Pace Setter : April 2025

The 2025 Millrose Games and AREEP’s Distance Medley Relay Team

Of all the unique attractions of the sport of running, what transpired on Sat, February 8, 2025 encapsulates some of it quite well: 2 World Records were set, and shortly before Grant Fischer set one of them, he was standing alone at a bathroom sink with the Albany Running Exchange’s own Nick Conway. To Nick’s credit, he did wish him good luck (and vouched for Grant’s use of soap) before Grant departed to rewrite the record books.

In what other sport/venue does that happen!? 

And, for that matter, just a few hours before the 3K and 1M indoor world records were set, 4 members of the ARE ran upon that same track, in the same meet, competing against some of the best amateur teams in the country. How often can you play a pick-up game of football or baseball at Giants Stadium or Fenway Park? Let alone on the same day of the World Series?

The ARE Racing Team began in 2011 with the purpose of providing aspiring top level runners from the Albany area with support that furthers their ability to compete at a high level. In the fall of 2022, Jack Huber joined the team and has been instrumental in ushering in an elevated focus and hunger for members of the team to achieve top performances. His self-discipline and ambition as an athlete has welcomed others, and also led to a resurgence of competitive thirst among some of our Masters athletes as well.
 

According to men’s team captain, Pete Rowell, “The discussion to run at Millrose began lightly in the fall of ‘24. Once the idea was floated to Jack Huber, one of ARE's youngest and fastest team members, he pushed to make it happen. Eventually, we settled on a team of Jack, myself, Matt Laframboise, and the ageless wonder Nick Conway running legs of 1600, 400, 1200, and 800 respectively.”

And so it was set, ARE would, for the first time ever, have a team competing in the 117th edition of the legendary Millrose Games at the world famous NYC Armory. They would be racing the Distance Medley Relay (DMR), which begins with a 1200 (meter) leg, handing off to a 400, the 3rd runner then completes an 800 (~half mile), before the anchor (4th and final) runner completes a 1600 (basically a mile [a true mile is 1609 meters]).

Amusingly for Pete, this all transpired shortly after he completed a different race in NYC, namely the world-famous one approximately 26 miles longer than what he’d be running at the Millrose Games.

“For the 4 weeks leading into the race, I traded mile repeats for all-out 250s, and tempo work for hill sprints. I did everything I could to bring back 22-year-old Pete, or at the very least, 50% of him.”

While Pete was trying to return to the man he was as his college career ended nearly 14 years ago, Matt Laframboise was navigating a different phase of his running life, namely trying to figure out what his post-college running journey would look like. In 2024, he graduated from Siena, among their best athletes in team history. And with relation to the Millrose Games, as Matt puts it, “The Armory track holds a special place in my heart—it’s where all my college indoor conference meets took place—so racing there always feels meaningful. Having run many relays in high school and college, getting to compete as part of a team again is a refreshing change from individual racing. Millrose is the premier indoor meet of the year, and being part of it was an experience I never thought I’d have.”
 

Fresh off a 4:10 mile, Matt was tasked with being our lead-off leg, perhaps the most nerve-wracking spot in a relay as it sets the tone for how the race will unfold. Matt would hand-off to Pete, who would run 2 laps of the 200 meter track, before giving the baton to Nick Conway.

Like, Pete, Nick also grew up in the Capital Region, graduating from Guilderland HS and then Union College. When Nick graduated high school, Pete was not yet in elementary school, and a few leap years were still to pass before Jack and Matt would be born. And yet, Nick remains an ageless wonder; while he’s less than 2 months shy of turning 50, he’s still running times that would outright win most races, including (at age 49) low 15s in the 5K and 32:23 at the Troy Turkey Trot, finishing barely 1 minute behind 24 year old Jack who claimed gold at the 2024 TTT in 31:06.
 

Jack would serve as the anchor. Over the past year+, he’s been flirting with the 4 minute mile, running 1500 meter races and mile races that make it clear he’ll one day have a mile time starting with a “3”. Just a few weeks prior, he won the elite heat of the 1K at an Armory track meet, running a scorching 2:25.39 to win by over 2 seconds - and most impressively leading from the gun. Unfortunately he did not walk away from that meet unscathed.

In his own words: “I picked up an injury right after my first race a month prior to the Millrose Games. I couldn’t run without pain, so I started a daily regimen of indoor cycling in the morning, and swimming in the afternoon. I knew I was losing running fitness, but I could slow the process drastically if I cross trained like a maniac. By race week, I could do 3-5 mile runs pain free. I was confident that I’d be able to step on the track but I was unsure what would happen after that.”

