14:50.79 at the 2024 Paul Donahue Invitational at Widener University. Hell yeah! Second in heat, 13th overall. Came thru k in 3:01, 1600 in 4:49, 3k in 9:04, 3.4 k in 10:06, 4.2k in 12:38, and then closed 69-63. Great fucking race. Was kinda kicking myself for putting seed time at 15:05 and thus being at front of second heat in terms of seed times, but then also figured even if no one was running 72s at start, definitely could sit on people running 73s and close hard which was probably better race strategy for me anyway than hanging on to 71/72s from the gun. Got out pretty well, little bit of jumbling but came thru 400 in like 70/71 and in fourth. Then spent a couple laps getting shuffled back, but was running pretty consistent 72s, slowly losing 15:00 pace but didn't really care. Was chilling for a while, just counting off laps feeling pretty good. Around 3k, or maybe a little before people started trying to get by me again, which was weird bc we were running 72s basically, I was happy with coming thru 3k in 9:04. So that was a little annoying, tried to stay on the rail as much as possible tho and stay out of trouble. Knew I was running pace, didn't need to move yet and waste energy getting around people. Was able to get by a couple people on the inside, but at some point did need to get around people, and did swing out a bit with either 3 or 4 laps to go. With 4 laps to go, was still 4s off, so knew I needed 71s to get under 15, which I felt was pretty reasonable. Kept wanting to push it more and pass people and get to front, but stayed in about fourth because we were running 71s and I knew I needed to be patient. With 800 to go, had just ran two 71s and so at that point pretty much knew I'd be under but the 71s didn't feel easy so I was a little worried. Moved around 2nd & 3rd into second place behind leader, once again kind of wanted to start really pushing but told myself to bide my time, not get overexcited. And that lap was a 69, because I remember looking at clock and thinking 'oh sweet only need a 72 now to get under' and so def was smart to not try and go around. Haverford kid and I were still picking it up, I was planning on trying to get around him with like 150 to go. Kept increasing pace but wasn't quite able to get around him, and tried like 95% on homestretch but maybe not quite 100%, but that was because it wasn't like I really wanted to win heat 2 of the paul donahue 5k lol. Watched the clock in the 14:40s and was like 'oh shit' and crossed the line in 14:50 right behind haverford kid. Guess I am quite fit after all. Also goddamn I love track racing, and I do feel like 3k/5k/maybe 8k really is my sweet spot, which is bad for Broad Street but oh well, I'm just gonna go try and have fun with it. 5k is just such a fun race distance, and try racing is so good when you feel good. I love to kick, and even with shorter distance road races, the kick just isn't as important which is a bummer. Talked a lot abt running with frank on wu/cd, and recent thoughts combined with this race makes me think I really am gonna try and give getting real fit a go this next year. But that means I gotta get on good aerobic shape, bc for club cross in the fall that's 10k and xc, so I can't really on my footspeed unfortunately. Ugh racing is so good when it's good. Sucks that track racing just isn't as viable a thing after college, roads is really where it's at. Oh well! Enjoyed this nonetheless!
