Alisa Harvey’s 5:09.67 at Hartshorne was amazing on its face. She’s 44, after all. But it’s even more amazing on its feet. Hers weren’t in great shape. She finished behind Aeron Arlin-Genet and a 36-year-old last Saturday at Cornell. But don’t call this the end of the legendary Alisa. She confides: “I labored with the decision of whether or not to race.” She opted to run in racing flats, instead of spikes, to protect her tender foot. For Cheryl Bellaire’s part, her victory in the W50 elite race was a relief: “I think I also lost track of the laps and I was very happy to hear the bell.” Below are the results of my quickie Q&A’s with them. Still waiting on a reply from W40 elite race winner Aeron.

Alisa wrote:

The good new was that I participated in the most stellar Hartshorne Masters Mile Women’s 40-Elite race ever.  The bad news was that I was injured.  I labored with the decision of whether or not to race . . .with my foot injury all week.  This was my fourth Hartshorne.  I vowed to return to this fabulous event as long as weather was permitting and my body was able.  The weather was good, but my body was “iffy.”  I had to return.

On January 1, I was doing an outdoor track workout on a local high school track.  It was about 29 degrees with 15-degree wind chills.  We have been having a particularly harsh winter thus far and my training was suffering.  The sun was out, the snow was melted so I bundled-up and headed out.  Unfortunately, I made the mistake of wearing track spikes.  The surface was frozen solid rubberized asphalt.  During my fourth 200m repeat I felt a twinge in my left foot in the fascia towards the outside.

I treated myself over the following weeks to the point of being pain-free, but I put my spikes back on last Friday to do some strides.  The next day I was hobbling again.  I rested all week before Hartshorne.  Made the trip.  Warmed-up for the race.  I had to make the decision to wear racing flats instead of track spikes just before the race since I caught a pain in my foot during a pre-race stride.

I figure that at 44 years old I am going to count my blessings and enjoy a good competition even if I am not 100%.  I got a chance to meet my delightful competitors.  Aeron Arlin-Genet was a gracious and cheerful champion.  She ran a strong race.  I just wish I could have challenged her.  It was truly a thrill to see such an accomplished collection of 40-plus women milers all on the starting line together.

For now I am going to go heal myself up.  I will play the rest of the season by ear.  I think I am going to need two weeks of pool training and stationary biking.  Then maybe I will be able to get back to the track before the end of the indoor season.

Cheryl wrote:

I planned to go with the leaders, which I figured would be Julie (Hayden) and Maureen (de St. Croix).  I wanted to go out no faster than 2:48 first half, the slower the better.  As it ended up, we went through the half in 2:55.  The three of us stayed in a group for three laps, then Julie passed Maureen and I followed.  I continued to follow Julie for another couple laps, but the seventh lap I lost contact.  I think I also lost track of the laps and I was very happy to hear the bell.  But I also found myself about 30 meters behind.  Kevin Forde than told me to kick and so I did.  I caught Julie coming out of the last turn.

I let Maureen set the rabbit pace, which was 2:50, and the rabbit was right on.

Travel was fine (about three and a half hours from Philadelphia).  Got in a little late and didn’t sleep well.  The meet was run great and I liked the track, and the air quality was good.  The dinner was great and the speeches inspiring as we were honoring Diane (Sherrer) and others.  Milers are a lot of fun to hang out with.  I think I hate the mile compared to the 800 because there is more time for me to mentally screw it up.

I will be at Milrose, Boston and Sacramento.  Other than that  I don’t really know yet.  I decided I could not afford the cost or time to go to (Kamloops) worlds although I would have loved to go.