AM - It's race day!!!! I got to sleep in this morning, too, things are already going well. I ran 3 easy miles this morning to wake the legs up, and I'm feeling pretty good. The legs are feeling much less sore and stiff than the last few days, and I'm excited to race. Report coming tonight.....
Today's goals: 1) Run faster than 15:35, and 2) beat as many BYU guys as possible
Race report
Alright, the race went really well. Goal 1 was almost there today, but Goal 2 wasn't possible since there weren't any BYU guys in the race. That doesn't make any sense to me, but that's the way it was.
So anyway, Sasha came to read off lap splits for me, which was a huge help since I didn't have to do the mental math myself. He gave me some good pre-race advice to just focus on hitting 74-75 second laps and not worry about place or overall time. So that's what I did. Well, almost. It was more like 74-76 second laps, but it worked well.
The gun went off and I started dead last. Most of the time that freaks me out, but I felt very relaxed. First lap in 74... perfect. I slowed a lot in the second lap for some reason, and came through with a 79. Whoops. After that I buckled down and focused on hitting those splits. A 76 and 75 made for a 5:04 1600m, which would have been 5:00 if I hadn't slipped up with that 79.
The pack was at 4:54, I let them get a little too much on me and I was feeling nervous. I knew they would come back to me, but I wondered if I had given up too much ground to get my goal time. The second 1600 went in 5:02... pretty consistent. A few of the runners had come back to me, but the main pack still had a substantial lead.
The final third of the race was where most of the action happened. I tried to open the throttle, but I was too conservative and I kept hitting the same splits. But this was where a lot of people who had gone out too hard started dying off. Places 1 - 5 still had about 10 seconds on me, but the gap was slowly closing. With 800m to go I saw 13:13 on the clock and thought, "The best guys are finished by now. Wouldn't that be nice?"
Again, I tried to pick it up, but I came through the bell lap in low 14:29, so another 76 second lap. I felt that I still had a lot left and managed to pick it up quite a bit here. The next 200m was a 34, I think.... I didn't catch a solid time at 4800m, but I think that's right. Suddenly, that lead pack was within range. I blew past a UVU guy, but he matched me and I finally opened the throttle all the way. I haven't had a lot of races where I felt like I floored it in my final kick, but this was pretty close. He had more speed than me, and managed to pass me again. I just didn't have the speed to beat him. We both passed another guy, and we held positions till the finish. Last 200m in 33, so a final lap of 67 and final 800m of 2:23. Also, Sasha and I were trying to figure out the last 1600m, we think it was 4:53. A progression of 5:04, 5:02, (200m), 4:53... I'm pretty happy with that. I needed that first 1600 to be a little faster, but I'm pleased with the end result. I was expecting to see 15:4x, so I was ecstatic to see that I'd broken into the 15:30s. | 