It’s easy to write about a race when everything clicks—but this year’s road to the World Masters Indoor Championships in Gainesville, Florida , came with a few potholes. Back in February, I ran a strong indoor mile at UH, clocking a Masters PR of 5:01 —a full 2.5 seconds faster than the year before. I was feeling confident and fired up. But the very next week, things took a turn. I strained my calf , and in classic runner fashion, I pushed too quickly to get back to training . That decision backfired—what started as a minor strain became a deeper setback, and I knew I had to hit the brakes. I started seeing Dr. Jaime Aparicio for physical therapy and rehab . Over the next four weeks , I traded intervals and long runs for: Aqua jogging sessions (yes, it’s humbling but it works), PT weight training , and A renewed focus on mobility and mechanics . During that time, I shifted my mindset. Instead of panicking about lost fitness, I leaned into the process: Ran data analys...
I’ve really enjoyed Masters racing over the past couple of years, so I was excited to hit the track again for the mile at the Yeoman Fieldhouse at UH. Coming into the race, I felt strong —training had been solid and consistent, and I was ready to see what I could do. I had a good warm-up : a couple of miles of jogging, some strides , dynamic stretches, and 4 x 150m ramp-ups to 4:50 pace to get the legs firing. Race Plan & Execution They ran the mile in two heats , and I was in the second. My goal was to go out at 4:58 pace , hold that through 1009m , and then kick it up a notch . Once I started hearing my splits, I knew I was just a touch off pace —but I didn’t panic. At 809m , I still felt in control and started gradually picking it up. Navigating Traffic & The Final Push I was getting back on track when I hit lapped traffic , which forced me to run most of the penultimate lap in Lane 2 —this ended up being my slowest lap . Despite that, I closed strong , crossing t...