Saturday was the last open meeting for 2016. There were a number of events that were of interest, the 800m, the 1500m handicap and the 5,000m. In the end I opted for the 1500m and the 5,000m.
First event was the 1,500m. I have never done a race so short before and as it was a handicap I was a little unsure on how it would go. Before the event, I needed to supply a seasons best time for this distance, however, I have not done one before so relied on the coach’s call, who was only a few seconds out.
We made our way to the start and the gun sounded, however, unlike any normal race, the runners were staggered, depending on their SB’s. I was 45 seconds after first started, the runner behind was a few seconds later, the next a few seconds after that and so on.
Now normally in a track race I start at the back and finish that way. But this was again, very different. The first 400m was very fast, 1:21 and by the time I had finished the first lap, everyone had started. The chase was on. I was getting close to some people in front, but there were others that were 200m ahead. The second lap I needed to slow the pace, that was 1:26 but it helped me regain some breath and attack the final lap. With about 200m to go, everyone bunched up as the slower runners were caught by the faster runners. In the end I managed a sprint finish to over take a few people and I was maybe 6th or so. As there were no official results it was hard to tell. I finished in a time of 5:08.
I cooled down and while talking to a friend, decided that I would give the 5,000m a try. Probably a bit of a mistake but hey.
For this race there was a much smaller field, and all of the runners I knew, on the start line are streets ahead of me. And so it proved, I was a good minute behind Allen who was behind the rest of the team. I did however, take someone in a sprint finish with 50m to go to finish third from last. Timed at 19:51. That is a good 30 seconds slower than my PB but for my second race of the day I wasn’t too down.
Ok, fun over, now the for winter season.