:42. However, my final race of the meet, the 4x800m relay, was a bright spot. I anchored the Mass Velocity team, and I got the baton in second place in the race, but the racers in front and right behind me both were submaster teams (they had 30 year olds on them) and therefore we were not technically racing them. I gave chase to the leader and ran a quick first lap, but made up no ground on the younger runner and cruised in for a 2:19, locking in the gold medal!
After a couple of days of easy running, Nick and I raced Cigna, the largest 5k race in NH. We planned to run together, and I talked Nick into starting out "easy" around 5:40. We passed the race clock at 1 mile at 5:37 (although my GPS watch clocked the mile at 5:47) and I came through the second mile at 5:50, which was perfect for me. Nick and I finished 18:03 and 18:04, which was my best time for the season. Nick was 3rd in his age division and I was 7th; in a race with 5000 runners, this is a pretty solid accomplishment!
Next up, Fox Point 5 miler, and then X-C season starts.
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Darin
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