OFFICIAL: 4:26.5, 3rd at MidSummer Night's Mile

Clocked 4:26.5 tonight at the Midsummer Night's Mile for a 1.3 second new PR(previous was 4:27.8) in very hot conditions. I was also very pleased with some runners I coach.  Brandon Hirsch clocked 5:07, Pat Savoy 5:27, and Marie ran 6:47 who is still in the earlier stages of her training with me(started coaching her in May). 

This was a good race to get my gears going and to just have fun.  It was certainly a solid effort and I really can't complain considering I'm just getting back into the swing of things, even though I wanted to go faster. I got competitive with Joe Wiegner beating me(though the guy has run 4:10 and just has something that I don't with this short distance stuff), who ended up grabbing 2nd place in 4:21.  The winner ran 4:20.  I can't really remember my splits.  I know the pace went out hard because a guy said he was going to rabbit in 2:05(!!!).  I was like hell no.  Brian McCabe went with the rabbit but me, Chris Barnard(eventual winner who ran for Georgetown I believe), and Joe hung back.  I think my first lap was around 65 and the 800 was somewhere near 2:12.  The rabbit dropped out after 800 and Brian was leading.  The 3rd lap(always the hardest) I fell off pace and Joe passed me, hitting 1200 in 3:20, but I knew if I could kick it in I could PR.  Up ahead I saw Joe, Chris, and Brian all running together and a small gap between them and me.  But it looked like the race was really going to be between Joe and Chris.  Brian was falling off pace quickly from going out hard with the rabbit.  Suddenly, just like that, a switch flipped on in me, and I ran fast as hell to catch Brian with 150m to go.  I nipped him right at the line, hitting 4:26.5 and him running 4:26.9.  The PR was a nice bonus for the kick. 

Not a bad start to getting things going again.  I still really haven't dove into marathon/half marathon training again yet.  My mileage is still low(60s).  But its in the early stages now of development, and I will start slowly getting it back up again to where I belong.  This fall I have set up some great races, and I won't be racing too much over the summer.  I will be doing the Rockville 8K Twilighter as always, and after that, I won't be racing again until September when things really get into more focus.
The USA Half Marathon Championships last month completed a journey and progression I have made in my running since the beginning of 2011.  Tonight sparked the beginning of my next journey, and I am excited to see where it will take me.