Blink and you missed it....

missed what? Mike Musgrove in action at the British Miler's Club 800m race, held at Exeter Arena on Tuesday June 25th. It was Mike's first outing over the distance in racing terms, but he's by no means a stranger to bashing out hard 800m reps on the track as part of his wider training regime for the longer distance races. As part of a series of reps, Mike would expect to run 800s in around 2:30 - 2:40 pace. But there is a big difference to running them at 'threshold' pace in intervals and in going eye-balls out from the gun to the tape in a race.

Having no previous time by which to seed him, the organisers put Mike into the 'F' race (the 6th race of 6 on the night, for people with either slower times or no previously recorded time for the distance). This meant that Mike ended up in a race below his ability and so left him isolated from the moment the pace maker dropped out at the start of the 2nd and final lap. Nevertheless, in a lone trial of a race, he dug in deep over the last 400m and stormed home to victory in a time of 2:17:40. Speaking afterwards, Mike said he really enjoyed the experience and said that he felt quite comfortable, so in a more suitably seeded race and people around him to push off, there's no reason why he should not knock a few seconds off that time in a second attempt at the distance.

Well done to Mike for giving something new a go and proving that track races are not as scary as we tend to think they are!

Look at that stride! Mike in full flow at the Exeter 800m BMC meet.