Gtown Race Recap



The Georgetown Perp Indoor Track...

In all honesty, I was extremely nervous for this race. It was the first one of the year. I was officially coming off of injury. But mostly, I was back on what was once home turf (although this was a Georgetown "Home Meet" it was at Georgetown Prep in Bethesda, Md.), and I couldn't bomb my first race of the season with all my friends watching! Delilah noticed, claiming, "you never stopped eating!"

But, I pulled things together and got together a really nice opening weekend of racing. We'll look at it running diary style:

8am - wake up, 10 minute shakeout run in what we felt was a "balmy" DC day that registered around 35 degrees. I hate the Northeast.

9:45am - after an $18 (sub-par) buffet breakfast from the hotel, we all cabbed over to Gtown -- we stayed at the Key Bridge Marriot -- and got on the bus with the team.

10am - upon entry of the bus, I was showered with boos from the Georgetown team. I leave places right.

10:30am - we arrive at Georgetown Prep for Georgetown's "Home Meet". This facility is unreal. I wish I would have gone to high school here, but I don't think my parents would have been willing to shell out $48,000.

12:00pm - after some sitting around in the surprisingly chilly track facility, I realize that I don't have any caffiene for my 1:35 race. I call Liz Maloy, and she saves the day with a 5-Hour-Energy.

12:15pm - I almost throw up when I chug the 5-Hour. Then I get jacked up for my warm-up. Things are starting to shape up as the nerves are settling a little.

12:45pm - Alex (teammate on the NJ-NY Track Club) and I warm up. We do our walking drills, run 20 minutes, then do some stretching and get ready for the race with some strides. All said, it takes about 40 minutes...then you leave 5-10 minutes for things like bathroom breaks.

1:35pm - FINALLY, race time. I headband up, do a few mini-stretches. "Runner's to your mark!....BAM!"
--we're going. Theon (a stud for Gtown) takes the race out fairly quickly and I find myself in 4th place with Brian Hencke and Alex in front of me as well. John Maloy is right near me as well. We come through the first lap in around 26 (i'm probably 27). Not much jostling goes on the 2nd lap and I'm still on the rail in about 4th place. I hear 53 for the leaders and I am probably 54 mid for the 400. I'm focusing on keeping the pace up and Theon is still leading at a pretty good effort. Around the backstretch I can tell some things are about to happen and then on the turn, Alex takes off for the lead. I pass Brian on the inside of the turn then as we straighten out with 250 to go I move by Theon to answer Alex's move. We are through in 1:22-3 and I am up on Alex's heels staying focused and feeling good. He's charging pretty hard but then backs off some on the backstretch. I think about moving by him, but Gags told us to race to win that morning so I hold off for one push in the final 50. Alex struggles through the turn and I slingshot off it into the lead and pull away over the straight to win 1:51.55 to 1:52.05. It was a very good opening race.

1:40pm - we jog 20 minutes, then stretch.

2:30pm - we have to jog 20 minutes again to get ready for the 4x800. I didn't get to double all last year, and even though I wasn't looking forward to the pain of another 800, I know it's good long run.

3:30pm - after redoing all the walking drills, strides, all that pre-race stuff, we take off for the 4x8. Alex led off and handed it to me in the lead. I went out very hard...definitely too hard. Splits were 26, 53, 1:22, 1:52. Yikes, that is coming back slow. I was hurting afterwards as well. I liked going out hard for it though, Coach Henner always used to like us getting out hard early in the season because it makes it easier to do so later on, and I definitely by into that philosophy.

4:00pm - 15 more minutes of jogging and some hurdle drills. Day done: 1:51.55, 1:52.4split, on a flat track, I'll take it for a first race.

--
The meet at Georgetown was awesome. The Hoyas also invited our NJ-NY Track Club to an alumni event with hours d oeuvres and good times. It was a great event, and hopefully it turns into a yearly thing. It was great to go back to Gtown, and I'm hoping all the guys and girls can put together a great season.

Now, this week, I'm running a 1500 at the Armory for the New Balance Indoor games. Hopefully I'm ready to go for it, and hopefully I don't nervously eat the whole morning.

Brand Spanking New!

Falmouth right before dropping out. I am sitting behind my new training partner, Rob Novak...

New Month, New City, New Look. Same old idea. As you can see, some changes have been made to runLBP.com, hopefully for the better. It was starting to look a little cluttered on here and it was confusing with what was the blog—err, I mean web journal—and what wasn’t. So now, it should be pretty easy to navigate and the blog is all at the blogspot site just because it’s easier to post there even if I don’t have my computer. The first paragraph of each new post will be on the front page of the site, but you’ll have to head to the blog to read the rest…

There’s the house cleaning. Sadly, there isn’t much else to report. I am at home in Bath still and enjoying my time with nothing to do. Boredom is setting in, but that’s part of it. I found out at the end of the season that I had a stress reaction, so I have been in a boot and getting healthy. I probably could start running now, but we’re making sure that I get as healthy as possible before I start training so that I can go un-interrupted the next two years.

I am going to be living near Columbia U. in NY, but it is going to be a lot different than when I was at school. It will be a different experience, but I am looking forward to what’s ahead. But what that means for the frequenters of “runLBP.com” is that there will be a new arena for more LBPjams! Boo. Yah.

Coach Gags keeps emailing me telling me to be patient, and lord knows I am, but I am starting to get antsy, I want to get out there and run again. Soon enough, I know. For now it is the swimming pool and getting worked by the same girl every day who is a much better swimmer than I. I work my balls off to swim 25 meters in 30 seconds. It’s awful.

I’m getting there. Let’s Go!

Start Spreading The News

Embarrassingly enough, when driving around town or watching vh1, there are a few songs that I leave on to get the full listen. While I don’t call myself a Pop music aficionado, I do find myself bobbing my head to some catchy tunes. Recently in Pop music, there has been a trend of making a song for your city. Jay-Z started things off with the classy “Empire State of Mind” and things seemed to be going in the right direction. Then, Katy Perry decided to make a response to Jay-Z by putting out “California Gurls.” While catchy as can be, California Gurls as a response to Jay-Z would be like Blink-182 writing a response to Tupac back in the 90s. It just doesn’t work that way. Tupac’s “California Love” ranks as one of the best “city songs” of all time. However, some white guy back in the 80s tops the standings.

So through Sinatra’s song, I’d like to announce that I will be moving back to New York, New York to pursue my running career under famed coach, Frank Gagliano.

After meeting with Coach Gags, as he is referred to by most, I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to be coached by such a great mind. He has coached multiple Olympians and Team USA members, and I believe that he is my best chance to become exactly that.

I never thought that I would be moving back to New York unless I was done running, but Central Park and I have 2 more years left in us. I am going to be living near Columbia U. and will be living the life of a runner in the city that never sleeps.

I’m hoping the bright lights get brighter in 2011 and 2012, and I can’t wait to get out there and get training towards becoming the best middle distance runner that I can be.

Let’s Go!

Thanks to Dan Leyh for the pic...