M E M BE R C O R N E R
A 3,000 METER TOUR OF MONTREAL
- CHRIS MAMMONE
The last weekend in January I had the opportunity to
make my international debut by racing at the McGill
Team Invitational – the biggest indoor track meet in
Canada; however, this 3000 started weeks before
that Friday night on January 24.
In early January, my coach contacted me and
mentioned the meet. He met the meet director who
was looking for new faces in the 3000 and
somebody who can run fast. I was extremely excited
after hearing about this chance, but at the same time
I was nervous. I haven’t competed in a real
competitive indoor race since I was a grad student at
C.W. Post in 2006. Ironically, that race distance was
also 3000 meters. I looked up results from 2013 to
see how fast people were running and the winner
was in the low 8:20’s with the top 6 around 8:35 or
faster.
I became more eager because my favorite indoor
race is the 3000 and my PR is 8:20. How cool would
it be to place well in an international race? Wait, I ran
my PR after doing multiple track workouts as a
senior in college when I was a 21 year old “kid.” I
peaked for that race during college and I haven’t
touched a track since late November. I’m not looking
to get embarrassed, but if I could get myself into
track shape then this could be an awesome race!
In the weeks leading up to Montreal, I raced twice at
the Armory: a full 2 miles and 1 mile race. Both went
very well, no PR’s but I was surprised by the fast
results considering the lack of track training I
completed. Including these races, I was on the track
three or four times. The 2 mile I ran very even splits,
staying consistent throughout the entire race. I knew
I didn't have the foot speed in the mile, and my
strategy was to race from the back and pick off
people. I ran negative splits the whole race going
from dead last to a sprint finish into 5th. My
confidence was at a huge high and I was ready for
the Canadians!
Our flight left around noon that Friday and since we
were at the airport early, my coach and I discussed
the race. The meet record of 8:14 would be in
jeopardy that night, as a few guys entered the race in
hopes of breaking it. (The winner ran 8:02 and the
14 • Spring 2014 • ONE STEP AHEAD
top three broke 8:10). We anticipated a rabbit in the
race and found out hours later that we were correct.
Before we left New York, it was cold. This was right
around when we had temperatures in the single digits
and wind chill making it feel like 0 degrees. When we
landed in Montreal we experienced a different kind of
cold. The actual temperature was around -4 and wind
chill made it -18, and yes that is Fahrenheit. Even
walking around for a minute, any exposed skin was hit
with these stinging conditions.
The race was on a banked six lane 200 meter track, not
on risers like the armory but more built into the ground.
During races, people were warming up in lanes 3-6.
Some were doing drills and some were actually running
next to people competing on the track. I have never
seen this before and it was a bit odd.
I finished my warm up and my legs didn't feel too good.
They felt very tight and as I did a few strides on the
track they didn’t loosen up at all. The goal was to hit 34
seconds a lap and I’m still confident I can do this even
though I don’t feel 100%. [34 seconds a lap would
equal 8:30 for the race, my goal was 8:29 and I would
have been happy with it considering my training]
As I was on the starting line getting ready, I heard the
announcer say something in French. I didn’t need to
speak the language, when you see other runners toe the
starting line you know what it means. The gun went off
and I went to the back of the pack and started running
my pace. I knew if I went out too hard, then I would
severely suffer at the end of the race. I started running
34’s, but it felt much harder than it should. I went
through the 400 on pace, and although I was hitting