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Penn
Apr 22, 2009 12:05:37 GMT -5
Post by Justin on Apr 22, 2009 12:05:37 GMT -5
Good luck to our guy Dan at Penn. He's listed in the 5000m Olympic Development start list for Thursday night. Go get 'em buddy, and have fun running in the best night of distance running anywhere.
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Penn
Apr 22, 2009 21:46:40 GMT -5
Post by dan on Apr 22, 2009 21:46:40 GMT -5
Thanks for catching that, Justin! This race will likely be the fastest I've ever been a part of, and I am hoping simply to hop in and get pulled along in the wake! I am going to do my best to relax and try to enjoy the experience, as I likely will not fully appreciate what a great opportunity I've been given until I'm 30 years older than I am now.
The story can go one of two ways.....
"Hey kids, one day I ran in the Penn Relays. They took me through the two mile in 9:15 and then your dad basically had a near-death experience on the track and faded into Franklin Field oblivion..."
OR
"Hey kids, one day I ran in the Penn Relays. I shut my eyes and held on and ended up running a monster PR without ever really knowing what was going on. And, I STILL got beat by 30 seconds. It was awesome!"
I know which version I want. I'll write up a recap once I get done- it is a late race (10:00PM) so the recap might not happen right away.
See you all soon. 25 days until graduation according to the countdown clock on my email start page! Hooray!
DAN
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Penn
Apr 23, 2009 6:50:56 GMT -5
Post by ericjoe on Apr 23, 2009 6:50:56 GMT -5
Best of luck to you Dan. Hopefully you get the version of the story you are looking to achieve.
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Penn
Apr 24, 2009 0:55:37 GMT -5
Post by dan on Apr 24, 2009 0:55:37 GMT -5
Olympic Development Men's 5000m Event 80Thursday 10:00 PM Records WR Ethiopia 12:37.35 2004 Kenenisa Bekele AR Nike 12:58.21 1996 Bob Kennedy PR New Balance 13:16.47 2003 Shadrack Kosgei FF New Balance 13:16.47 2003 Shadrack Kosgei
Results PL ID Athlete School/Affiliation Mark 1 1 Lucas Meyer Boston Athletic Association 14:07.97 2 8 Ryan Hill unattached 14:09.63 3 7 Harry Norton unattached 14:11.40 4 41 Matthew Cameron Mississippi State 14:20.67 5 6 Patrick Sullivan Boulder Distance Project 14:21.49 6 10 Chris Mammone Bellmore Striders 14:21.65 7 35 Riley Masters Maine 14:23.25 8 16 Patrick Campbell unattached 14:23.96 9 5 Charlie Swartz unattached 14:27.81 10 2 Mike Fout unattached 14:30.75 11 56 Ryan Withall Columbia 14:33.45 12 12 Greg Bielecki Haddonfield Running Co. / Brooks 14:36.72 13 28 Dale Taylor Cornell 14:37.36 14 13 James Grimes unattached 14:42.51 15 9 Marc Pelerin Haddonfield Running Co. / Brooks 14:43.72 16 15 Ted Turner Syracuse Chargers 14:44.05 17 26 Dan O'Toole Haverford 14:44.69 18 60 Dan Dewitt Lehigh 14:44.72 19 11 Mark Dennin unattached 14:45.09 20 14 Jacob Phillips unattached 14:45.22 21 51 Christian Baumbach New Jersey Tech 14:47.61 22 20 Aaron Robertson Syracuse Chargers 14:48.21 23 27 Kevin Burnett Texas A&M 14:48.25 24 61 John Roberts Nike Central Park TC 14:48.83 25 46 Francis Eanes Messiah 14:48.98 26 53 John Compton Wake Forest 14:49.33 27 54 Frank DeVar Mary Washington 14:51.17 28 29 Justin Heck Columbia 14:51.26 29 33 Lucas Zarzeczny Penn State 14:51.40 30 50 Daniel Roark Quinnipiac 14:51.77 31 39 Eddie Penetar Cabrini 14:52.79 32 48 Umar Saeed New Jersey Tech 14:54.14 33 40 Josef Tessema Norfolk State 14:57.00 34 49 Andy Gregor thingyinson 14:57.45 35 18 Atilla Sabahoglu Nike Central Park TC 14:58.12 36 45 Greg Leak thingyinson 14:58.15 37 31 Steve Couch Harvard 14:59.00 38 34 Kevin Sullivan Penn 15:09.56 39 44 Gregg Cantwell Delaware 15:11.95 40 37 Austin Santillo Penn 15:14.06 41 19 Alex Grout Syracuse Chargers 15:16.70 42 36 Curtis Larimer Pittsburgh 15:18.95 43 17 Darryl Brown Chester Co. Running Store 15:26.82 3 Jay Dolmage unattached DNF 4 Paul Ryan Whirlaway RT DNF 47 Chris Bourke Delaware DNF 55 Nick Pampena Oneonta DNF
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Here is the scoop: This race went off late. I mean LATE. Like 10:30PM. It was supposed to go off at 10PM, but there were 96 runners in two college races and 60 in my race and there were women's 5ks to get through, and after it was all done, it was really late by the time we got rolling. I expected to go out in about 4:35 for the mile and 9:15-9:20 for the two mile before blowing up but hopefully still running well.
