European Masters Indoor Championships - 3000m

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Venue - Torun, Poland

Date - 17th March 2024, 19.25pm (local)

The skinny - DQ'd - stepping off inside of track.

Could end the blog there really as those are the only facts that matters. I spin a good yarn though and I need the therapy after that race.

Build up - was pretty good. Tight back and sore left glute but I hope to have started to address these.

Everything on the trip leading to the start line I cannot complain about. Got some good memories of warming up, the call room, getting dialed in but the simple fact was I stood on the start line 100% ready to rock and roll. 10th fastest out of 12 in the race on seasons bests.

Bang

We're off. Grzegorz KUJAWSKI from Poland goes off at an insane pace. World champ and big favorite. (He clocks 64 for the opening 400m). Ruben BARRIO LORES from Spain follows in the hole (70 for first 400) and then it's me leading the entire pack.

Sitting on the front I clock and even split 75 for the first 2 laps and bang on 2.30 for the opening 800m. Do not feel amazing but the pace is staying and I am just clicking the laps off.

Just before the 1,000m mark the Pole Łukasz SZOPA comes past me to lead the pack and I stay on his heels. 3.07 for the first km.

Shortly before or after (can't remember) Steven HEEMSKERK from Belgium and Øyvind WIGER from Norway put a solid gap in and open to about 25m.

Nothing to panic about, I follow the Polish fella and we clock through towards 5 to go. Off the top bend coming into 2,000m I pass and retake 5th place. 1st is an absolute mile in front, 2nd is well clear but 3rd and 4th are still tantilisingly about 25-30m up.

Through 2,000m in 6.12 which suprises me as were now at 9.18 pace.

Work hard and click the laps off. In my rear I can sense I am shelling people off the back.

With 800m to go we lap someone and it's just myself and Kristian NEDREGÅRD (another Norwegian) in chase pack 2 now. Through 600m to go and no change, pace stays the same. We've sped up and work rate is very high. Through 400m to go, just trying to hold things together I'm still in 5th, no change on the gaps in front we are all moving at the same pace. 8.40 at the virtual bell. I'm doing the math and sub 9.20 is almost a given here.

Round to the last lap and hit the bell. Kristian passes me, I say to myself just hold. I'm around 20m off bronze and I think if I can just muster a 31 sec last lap I could have a sniff.

Around the penultimate bend, start to struggle. Just focussing on holding myself together. 7th is a LONG way back for 150m to go.

100m to go. Legs go, and I mean my legs GO. Start to wobble and feel like I have lost all control. Just trying to stay upright and I'm falling forward. This is like the last 50m of Wayford.

Stay upright Daz Man, please don't go down.

It's inevitable. I stagger off the inside (shit) and that's the DQ that I didn't know was coming. I step straight back on to the race lane and fall head first into the track. FUCK NO !!!

Get up, 2 people come past while I am down, I drag myself up and stagger swimming towards the line. Absolute stuff of nightmares like a dream where you can't control yourself. I'm just moving fowards but trying to stay upright and I throw myself over the line.

9.27.93 is the finish time and I finish 8th position.

I'm gutted. It was so close and so good for 2,800m. Why did my body let me down like that. Official drags me back upright.

Ange is in tears thinking something is seriously wrong. I'm devastated to end it like that. I'd worked so hard in that race and was enjoying dishing it out. It's so hard to describe the nightmare inside that last lap. You always think that it could never happen to you.

Get back to the hotel to see the DQ. To be honest is wasn't that fucked about the DQ as it was the Bambi last 100m that was most gutting.

3rd place went in 9.10 then 9.12 for 4th. Kristian ran 9.15 and I'd have liked to think I wouldn't have been much off that with another 200m in my legs.

So that's the race report.

The bad - well, that's fairly obvious and doesn't need repeating.

The good. Fuck me I gave it a go. A medal wasn't realistic at the bell based on finish times but I thought I had a shot. I really wanted to race that last 200m but not to go out like that.

I really enjoyed it while I was out there and to say I left it all on the track was an understatement !

It's hard to say that I am proud after getting a DQ and rolling around the track. It's embarrassing. But in myself I am happy that I gave it a go. I could have jogged around at the back and nicked a 9.27 without getting involved in the race at all but I certainly made my mark.

The cure - I let my S&C down and my glutes / hamstrings were just not as strong as my heart and mind. It's honestly as simple as that. 2 gym sessions a week for the past month and I can honestly say that I don't think they would have given away. It was like someone unplugged my glutes.

I'm 49 and opportunities like this to run that sort of time are few and far between from here on out. I shot for the moon.

The plan now is - recover. Get over it. Mentally I am tough but there is no two ways this is going to haunt me for a while. The only way to bury bad memories is to create better memories. Go and crush my next 2 fast road 5ks and I won't give a shit about this. Ditto nailing a 3k after that.

This will define my season, absolutely no two ways. It will drown me as I can't get over it and will not correct the issues OR I'll learn and grow and look back and laugh. 

So that was Torun. A race of the winter. Not the result but yet another opportunity to knock on the door. It's up to me if I open it or not!


3000 m M45 Heat 2START: 2024-03-17 19:25STARTED: 19:27:38 
PosLaneBibAthleteCategoryClub/CountryMarkRank
1122008KUJAWSKI GrzegorzM45Poland (POL)8:52.611✔
2102712BARRIO LORES RubenM45Spain (ESP)9:08.612✔
3975HEEMSKERK StevenM45Belgium (BEL)9:10.953✔
481580WIGER ØyvindM45Norway (NOR)9:12.424✔
571564NEDREGÅRD KristianM45Norway (NOR)9:15.105✔
65367SYRJÄLÄ TeppoM45Finland (FIN)9:23.896✔
742397SZOPA ŁukaszM45Poland (POL)9:25.547✔
8111181SHEIL NiallM45Ireland (IRL)9:28.988✔
96989KONSTANTINIDIS CharalamposM45Greece (GRE)9:45.709✔
1022138MORAWSKI RobertM45Poland (POL)9:55.6410✔
1111899KARASIŃSKI BartoszM45Poland (POL)10:09.3811✔
33346PRESTON DarrenM45United Kingdom (GBR)DQTR17.2.4✔


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