hotter than a match head

Reebok Grand Prix 

If you would have asked me a week before what I would have thought of running 13:50 in NYC I would have considered it a complete disaster.  After the race is said and done I wouldn’t go as far as to say “complete”.  Of Course the time is way slower than I was looking for but that was the case for all the competitors, some more than others.  You could tell which athletes are not acclimated to the heat and most of those are based in North America.  I think it was still about 26 C (close to 80 fahrenheit) and very humid when the race went off.  The 13:50 was actually somewhat competitive as I placed 8th and my PB ranked me 16th going into the race.  I would say I’m happy with my performance but the race itself was a disaster, luckily not as much for me as some of the other competitors (like 13:00 Geneti, who I beat,  had to be carried off in a stretcher).

After talking to Hilary and DST about qualifying for World Championships it seems as though I either need two B’s or ONE “A” (13:19.70).  I didn’t read the line at the top of the qualification document that says

   that said period is from June 1st to July 29th.  That rule gives me a better chance and more hope to qualify.  So now half the battle will be getting to the right races and having decent weather.  I’m hoping to race my next 5000m in Ostrava, Czech Republic on June 27th.  If not, then either Malmo, Sweden or Arhus, Denmark in late June/early July.

Going to NYC was once again a treat even though for the most part I was just sitting around waiting for the race.   The meet hotel was the Grand Hyatt beside Grand Central Terminal and it was a great place to stay.  I took the subway up to Central Park for a couple of my runs.  The meet itself was also awesome as every event was stacked with top athletes from around the world.  World record holders, Olympic and World medallists were all over the place.  My coach, DST, was also able to make it to the meet to watch Hilary run the 1500 and my 5000.  It was good to have him there as he doesnt get to see Hilary and I race as much anymore now that my schedule is all over the place and Hilary is living in Switzerland.

  1 Tariku Bekele                ETH                   13:04.05C
  2 Micah Kogo                   KEN                   13:13.53
  3 Edwin Soi                    KEN                   13:16.68
  4 Jonas Cheruiyot              KEN                   13:28.68
  5 Boniface Songok              KEN                   13:34.74
  6 Boaz Cheboiywo               KEN                   13:36.41
  7 Adrian Blincoe               NZL                   13:48.88
  8 Reid Coolsaet                CAN                   13:50.89
  9 Markos Geneti                ETH                   13:53.79
10 Anthony Famiglietti          USA                   13:54.92
11 Josphat Boit                 KEN                   13:56.47
12 Jorge Torres                 USA                   14:05.97
13 Seth Summerside              USA                   14:11.42
14 Martin Fagan                 IRL                   14:19.31
15 Ryan Kirkpatrick             USA                   14:44.85
— Laban Rotich                 KEN                        DNF
— Said Ahmed                   USA                        DNF
— Alistair Cragg               IRL                        DNF
— Steve Hallinan               USA                        DNF
— Bolota Asmerom               USA                        DNF

post race pic of my back… hopefully more to come…