The Renegade

Decent workout today, also the last real workout I'll ever do in high school. In seventh hour I jogged .5 and did hurdle drills cuz I was bored. It was pretty hot and uncomfortable, despite how it felt early in the day, and there was a stronger wind blowing south. We had a team meeting then did our warmup in drills and hip drills while we waited for Strand to pick up his kid. The workout: 8x400 pretty simple same as always. I wasn't expecting so much volume so I had just brought my trainers and my spikes. We hooked up some music to the speakers because there is no soccer coaches around to get mad about it, but the playlist I chose wasn't as good as I thought and it was kinda weird lol. So I did the first four in my trainers. those were 71, 70, 70, and 69. Felt kind of off balance, it was odd. Then I spiked up and ran 65, 66, 64, and 62. I didn't feel too great during any of this workout, but it was the best I have ever averaged for 400s (67.1) and think I can be feeling really good four days from now as long as I do everything I can to get ready. Cooled down .5 barefoot. I'm really going to miss having practice every day, I guess I'll just have to enjoy it the best I can while it lasts, which would be two days now that I think of it.

Pretty ordinary practice. We warmed half a mile, did drills and then 3 on the river trail, prolly 7 minute pace, then practiced 4x4 handoffs. Then we had a great pancake dinner for everyone going to state, it was real fun.

Short day byt fun practice. We warmed up a half mile, and while most did strides, I helped Coach Strand run a fast 800. I rabbited for 400m and was supposed to take him out in 59. Well it ended up being about 57, oops! It went well though, he broke 1:58! Kalin and I hand-timed him at .6 and .5 so we added a little bit to be safe, so like 1:57.9. It was hot today! I'm okay if it's like that at state, especially since one of my races is in the morning, but it looks like it'll be pretty gusty the whole time... Cooled down with Coach on the turf. 

We have a Senior assembly later ( it's the last day of school for us) and I don't think I'll have time to run so I did a short workout during lunch. Jogged a half mile, did drills and spiked up. Then a 200 with a tailwind, felt pretty relaxed but still fast, that was a 27.9, then I jogged a lap and did an all-out 200 into the wind, and that was a 26.04, so really satisfied with it, and it felt good. Then I cooled down two laps backwards. Cant believe that was my last time running on the home track before my last hs race, everything is starting to hit me hard. Andrew Wheating posted a poem on Instagram that felt super fitting for today:

Before you lace'm up,
Stop and admire your work.
The hours of running,
The days you hurt.

Impressive isn't it?
Your dedication and thirst.
Now throw it out the window,
Be hungry for first.

There's no outline to racing,
No perfect recipe.
There's a 1st and a last,
Where do you want to be?

Take a minute to visualize,
Make that last lap fast.
Now tie up your shoes,
Time to kick some a$$.

(I added in the $$ if I were wondering :). We have our Senior banquet at 6:30 so the bus leaving at 8, so it'll be kinda tight but I'll try and make the best of it. 

Last night the L banquet went longer than expected and even after leaving early we didn't leave Logan until about 8:30. We got to our hotel and it was probably the nicest one I've ever stayed in for a running trip, and it was two blocks away from the track. Went to sleep at 11 and woke up a few times during the night for some reason, maybe because of how hot it was in our room, I dunno. Woke up, ate breakfast, and headed over to the track. It was basically perfect weather, overcast and no wind, maybe 60 degrees. I gave myself plenty of time to warm up, but before I knew it, I was in the bull pen. I felt pretty good on my warmup. We started walking out onto the track and Jack was not with us. I knew he was at the track so I was worried, but a couple minutes later he walked out to the starting line. I was pretty dang nervous. Started on the second waterfall. Got out and I wasn't trapped in luckily. Came through in 66 flat, with the lead pack right in front of me. It felt weird to be running with all the southern utah guys who's blogs I've been following or a while. I felt okay I guess. Tried to keep pushing it on the second lap and I was at 2:15. At that point I was excited because I thought I could run a 4:30 or 4:29. I think I fell off in the next lap, kind of lost the lead pack all together. Don't remember what that split was. With a lap to go I was right next to Carl Peel from North Sanpete, who is basically a former teammate of Jack's. I stayed with him on the backstretch but he pulled away and I just died, it was so tough. I kind of mentally fell apart too and was just thinking about how good it would be to finish, and two more guys passed me right before. It was dissapointing not to PR in my last race of that event but at least I matched it, and Colby and Nate ran way worse than last week, so I'm glad I was able to hold it together. Laps were 66, 69, 70, 70, all progressively slower. Afterwards my legs hurt so bad and I had to be on the ground, I layed on the grass for a while and my legs were really wobbly when I tried to stand. Jack took 6th by really close margins. Great job to everyone. After that we went and chilled at the hotel, it was nice. Our boys medley took second (after Dixie got DQd), to Bear River by like .01, it was really cool, Jack split a 1:57.

