Indoor Track season is off to a good start.
NYRR put on their first Night at the Races at the Armory on Thursday, and several Whippets made the trek up to Washington Heights to race on the notoriously fast, banked 200m track.
Starting off with the first event of the night, the Womens’ Mile, were Rookie of the Year Elizabeth Laseter (5:23.50), Brigette Kolson (5:37.07), and Caitleen Kahn (5:44.34). The mile is always a tough event, but the Whippet women worked it out for some nice first times of the season.
Jeremy Shingleton in the Mens 800m Run – photo courtesy of ArmoryTrack.com
Despite posting a schedule, the meet ran on a rolling schedule which threw the 800m runners off, but luckily didn’t affect the results. Jeremy Shingleton’s goal for the night was to get a benchmark time for the Mile since the Fifth Avenue Mile is a goal race of his this year. Unfortunately, Jeremy was feeling under the weather and hopped in the 800 instead, clocking a solid 2:18.57. And despite almost missing my race, I ran a time I was very happy with (2:40.62) in the 800m, giving me a ton of excitement and momentum for the season.
Elizabeth Laseter lining up for the 5000m relay – photo courtesy of ArmoryTrack.com
We unscientifically decided on running in the order we had finished our races (most recovered to least recovered) and Liz lined up with the baton. The event itself was a blur, as athletes hopped on and off the track, completed many unpracticed handoffs, and, in the words of the official, “protected their teammates.”
Caitleen Kahn and Brigette Kolson in the 5000m Relay
It was chaos and fun and a great workout at the same time, and the team crossed the line with a time of 14:02.46, an average of 33.68 per leg.
5000m Relay Results on the Jumbotron
After cheesing for a couple photos and squeezing in the quickest of cooldowns, I headed next door to Coogan’s (the only track bar I have ever heard of in my life) for a burger and a beer. Not a bad Thursday.
Dashing Whippets 5000m Relay Team – Jeremy Shingleton, Elizabeth Laseter, Caitleen Kahn, Brigette Kolson, and Cassie Wallace
Full results can be found at the Armory website. Stay tuned for a detailed Indoor Track schedule!
