Dan Schaffer kicked off his 2024 campaign by breaking his own club record in the mile at the RADD Invitational in Gainesville, FL this past weekend. Dan clocked a 3:57.98 to shave just over 1/2 second off his previous club record set at the end of the 2023 outdoor track season.
Dan settled into 4th place in the early stages of the race behind 3 runners from Florida State. He passed through the opening 1/4 in 58 seconds and the 1/2 mile mark in 1:58 before 2 of the FSU athletes stepped off the track. The pace slowed over the next 1/4 mile as Dan trailed the leader, and heading into the final 1/4 mile Dan shot to the front. He hit 3/4 of a mile a shade under 3:00 and began to increase the pace.
Once he hit the front Dan he opened up a gap on 2nd and then at the bell he hit the gas, closing his final 200m in 27.9 to pull away for a decisive 6 second win. Dan concluded his day outside, running a 5 x 3minute workout followed by a few 1min pieces.
After the race Dan remarked “the opening 1/4 felt like a bit of a shock and then we slowed down a little bit and I was able to recover and feel really good heading into the final 400m. This felt a lot better than Virginia Tech last year (where Dan ran 3:59 to win) so I’m excited heading into the 3k next weekend.” Catch the full results from the RADD Invite here.
Dan will be making a return to the famed Boston University indoor track this Friday night to compete in the 3k. His 3k PR came from this same weekend a year ago, where he ran a ZAP record of 7:43. The week prior to that 7:43 Dan ran the 3:59 mile at Virginia Tech referenced in his quote above.
You can watch his race at BU live on Flotrack at 5:40pm or follow the live results here.