I had a great run today at the Robison Invite. Conditions were perfect: 57 degrees, the wind was next to nothing.
17 guys showed up for the start and I was expecting a fast race. After the gun, we quickly split up into two packs; the first was off at a suicidal pace so I hung back with the second. First lap in 74, somebody spiked me, that hurt. I went through the 1600m at the lead of the second pack in high 4:57, the other pack was still together, going through in 4:43-4:45. Glad I hung back, that's a little too fast.
The second mile was pretty uneventful, some of the first pack was starting to fall off, but I kept rolling off 74-75 second splits, going through 3200m in 9:57. I felt great still, and I knew I'd have a fast final mile.
The first pack really fell apart here, and I started moving up quickly. I was trying to pick up the pace, but it was hard to tell if I sped up at all as people started falling back. Turns out I maintained 75's through the next three laps.
A Boise State kid hung on to me as I went by him on the 11th lap, and we really picked it up here. Went through the bell lap in 14:18, and we covered the next 200m in 32 seconds, reaching 4800m in 14:50. He dropped off and I continued my kick, although without somebody to chase I only managed a 35 over the last 200m. Final lap was 67 seconds.
Final time of 15:25.60. I needed to get out faster. I still felt reasonably fresh at 3200m, a more aggressive start would likely yield a faster time. Anywa, Mark Currell from SUU won the race in 15:02, Nate Ogden only beat me by 12 seconds today (last week it was 20), finishing in 15:13.
I'm very pleased with the race - the altitude conversion puts me at 15:04.9, so I'm close to the sub-15 goal. I have my last race of the season next week at sea level, the Pacific University Twilight in Oregon, I should have a good shot at cracking 15:00.
1600m Splits:
High 4:57
4:59 (9:57)
4:53 (14:50)
0:35 (15:25)
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