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Note from Hilary...

Jan. 30, 2012 - Indoor pb in Seattle!

It turned out to be a really good decision for me to race an 800m at the University of Washington this past weekend as I ran a new indoor pb by about 2 seconds in 2:04.81.

It was actually really strange to be back at a college meet, I felt totally out of sorts. It's amazing how familiar and comfortable I've become at professional or international meets, but a college meet totally flustered me - I felt like a rookie! The main reason was that the UW track is 307m around, so a very odd distance. It was completely packed on the infield with athletes, coaches and spectators since there is no room on the outside of the track to stand. So I just found it difficult to get my barrings since the only thing I could find was the finish line (I guess that's imporant!) but every race started at a different spot and the splits for 200m and 400m obviously changed for each race too.

When I finally figured out where my race started, I decided that would be enough and I'd just listen for the 400m split. After that it didn't matter because my plan was to go hard in the 2nd half. I had no idea what to expect in terms of how I'd feel considering the last two years when I've opened the outdoors season with an 800m in April I've run 2:06 and felt like I'd been punched in the stomach. So I was pleasantly surprised during the race when I felt great going through the first 400m in about 61" and crossing the line in 2:04. This makes me super excited for what's to come in 2012!

I'm not exactly sure what's up next. I am hoping to get into a 1000m at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston this weekend. The Canadian Record is 2:38.24 and I feel like I could take a good shot at that. But alas, I will have to play the waiting game to see if I can at least get a spot on the start line. TBC...

Here's the Flotrack race video and post-race interview from Seattle. I have to give a huge shout out to the guys at Flotrack who have totally open the doors of track and field and made it accessible to friends, family and fans who otherwise would never get to experience these races and interviews - thanks guys!

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