And so the scene was set; 4 lifelong runners, aged 23, 24, 36, and 49, would be representing the ARE, and the Capital Region at that, competing against teams from across America.

On the day of the event, my wife Michelle and I drove into the city from my mom’s apartment in Queens and amazingly found a free parking spot only 2 blocks from where the races would soon unfold. Pete’s wife Emily was already inside, as was Dick Vincent, who has served as team coach and advisor since the team’s inception. 

It was a decent winter day, and as Michelle and I made our way to the famed entryway, we felt the energy of seeing athletes warming up outside, running laps around the building. Nick and Jack passed by a few times as I reflected on my own experiences of racing in this building in high school and college. But the option to warm-up inside also uniquely existed right then because the meet had not yet started.
 

Some more words from Pete:

“Since the club DMR was the first race of the day, I was able to warm up on the track instead of venturing out to the streets of Manhattan. The dry air of the Armory brought me back to my college racing days, including a DMR at Millrose 13 years prior. As race time approached, the intensity picked up. I could tell myself this was a club race, I don't make a living off of running, and at the end of the day no one will remember how the club DMR at Millrose played out, but as a good friend of college in mine would say, it's good to get nervous, it means you care.

“Approximately 10 minutes before gun time, we were shuttled into the check-in area and given hip numbers that inevitably fell off. Our leadoff leg Matt, was given a particular baton that we learned later had a chip in it which allowed our actual speed to be projected up on the video board. Pretty cool.

“Then, just as my heart was about to jump through my chest, the gun went off.

“Matt ran an insane 3:01 1200 leg, handing the baton to me in 2nd place. I blasted out as fast as my 36-year-old legs would carry me trying as best as I could to hang close to the lead. Unfortunately, the guy in front of me got further and further away (he ended up splitting 48.x), but I was still able to hang on for a gut-busting two laps before mercifully handing off to Nick.

“I was directed off the track in a hurry by one of the Millrose volunteers but found a spot on the turn to watch the rest of the race unfold. Nick ran an insane 2:02 and Jack closed in 4:17 -- also nuts considering he had been banged up for a month and had done nothing but easy running. We finished a respectable 6th in a new club record of 10:15. It was a nerve-wracking blast with a great group of guys.”

Echoing Pete’s sentiment about Nick, Jack shared, “The highlight of the event was Nick Conway’s performance on the 800m leg. Nick took the baton in a group of runners who were half his age. I watched each lap as he stayed right on them, not giving an inch. I couldn’t tell what his splits were and I didn’t want to think about it right before it was my turn to take the stick. After the race, we checked the online scoreboard which listed Nick at an unbelievable 2:02, three seconds off the 50+ age group world record. I knew Nick might’ve been capable of a time like that, but didn’t expect it after four weeks of frigid weather that made speed work impossible. Although I was injured most of this indoor season, watching Nick put together a string of incredible races (4:29 mile, 8:51 3000m) felt almost as good as running PBs myself. There will be much more to come from him and the rest of the Albany Running Exchange track racing crew in outdoors [referring to the outdoor track season]."

An indoor facility puts you not just closer to the action but it gives you the action at double the frequency of watching an outdoor meet. Considering how fast these guys were running, roughly every 30 seconds they were zipping past us, as we cheered like crazy from barely a dozen yards above them in the stands.

To that end, Nick recounted, “It was an absolutely beautiful, all-around experience. The entire facility is electric. You can literally feel the history. So fun to run a relay with the boys. Forgot how fun that is. And it made it extra special to see family and friends in the stands.”

The guys then went for a cool down through Central Park, before returning to the Armory to watch the rest of the meet unfold, including the afternoon session which featured numerous Olympians, and, of course, the setting of new World Records.

As Dick would later reflect, “I have been attending the Millrose games since the late 1970s. To finally be with a team that was going to participate in a relay was a special experience. To be with this group of guys, who, in addition to being tremendous athletes, are kind and authentic people, made the experience a 10 of 10.  Once on the floor with Matt, Pete, Nick, and Jack, it was business as usual. Although everyone was lifted by the crowd and the thrill of it being Millrose, it was another track meet. Nobody was awestruck, they got to their warm up ritual as usual, spent plenty of time with the drills, strides, etc. Each had their own special routine, not getting distracted by an arena that harbored a multitude of possible distractions .Each did their job to the best of their ability, giving one another immense support and shared confidence. I was proud to be part of a team that had a professional approach to the upcoming relay.“

I can’t think of a better way to spend a Saturday in February, and if it works with your schedule in 2026, consider heading to NYC next winter to be part of history!