Drove up to McMinnville in the early afternoon and got in just after 3. My race was scheduled to start at 5:20, and I had to check in an hour before, but track meets are almost never right on schedule so I wanted to get there early just in case. I got my race number and took a seat in the stands, and found that they were in fact running well ahead of schedule. I sat for about ten minutes and then took my bag to the infield and started jogging around real easy. I only did so for about 10-15 minutes total, and checked in with the clerk while I was at it. Stayed real relaxed, had plenty of time to go to the bathroom and stuff, and put my spikes on while the women were running their 5000. Did some strides on the infield, and after the women were finished did more on the track. I did more strides than usual, which felt good; I think I'll give myself time to do that from now on.
There were 25 people in the race, so they had us line up in two rows with the slower people in back. The starter didn't really know how to divide us, but a guy next to me said "Anyone under 16?" and those of us that were got in front and it worked out pretty well. At the start I went out fairly quick and was in sixth or so at 50m, and some people passed me around the bend. I stayed relaxed in the pack and just tried to stay on the inside for the first lap, and passed people on the straights when I needed to. I was shooting for 15:50, which is exactly 76 seconds per lap, and I came through the first lap at 75, feeling good. There was a lot of traffic for the first three or four laps before it spread out...it was nice to have people to run with but I did have to dodge people and put my hands up a few times in order to not get tripped up. Every curve I tried to stay on the inside, and most straights I would pass one or more people without too much work. I came through the mile in 5:01 and thought I might be able to keep that pace up the whole race. I was passing people and being passed by people the whole time, and my splits were staying with a second or two of 75. I came through two miles in 10:00, which is the fastest I've ever done that. At that point it had thinned out somewhat and I led a group of 3 or 4, trying my hardest to break them and/or catch up to the next guy, about 20m in front of me. With three or four laps to go I was starting to feel it and was just trying to hang on to the pace. I didn't think I'd have much of a kick so I was trying to put enough distance between myself and the guys behind me that they wouldn't be able to blow past me at the end. I slowed down somewhat but my worst lap was a 77 so I wasn't completely dead. My third mile was a 5:04 and I was at 15:05 so I knew I just needed better than a 39 last 200 to PR. Two guys went around me with about 150 to go but I held off a couple more. My last 200 was 34 so those guys had a hell of a kick. My watch said 15:39.28, but when the official results came through they had me at 15:40.02. Was very happy and surprised to have done that well. Now feast your eyes on my splits, as they are impressively consistent:
75, 74, 74, 76, 75, 73, 75, 75, 75, 77, 76, 75, 34.
Also the people working the meet got splits for all the runners starting at 600m and gave us the sheet after the race (pretty cool), so I know that my last 400m was 72. (The guy taking the splits had my time at 15:39 also.)
Great recap, sounds like a lot of fun! Congrats on a great PR time!
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