Swarthmore 1500m

Last night was my last official race of the season, and my last one in a Delaware uniform. As is the custom at UD for our last race, a bunch of us went up to the Swarthmore Last Chance meet to run a 1500 or a 5k. For years we have known about this little gem of a race. It is always perfect conditions and great competition for all races 800 and up. As luck would have it, this year some other guys you might have heard of found out about it too. Adrian Blincoe (5k Olympian from New Zealand) lives nearby in Bryn Mawr and put together quite the race for the 1500. The fast heat included names like Nick Willis, Will Leer, Lee Emanuel, and Dan Huling. Willis was to pace thru 1200 in 2:51 and let the other guys chase the Olympic A standard. This race went off while I was in line to get my number, with all my sweats and trainers on. When I realized I was in the next heat, I panicked a little bit and so I didn't get to really pay attention to the big boys in the fast heat. What I was able to watch was amazing; Willis did a great pacing job and stepped off at 1300, and unheralded Merber blew by the field in the last 200 to win in 3:35. A debatable American collegiate record for the guy who had a 3:42 PR coming in! That was definitely an inspiration to run fast for my race.

As to my race: I was confused when I was in the fast non-pro race, because I was 20th seed coming in. Apparently they just shuffled the first two heats randomly together. There were four Columbia guys in the race, undoubtedly fired up watching their teammate Merber run 3:35, who were going for NCAA times. One guy said he was rabbiting through 1200 in 2:57, which I knew was too fast for me. I got out well and the first 400 was 61, which I felt was about right. I was in a nice group while the Columbia guys rocketed ahead of the field. During the second lap I could feel the group slowing, so I went around just before the 800 (2nd lap = 63). I picked up and started reeling in a guy that had fallen off the leaders. At 1200 (3rd lap = 61) I was with two guys and I kicked with 300 to go. One guy blew by me on the backstretch but I caught him at the line and beat the other guy. My final time was 3:49.50, which was 0.17 off the school record (last 300 = 43). I wasn't too upset about missing the school record; I ran what I knew I could run and it wasn't a surprise since I ran 4:08 in February. I just went out and executed the plan.

I felt good after the race and on the cooldown, and I think I could have squeezed another second out of the race if the second lap had been better, but it as good a race as I could have realistically hoped for. I PR'd on this track two years ago in the 5k and almost everyone runs fast here, so much so that it's become a running joke on our team to call it a 390m long track. One more "race" in the season, an 800 against some teammates just to see what I can do, and then I'll shut it down. I think that if there were more fast 1500s in the coming weekends I could keep peaking and run a little bit faster for about two weeks and then the wheels would start coming off. Right now I'm content with the season; I did what I set out to do and my PR's are right where I wanted.