Nashville High Performance Twilight Meet II
1500m - 3:47.44 10th place
This was my first legit shot at racing since I raced a mile back in February in Daytona. It was a really good 1500m field on a really fast track on a warm night which was a nice temperature for the distance. The race went out quick over the first 100 meters with the rabbit fighting to get in the lead. I was coming from an outside position as I was the highest seed in the race. It set me up well to get in good position early, around 5th, but it also set me up to run the first curve in lane 2. Coming off the turn though I quickly settled in against the rail in 5th position and settled into a groove. We went through the first 400m in 59. It seemed brisk early but I settled in well. No one was fighting for position over the next bit of the race and we settled into 60 second pace going through the 800m in 1:59. Coming around with 500m to go I was still tucked in the same spot but I was feeling ambitious and started to make a move to go around the pack of 4 I was tightly riding. I got around 1 guy, pulled up on the shoulder of another, but was held off and tucked back into 4th position going through with a lap to go in 2:44. I spent that last of my reserves on that silly little move with 1.3rd of the race remaining and began to fall off of the lead pack of 3. I felt like I was running really tight and could tell I had slowed up significantly. I kept waiting for someone else to pass me. This gradual falling off of the pace continued with no one passing me until there was 100m to go in the race. Then everyone passed me. Literally everyone. I went from 4th to 10th and could do nothing to stop it. I ran a 63 last lap which isn't too bad considering it was a "rig" situation. Also it's encouraging for future races as the last lap will get drastically better from race to race. The winning time was 3:41 with 3rd place being 3:42. The second pack which ate me up with 100m to go was from 3:45 to 3:47 (I was within .1 from 9th and the back of that pack). It was overall a good race back and show's a lot of room for simple improvements. I think had I relaxed and tried to tuck in behind the lead 3 I could have stolen maybe another 100m with the leaders which could have had a big impact on my finish. I need to be more patient in future races. I think my next race will be back in Nashville in 3 weeks for thier next meet. It's got prize money in the 5k so I'm in. |