All My Friends Are Runners: Sub Five

Chapter 9: Sub Five
Outdoors, I was finally able to wear our actual uniforms on a daily basis. It was pure bliss.

I won’t ever go as far as to say I dislike indoor track, but every time the outdoor season rolls around I realize that I merely tolerate indoors as my only reasonable winter alternative, short of moving to Florida. Show me someone who likes indoor track better than outdoor track and I will show you at least three different mental hospitals, which I would be happy to point that person towards so he or she can seek help.

I was running personal bests basically every week, enjoying the warmer weather and feeling more comfortable with gradually breaking free of my freshman bubble. I was also starting to understand the sport better than ever. The building blocks for obsession were fitting together like Legos.

As a perspective super fan, one of the more exciting moments of the year was when we hosted the Track and Field Coaches Association of Greater Philadelphia Relay Meet at our home track. Top talent from around the state came in to compete including the Coatesville DMR that would go on to win Penn Relays[1] and an excellent Strath Haven DMR featuring Rob Speare and Ryan Fink, two of the biggest success stories at Outdoor States that season.

My 2007 outdoor track season also featured a new twist on an old challenge. During indoor track, I raced exclusively 800s and 400s. There was a limit of one athlete per event which left the junior varsity freshmen on a lot of 4x8s and 4x4s. Thus, when outdoor dual meets rolled around and the limits on entries lifted, the coaching staff was able to spice things up and I made a return to my first love, the signature event of distance running: the mile.

I quickly lowered my PR in the mile from just below 6 minutes down into the 5:20s at Springfield High School. After dipping down to 2:21 for 800m on our home track, I found myself eyeing a previously unthinkable minute barrier in the mile of 5-minutes.

5 minutes is the last barrier most runners get to break in the four-lapper and it’s usually a pretty special mark for freshmen and sophomores[2]. A sophomore on our team, Andrew Gourlay, had run 5:00 in the mile a couple times already between indoors and outdoors, including at least one mark at 5:00.0. Finally, enough was enough. At our Methacton dual meet he dropped his PR down into the low 4:50s for his first ever sub 5. But he wasn’t done. At the Trojan Track Classic, held at Wissahickon just a week or two later, he dropped his time all the way down to 4:39. In a span of less than a month, Gourlay went from struggling to break 5 minutes, to being a legit scoring threat at the upcoming conference meet in the 1600m[3].

I felt a sub 5 mile would transform me from awkward freshman to respectable runner. It was my strongest desire and, given my personality, it wasn’t long before I was obsessed. I wrote down splits in my notebook trying to figure out the optimum pacing and discussed my ideas with my best friend Todd, who was chasing the barrier with me[4].

Our last chance would be the dual meet against Cheltenham. Todd, Brian Lee and I were all entered in the 1600 meters with the hopes that one of us would have a break through. It was a perfectly sunny day, a bit hot overall, but good track racing weather.

I got set on the line with my competitors and then the long awaited race began. After my slow start indoors, I had beaten these two fellow freshmen fairly consistently during the spring. As far as I was concerned I was better, and if anyone was going to break 5, it was going to be me. However, confidence is a dangerous weapon. You need confidence to push yourself past your body’s natural limits, but overconfidence and a false sense of entitlement can leave you vulnerable to an upset. In the sport of track and field, there is always someone chasing you.

I took it out hard the first half and Brian came with me. Then he continued on as I started to slowly fall apart. By the last lap, it was clear he was going to beat me. Todd came next. He passed me and on the final lap, he pulled away. When the clocks stopped it was Brian at about 5:04, Todd roughly four seconds behind him and then me at 5:12.

It was the perfect wake up call. All indoors I had been chasing my classmates, trying to claw my way back to their level. When I caught them, I became complacent. I stopped doing the chasing.

But perhaps more importantly, I learned to be realistic. I don’t remember exactly what my PR was before this race, but it was no faster than around 5:18 and may have even been in the 5:20s. If I continued to set goals that I had no chance of achieving, every race would be a disappointment.

Everything in running is about balance. You must balance confidence with humility and dreams with reality. However, no matter how much you learn or grow, when you’re competitive, nothing stings more than losing.

So the summer of 2007 was a very, very long summer.



[1] I wanted to write about this DMR, but decided that would be too much DMR talk back to back. The short version for those perspective super fans like me: The Dawson brothers return for Coatesville to try and steal the throne back from newly crowned national champs West Chester Henderson. The roll through the opening part of the race and get the stick to Kyle Dawson with a nice lead. Just like Ferry and Aldrich before him, Dawson holds the lead for a while before an absurd 4:04 anchor leg from Craig Forys gets Colts Neck within sniffing distance of the title. Rallying, Dawson sprints away and holds on for the Wheel with a 4:15 split of his own.
[2] That being said, the best “first time sub 5” race I’ve ever seen was between a junior and a senior on my high school squad (Ed Brown and Charlie Smugar). It’s still one of the best races I’ve had the chance to witness. You don’t have to be the fastest kid to be inspiring.
[3] This was the first time I heard of the magic of the Trojan Track Classic. In addition to Gourlay’s astounding 4:39, our senior leader Joe Dorris ran 9:26 there to beat Teddy Miller and set the school record in the 3200. From then on I was fascinated with the concept of “running under the lights”. As you will see when this story progresses, that magic is real.
[4] My idea of optimum pacing has changed drastically since my freshman year. Back then it was just assumed I was going to have a massive positive split, but by the end of my final season of college in the 800m, I would run my laps close to dead even.

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