Mass Senior Games

 Next up was and outdoor track 1,500 meters (metric mile). I entered the 2025 USATF New England All-Terrain series earlier this year.  The series includes races up a mountain, on the road, cross-country, trail, and on the outdoor track.  The outdoor track race would be any mile or 1,500 that you choose.  I had not done an outdoor track race since 2018.  I researched a bunch of races and came up with the Massachusetts Senior Games in Springfield.  I had not raced in Springfield since 1983 when I ran a 5,000 as a Freshman at U-Lowell.  It would be a long drive for a short race but at least with the 1,500 being the first event I wouldn’t be waiting around once I got there.  I got up at 5 a.m. and did an easy three miles to loosen up.  Then I hit the road at 7 a.m. and was checking in for the race at 8.  I headed out for 3 miles and felt a bit tired and definitely nervous; a race of less than 6 minutes is a bit out of my comfort zone.  I did a quick change into race gear and into spikes (!!!!) and hit the track for a mile with some quicker turnover.  I finished that mile with 2 minutes on the countdown clock.  Pretty good timing as I walked over to the start line. Mark Swistack and Joshua Curtis were both rocking their CMS singlets.  It was good to have a couple of teammates in the race.  I’d bumped into them before warming up and knew Mark was going to win this going away.  I thought I might be able to run with Joshua and was about to find out as 12 of us took off down the back straight at the start.  By the first turn Mark was flying and I was falling behind Joshua.  I hit the end of the first lap in 85 seconds which was on the fast end of what I’d hoped for.  I slowly got closer to Joshua and tried to go around him at about 600 meters, but he held me off.  I hit the half in 2:51 (86) and felt okay as we went down the back straight into a 5-10 mph breeze, it wasn’t terrible.  So quickly we were at the bell lap!  Mark had the entire straight ahead of us and I rounded into 1200 in 4:17 (86).  I tried to kick and even felt like I’d upped the tempo, but Joshua kicked away, and I crossed the line in 5:20. I was pleased with the time which converts to about 5:42 for the mile.  That will probably be my only mile attempt this year.