BOSTON (06-Feb) -- Anna Pierce realizes that fast 1000m races don't come around often, and the 25 year-old Olympian knows that tonight's 5-lap contest at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games here presents a rare opportunity to score a fast time, perhaps even a record.
"I've had some really great workouts the last couple of weeks," Pierce said in a news conference here yesterday. "My new training partner, Morgan Uceny, she's kicking my butt. So, I feel pretty good about where I am right now. It's really hard to tell until you get out there. Right now, I feel like I'll try to race and see what happens."
But Pierce played down her chances to break Jen Toomey's USA record of 2:34.19 set in Birmingham, England, in 2004. Although she had originally looked at this meet as a record attempt with her agent and meet director, Mark Wetmore, she and coach Terrence Mahon of the Mammoth Track Club, want to keep their focus competing well, first.
"Yeah, I think initially when I talked to Mark about having a "K" for the meet, that was my initial thought," Pierce explained. "As you get closer to the race, I talked to Terrence a lot. I think for me it's important to focus on just racing. That's what I love to do. I love to compete. If I think of it as a time trial and try to go for a record I think I get lost a little bit. I need to focus on what I'm good at and that's the key. If the time happens, then it happens."
The arithmetic, however, is on Pierce's side to break Toomey's record. If she passes through 800m in 2:03-flat and holds that pace for the final lap, she'd run 2:33.75. That seems well within Pierce's comfort zone, considering she has outdoor personal best times of 1:58.80 and 3:59.38. Those marks are much faster than Toomey's career bests of 1:59.64 and 4:06.24.
Also working in Pierce's favor is reliable pacemaking from Karen Shinkins, still the Irish indoor record holder for 400m, and the competition she'll be getting from both training partner Uceny and Olympians Erin Donohue and Alice Schmidt. At a minimum, the meet and facility record of 2:35.29 by Regina Jacobs set in 2000 should fall.
Pierce is a New Englander, and grew up in Greenwood, Me. It's an easy trip for her family to be here tonight and see her run, and perhaps break a record.
"I feel really comfortable at Boston," she concluded. "I've race here a few times over the past years. I mean, my whole family gets to come and watch, so it's really exciting for me in that way."
Know someone else who's interested in running and triathlon?
