The other week I had the privilege of running the 5000 at the York College Twilight Meet. It had been three years since the last time I had raced on the track, not since a disappointing track season in my senior year of college, and ever since then I had been dreaming of the opportunity to get out there and have another shot. This meet just happened to fall in the magic sweet spot between running and the Capital 10-miler and my final few weeks before the Pittsburgh marathon- I knew this would probably be my only chance to get a race on the track this spring.
Of course, running and racing post-collegiately has its own unique set of obstacles, the first being that I had to wait to finish up my classes for the day and make a 45-minute drive down to York College. The whole day I was worried that I would be late and miss my race, even though it was the second-to-last event of the day. The real difficulty came when I arrived at the college and realized that I had no idea where the track actually was, leaving me frantically searching for any clue as to where the track might be.
I eventually found the track and soon encountered my next problem: I had no idea when I should start my warm-up. I had no idea how long each event would take, and I could not find a time schedule of events. Trying to make the best guess I could, I started my 3 mile warm-up jog… only to finish and realize that I still had at least 90 minutes to go until my race. So, I just waited and enjoyed being at a track meet without having to worry about any athletes other than myself.
We finally got the first call for the men’s 5000 and I made my way down to the track, holding spikes that I had not worn in over two years, wondering if I was about to make a complete fool of myself in front of these college runners. I put my spikes on and did a half-mile of jogging and strides as the women’s 5000 finished up, and it was then our turn to step onto the track. The gun goes off, and I soon find myself running with the lead pack as we go through the first 400 in 75 seconds… exactly the pace that I wanted to run for the whole race. We go through the next few laps maintaining that 75 second pace as I move my way up from fourth into second into first, leading the pack by the end of the first mile as we click off laps like clockwork.
I had completely forgotten how exhilarating it was to race on a track, the delicate precision of hitting almost perfectly even splits each lap. We go through the two mile mark a little under 10 minutes, the point where the 5000 actually starts to be a race, and we’re exactly on my pace. Two athletes from York College pass me and begin to move away with 1000 to go; I begin to pick it up again at the 800 mark, slowly reeling in one of the athletes and passing him with 400 to go. No looking back now- everything I have to the finish, crossing the line in 15:36, a lifetime 5k PR, my first 5k PR since my freshman year of college seven years ago.
Johnson Endurance Co 