About one third of the way into the race I realized that this was going to hurt. I knew before hand that it would hurt, but you never really know what that means until you experience a 1500m. My mind switched to survival mode and I was basically working to stay on my feet towards the end. The final turn could no longer be classified as "speed skating" as much as simply "getting the job done."
The photo above is of Michael Gilday on the outer start line, and yours truly on the inner. Gilday had a great race and a finishing time of 1:49.01 (achieving his goal of breaking the 1:50 mark). Other short trackers skating amazingly well were Tyler Derraugh (1:50.16) and Dustin Miller (1:52.58).
On the women's side of the competition, Jessica Gregg also skated a 1500m with a time of 2:06.91. Yes (in case you hadn't remembered my time from above) she beat me by over a second. Although I'm not shocked, surprised or even disappointed considering she's at the top of her game right now as one of the fastest female short trackers in the world!
Next on the schedule is the 500m. A significantly less painful event but none-the-less challenging. I'll have to learn to be more aggressive on the start line as I was told my 1500m start was a bit "pitiful." Ouch.
Considering I was left behind by Jessica Gregg during an acceleration in training just the other day, I'm not looking for any record breaking finishing time. I'm simply hoping to hang on to my pride.
JC
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