I submitted my entry to this meet a few weeks ago thinking it would be cool to go to a high level meet like this, not fully expecting to get in, but just that it would be cool. I managed to squeak in, but I got sick this week and had second thoughts about it. I felt like poop on my run yesterday. Literally. If you closed your eyes and felt me and then felt some poop, you couldn't tell the difference. It was that bad. But one of my goals this year is to take advantage of my healthy legs as much as possible and get some experience, so I sucked it up and made the drive down to Eugene last night after work. The drive was excruciating. It took half a gallon of Mt. Dew and 3/4 lb of M&Ms to keep me awake. This is what I call carbo loading. It didn't help that my CD player broke and I was forced to hum whatever songs I could remember to myself. (How did "Genie in a Bottle" get stuck in my head?! Dang you, American Idol!) In my opinion, Eugene lives up to its hype of being a great place for track. Oregon really knows how to put on a meet, and they've got some amazing fans. I've never been to a meet where people just show up to watch. For no other reason than that they genuinely love track and field. It was awesome. There was this 60-something year old lady sitting next to me in the grand stands - all by herself - that knew runner's names and cheered and was more into it than my own parents have ever been into track. And I know this sounds like a little thing, but my name was printed on my bib instead of a number. Makes you feel kinda special. I rolled out of bed around 10 and went for a light half-hour shakeout. I should've planned it out a little better since this wasn't exactly the most scenic tour of Eugene (I ran past all the waste management facilities... which somehow smelled like toast - it made me hungry) but it told me that my mix of drugs were doing their job to lessen my symptoms. My sinuses were relatively clear and the tightness in my chest wasn't as bad. It wasn't great, but I figured I could run a decent race. My race plan was simple: run even 70s for as along as possible. My breathing felt like my limiting factor and I didn't want to kill myself early with a silly fast first lap. They ran all 30 of us in one heat, so that was a possibility if I got carried away. They started us in a two-tiered waterfall, and somehow I had the good fortune of being on the inside of the second stagger. It meant I had a short route (as opposed to starting in lane 10, which some did) without having to fight everybody for position. And I ended up on the outside of the pack instead of trapped on the inside rail. There are perks to being seeded 23rd. The rest of the race is kind of a blur, but basically my plan worked as intended. A 70s opening lap left me near last place but kept me fresh enough to maintain right about 70 sec pace the rest of the way. I had plenty of people to pass (looking back I get a chuckle.... there were two or three guys I'd pass and then they passed me back and then I'd pass them... by the time I finished I felt like I'd passed everyone in the field) and I just focused on trying to hit straight 70s. I wasn't perfect but was close, coming through 1k in 2:56 and 2k in 5:54 (I think. My one complaint with the meet is the guy giving splits. He looked closer to pushing daisies than another birthday... it was very difficult to hear him). And somewhere along the way I passed a guy in an Oregon uni - what a great feeling that was. I remember seeing the clock at 7:41 when I hit the bell lap and thinking I could dip under 8:50 with a good last lap. At first I was a little peeved with myself for not hitting a better final lap (there were plenty of runners to pick off, too), but my memory tells me I really gave it all I had. My chest was burning and I was fading fast. 70 seconds, not my most spectacular finish. So 8:51. 18th place. 5 spots ahead of my seed, I can't be too upset with that, right? The funny thing is, the kid who won the race, Jordan McNamara, I beat him the last time we raced. He's a year younger than me, and he came to my hometown with his team in high school for a road 5k for whatever reason just after I graduated, and I beat him by 3 seconds. Now he's running 7:53 3ks... it just makes me wonder. All in all, I'm glad I went. It was a great experience and I'm pleased with running a decent race while less-than-healthy. And it was great seeing some of the races - watching Sally Kipyego run 4:10 wire-to-wire was epic. Cool stuff.
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