Today was a lot better than yesterday, but I am also really sad that high school track is over for good. One thing I forgot to mention from last night was that Dave the pole vault coach took us all through a relaxation and visualization excersise which I thought was thought was great. I tried to walk myself through the 800 in real time from the bull pen to the finish line. In it I broke 2 of course. I got to sleep from 11:00 pm to 10:30 am, which was nice but I missed the 3200 which Jack and Anna were running in. I guess it rained really hard? Lol but I think it stopped right before I woke up. Walked over by myself and got in with no problem. Then I just chilled and watched races for hours, snacked on stuff and had a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch. 

We started warming up somewhat early; we were outside the bullpen for a lot longer than yesterday. But it finally came time to get in there. All three of us Logan dudes were in the slow heat ranked 1st, 2nd, and 4th. For some reason I felt pretty calm, still nervous as heck, but in a calm way. We started on a normal waterfall with I thought was interesting. I decided I wasn't going to be super aggressive from the start, and I still got out well, almost was boxed in on the backstretch, but I found a hole and got out of it. Hit 300 and I pushed it a little more and was in like 5th place, but a pack was breaking away from me. Came through in 61.4, could've gone out a bit quicker. With 300 to go the lead pack had about 5 meters on me, and I fought to catch up, and I did. With 200 to go Paul Blackhurst and Piercen Maez faded off and it was Jack, Isaac, and I from there to the finish. I feel like I could have focused on passing Isaac and run a little faster, but I was just amazed I was up there with them, and hearing the announcer say our names and schools, Logan, Logan, Logan, was really cool. Looked up after crossing and saw it was just changed to 2, and I knew I was on the bubble for sub-2. Jack and Isaac both went 1:59. My second lap was a 58.8. They had them stay by the podium while the next heat went. Turns out it was a slow day for the 3A boys 800. Jack and Isaac were 4th and 5th. 6th place (Ethan Hurst) ran a 2:00.22. I ran a 2:00.23. Super dissapointing in that aspect, but I PRd by over a second, which was also .01 off what the state qualifying standard was this year. And I didn't think I had a prayer to score points individually at state, let alone almost medal. Coach said that was the highlight of the meet for him, and a lot of people were impressed with us. I was interviewed by the Herald Journal too, that was actually the guy that first told me how closely I missed medaling. 

Now it was time for the 4x4. We headed over to warmup as soon as 1A girls started, but that was a mistake. Coach told us to go sit down, and we hung around at our tent for a good half hour. In the meantime I found Eugene (Nathan), shout outs to you yer a beast. When we went over there we had the perfect amount of time to warmup. The wind had picked up but not too bad. We were in yeah bull pen for a while. The bull pen during relays is fun when someone drops their baton tho lol. I was the second leg, and we were 2nd in the slow heat. I got it and ran out hard, was in second on Stansbury's shoulder after the breakline. Chilled  there and then kicked it in in first. Felt strong on the final curve but I felt like I was about to blow up hard when I hit the straightaway. Coach told me I split a 53, I feel like it was really fast, I dunno. We ran a 3:30 high, and at first we thought we were 5th based on the second heat, but a lot of teams were 3:30 low, so we were 9th. Blew away out heat though. Really emotional afterwards. This is freakishly long so I'll write my reflection and crap I'm an entry tomorrow.