I guess it's time for a post-OUA update...I've being dragging my feet with this one because I don't really have the best of news to tell. Such is life, though, that everything cannot be roses, so here goes:
1000m - I was initially not going to run this one in order to be fresh for the 4x800 and the 1500, so I indicated to the Queen's coaches to scratch me from the start list. However, this message was not received in time, so as of the day of the race I was still in the race. Rules dictate that you cannot scratch from a race the day on the day, so I had 3 options available to me: false start intentionally and get disqualified, start the race and then drop out, or run the race. Deciding that its not like me to shy away from a race and hating the idea of dropping out of anything, I took the third option and raced. And what a race it was! About 8 guys all running the same speed trying to squeeze themselves into the same lane. It wasn't an exceedingly fast race, but the pack dynamics made it very difficult. Myself, not having the race sharpness to dictate the race on my own terms, and seemingly having forgotten what it's like to be in the mix again, had a very frustrating outing. I was unable to settle in and find my stride; I was bumped around, made too many unnecessary moves, and ran too much of the race in lane 2 and 3. Thus it was not really surprising when I finished 6th in 2:27:67, about 2 seconds off the winner and .2 off what I race very comfortably last week.
4x800 - This was a much better race, I ran the anchor leg behind my teammates Clay, Nish and Bentley, who set me up right in the mix with the chase pack behind 1st place Windsor. I was better able to find a groove and I soon settled into 2nd place. 1st place Windsor was too far ahead for me to make a serious move on them, and though I may have gained some ground, it was more a case of just doing of holding onto the position. Not that it was that easy, the legs were tired from the 1000 and I had a couple guys on my tail-guys who I knew would have an absolute field day if they beat me. Not this time! I ran 1:54.7 to bring us home in 7:43....not bad times, but I know both myself and the team can do better.
1500 - This will be a quick segment, because this was my quickest race. The gun went and I was done. Actually, 2 guns went, the second one to let me know I had false started: disqualified for the 1st time in my life. I mean, who gets a DQ in a distance event? Honestly? For some reason I couldn't get myself steady on the line and I lifted my back foot and put it back down. There was no forward motion over the line nor did I trick any of the other runners into thinking it was time to go. By the letter of the law, I did false start, but its a ridiculous law when it is applied to distance events. All the same, its not that bad: I was absolutely furious afterwards, but I had already got two decent races out of me, the hamstring felt fine, and now I'm even more ready to go for CIS next weekend.

Oh yes, I'm still going to CIS. And you better believe I'm psyched up. I have already qualified for the 1500m (from my only other attempt this year in NYC) and the 4x8 team is going too, so I've got a nice little combo to keep me happy. Training has been going well this week, and while there is some lingering hamstring pain, its not preventing me from running. Plus, I got a couple nice pairs of shoes and a pair of spikes from Mizuno... more about them later.

But now I'm off to a massage, to keep those hamstrings in order. See you cats on the flip flop.
Be Easy.