This was my first track meet since college! I did javelin throw for the club as a scoring event, and I did ok - I beat my goal of 10m. My first throw was 10.85m, and my second one was 10.65. I didn't do more, because women's 3000m was moved forward by 10min, and I had to hurry. Of course, my upper body has no strength whatsoever, and my result is pathetic, but amazingly, the basics of technique stayed with me, and I was able to recall them after 20 years! I did the running throw with a split step and everything, and all my throws were legal, the javelin landed the right way, and was mostly in a straight line. I definitely scored for the team, just not sure how many points. My right shoulder is already pretty sore though.
Then we started on 3000m. As a non-scoring runner, I was put on the outmost lane, so I had to run a little extra, but it's no big deal. My goal was to run 1:44 per lap, and I did. I timed every lap with Garmin, and stayed at a constant pace. It was a very controlled race for me, I'm thinking I should've pushed it more, and set higher goal for myself than breaking 13:00. I felt great, it was a hard effort, but not super-hard. I started feeling lead in my legs with 900m to go, but it was bearable. I pushed the pace on the 6th lap, the time stayed the same, but I was pushing it - means I was getting tired. On the last lap, I really sped up, and last 100m went all out. Here are the splits (pretty boring, since they're so consistent):
:51, 1:46, 1:45, 1:45, 1:44, 1:45, 1:44, 1:33.
Garmin measured 2.97km, interestingly, and 12:56, but official time is 12:57.1. Now it's officially my first PR in 3000m. Unfortunately, there was no one to run with, I was alone right in the middle of the race, with huge gaps ahead and behind. I got 6th place out of 11 women. It would be easier to push more if I had someone within striking distance. But I liked racing on a track - no hills, no sharp turns, no bad sidewalks and potholes. It's easy to get into the rhythm and stay there. Some may argue it's boring, but not to me - I don't notice surroundings when I run hard anyway. Maybe I just love track, because it reminds me of my years training in Moscow, I don't know.
Conditions were near perfect, mid 60s, cloudy and no wind. A bit too humid, but certainly not too bad. Overall, it was a lot of fun! I'll try to do other meets if I can get to them after work.
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