This race was quite an experience that I won't soon forget. I am able to laugh about it now but it was quite frustrating during the race. On Thursday my coach had sent me the field for the mile. When I looked at the entered times I saw that there were a few that were around the 4:40 range. So I am thinkin, "Yeah! This will be a good PR race for me!" My PR was 4:44 in indoor track. So come race day I am all excited to go run just a mile. Not 3.1 miles but just 1! I can do that! My coach talked to me right before and said, "Okay David... The key to this race is patience. Don't worry if you are a bit toward the back in the beginning. Be patient and then start making your move." I was like, "Yeah! YEAH!" Haha... So they came up and called out our names to give us our numbers. There were 15 of us and I got number 12. Sweet! That means I shouldn't be in the back based on entry times! This was all well and good but something just didn't feel right. The guys I was racing with did not look like 4:40ers... They looked like BYU mutant robots that they keep in the storage shed there. My last big hint was the guy at the starting line saying, "Ok! This is Collin! He'll be your pacer for the race. He'll come across the 800 at 2:02." Yeah... I should have raised a question there but I didn't. Anyways, the race starts and in the first 50 meters I thought, "Okay well I am used to racing the 5000 so that's probably why this feels a bit fast." Then as they kept pulling away within the first 100 meters I knew something was wrong. Someone had made a mistake. I came across the 400 at 64 and I was already hurting. Didn't help that I was still about 5 seconds behind everyone else. I could tell that had killed me when I crossed 800 at 2:16. The pack was way ahead now. I had to give it everything that I had to just try and maintain somewhat of a pace and keep my dignity (although with this race it had gone out the window). Came to the last lap and I picked it up just a bit with what little energy I had. My arms were numb... Actually my whole body had become pretty much numb at this point. The whole pack pretty much finished and I had 200 meters left. I tell you... It's a humbling experience to run that home stretch giving everything you have knowing that you are about 30 seconds behind everyone else. I came across with a PR of 4:42 but I was dead. I crossed and felt sick. My head hurt and I couldn't walk. I pretty much collapsed on the ground for a bit. As I sat there they started the 2nd heat. I watched as they finished... 4:30, 4:35, 4:40... and so on. Frustration swelled inside. That's the heat I should have been on. I shouldn't have felt like this. I knew I ran the race horribly. I should have gone out at about a 69 for the first lap but the heat situation just threw me for a loop. Coach didn't know what had happened. I tried to walk over to my fans (Coach, one teammate, and Bec) but I felt like I was going to throw up and pass out so I went to the grass and collapsed on my back. A little fairy came and comforted me while I slowly died. Took about 15 minutes of lying there to recuperate. I should have been fine. It's quite an enlightening experience to be placed in the wrong heat. The fans don't see times and heats... They just see the sad little Westminster NAIA kid 200 meters behind everyone else with a race number stuck to his foot. I did hear some cheering on my last 200 and that felt good but it was definitely a pity cheer. Let's just say I will never forget the day I ran the mile with the BYU mutant robots. I was frustrated at first but then I realized I had PR'd and I was able to joke about it after with my fans. I think it will be an ongoing joke of mine for the rest of my life. What a memorable day. :) | 