McMullen Mile at Nazareth Track
"The pain is short and sweet." -Strelick? Muldoon? Lombardo? Who said it? I can't recall.
It's a mile, another mile, and this one's on the track, so it should be faster than East End. Last year I unexpectedly out-kicked Chris Muldoon, Jeff Beck, and Sam Mackenzie for the win. I say unexpectedly because this was shortly after Beck outicked me in the Chase Corporate Challenge and Chris Muldoon outkicked me at the Medved Father's Day 5K.
This year I faced all the same names except Beck. Also, Julius Rono was entered with a blistering 4:10 seed time. The starter called us up to the line and wasted no time firing the gun. I got off the line terribly, immediately found myself behind Rono and Muldoon. I thought I'd make the best of the situation by going straight to the rail. Mistake. I staked out a comfortable nook in the inside of lane one, drafting off of Rono, but the pace was too slow and I knew it by the first hundred meters. If the pace didn't pick up I'd have at least a half dozen people to out-kick at the end. It would be a crap shoot.
I maneuvered out of my box by the end of the first lap, which took 68 seconds, a pace I had maintained for 12 x 400 intervals in practice, far too slow for a race. Up on Rono's right shoulder, the two of us leading now with Muldoon right behind, I pushed the pace. Rono matched and we made up for lap one with a second lap split of 64 seconds.
Rono ran a tactically exquisite race. We rubbed elbows through the third lap, side by side. He matched every move I made and held me out in lane two. We continued to lead into the last lap, putting away lap three in 66 seconds.
I didn't want to run the last long curve of this nearly circular track in lane two. I had to make a big move and surprise Rono with it so he couldn't respond, so the whole rest of the field couldn't respond. So I blew it wide open on the backstretch, full throttle from about 66 second quarter pace to 60 flat pace. A few steps put me ahead of Rono, but I felt a nasty sixth sense. Muldoon rocketed by me and I felt another runner (Mackenzie) coming on strong. I teetered on the edge of my form going to shit but held it together and wrung a few more drops of speed out down the homestretch for second place in 4:21.02, last lap of 62 seconds.
Top three:
Chris Muldoon 4:19.84
Neal Holtschulte 4:21.02
Samuel Mackenzee 4:21.35