My spot at the start was the outside alley, second row, far left (my seed was 60/61, so I was out of luck). We started out and I found myself in 6-7th place (I think) in about 35-36 for the first 200. It was not fast. The 400 was reached in about 72 and I started to get a little ticked. I knew what was about to happen, and it happened in a big way! The pace was going to get ratcheted down because this race is usually won in 13:50 and the guy who was seeded first is a 14:low 5k'er and 8:36 steepler from Yale a few years back. The pace did get ratcheted down, and while it didn't hurt too much, it definitely made me a little uneasy. My next three splits were 67-67-68. I was hanging on for dear life, basically, as I waited for the inevitable inner voice of "Oh, crap, what am I doing!?" to come along and bite me in the butt. SO- I did go through the mile in about 4:35, just a little unconventionally at that.
I latched on to a 69 second per lap pace at that point and just hunkered down. I was doing well in terms of position in the race. With approximately 50 guys in the race (of which 40 probably have better PR's than me), there will always be someone there to pass you or to lead the next pack if you can't handle the pace of the current group. I made a few moves to keep in certain packs, shoved some kids to get them out of the way, and felt sort of tough there for awhile. At 2800m, I was at 8:03, so I knew I was getting into pretty uncharted territory for a 5k. I crossed 3k in 8:38-8:39 and knew then that a PR was right in front of me. Some of you will recall that my current 3k PR from this past winter is 8:38.14. Needless to say, there was no turning back at this point.
I crossed two miles in about 9:15 (Etters said 9:17, but the clocks and lines and everything are messed up there, so I don't know- also, see my above post which turned out to be slightly prophetic) and knew that the wheels were about to fall off. The questioned remained, however, just to what extent this would occur. I could run 72's and still get a nasty time, or I could run 75's and barely break 15:00. For once in my life, I told myself to shut up and I made a conscious effort to refrain from looking at the clock (well, at least doing the mental math) over the last mile. I was running high 72-low 73 for each lap at this point, and even dropped a 75, so I knew it was getting down to crunch time. I was able to kick a little bit towards the end and fought well to the finish. I looked up at the scoreboard after I had got off my hands and knees and was astonished to see 14:44. I knew I was running okay, but this was a pleasant surprise.
This was a very good experience for me. The races ahead of mine were pretty cool to see, as one of the Patriot League's finest, Jon Anderson of Army, ran a tactically sound race, leading only in the last 30 yards despite closing in a 61 to run a blistering 13:58. We had other guys on our team run 14:31 (McClimon), 14:46 (Lampi), and 14:52 (Wetzel). This makes basically seven guys on our team who can break 15 (6 who've actually done it and one who ran 15:01 indoor and has run 30:56 for 10k this spring). We are doing well as a team, and I am very grateful for the chance to run this race as I finish out my career here at Lehigh.
It's exciting to know you are smashing a two-mile PR by about 12-13 seconds in the midst of a 5k and then still be able to finish off "OK." It's cool to be in a race with some high caliber runners and just be able to tuck in and hang on.
Depending on our schedules next spring (i.e., Boston or no Boston), I believe Mr. Hawkins would greatly benefit from an experience like this one (whether it be at 5k or 10k). We will talk.
Thanks for all the support and I look forward to being home with you all FOR GOOD very soon.
DAN
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Penn
Apr 24, 2009 7:01:19 GMT -5
Post by ericjoe on Apr 24, 2009 7:01:19 GMT -5
Great job Dan. Its amazing to me that the 15th placed guy to you were separated by 1 second or less. Very competitive race. 14:44 is really an amazing 5k.
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Penn
Apr 24, 2009 7:08:03 GMT -5
Post by frojoe23 on Apr 24, 2009 7:08:03 GMT -5
Great job and great recap! Sounds like you had just the race you needed. Pushing through that last mile of any race is hard, but you just have to gut it out. It looks like you did that very well - I'm excited to see that 10k at Patriots - you have a shot to win that one for sure!
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Penn
Apr 24, 2009 7:48:42 GMT -5
Post by frojoe23 on Apr 24, 2009 7:48:42 GMT -5
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Penn
Apr 24, 2009 8:42:03 GMT -5
Post by Justin on Apr 24, 2009 8:42:03 GMT -5
Awesome Dan! I'm jealous, I wasn't fast enough to be in Penn in college and it's one of those things if you've ever been to you just want to be a part of it. I'm happy you got the chance.
I agree with Jaron, Patriots 10k is always a wide open race and you look to be running really well right now. That should be a good goal, that way you aren't concentrating on a time and can just focus on winning, which I have always found to be easier.
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Penn
Apr 24, 2009 22:11:36 GMT -5
Post by brucedenton on Apr 24, 2009 22:11:36 GMT -5
excellent running and write-up. Great job, keep up the good work!
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