I was gonna run my 400 yesterday but it was cold and rainy that night. So I decided to save that for later and run my 800 today. Maybe it was a good thing I didn't hike yesterday so I could have more energy today. I went down to the North track and warmed up a good ammount (I have become a beleiver over the past few weeks that I should air on the side of warming up more rather than less). The perk about it not being a race is that I could go whenever I wanted and didn't have to wear a shirt. It was a bit windy, but I have been prepared for that by previous workouts/runs in Provo; it was nothing I couldn't handle. I laced up my flats, got to the line, and...
I felt fast the first 200 meters, but decided to wait to check my watch until the 400 mark. I haven't run an 800 in forever, and looking back on it, I definitely felt too comfortable with 500 to go. I looked down at my watch at the lap and it was 59- and as I looked up I saw it turn to 60. So it was probably about a 59.8 first lap. At that point I thought I had a 2:00 at best in me, but started pushing harder. I felt like I was moving faster than I had the first lap, but I knew that might just be that I was pushing myself harder but not actually moving quicker. With about 125 to go I started tying up, but instead of simply coasting to the finish through that, I concentrated on pushing myself to go faster. I crossed the line and saw my time- 1:58.53! I had negative split the race, with a 58.7 last lap, and reached my goal of breaking 2 minutes before my mission. I'm trying not to think of what I could have done in a real race and running better splits (I wanna say high 1:56), but either way I am excited by what I have accomplished training almost completely on my own, creating my own training plan as I went, etc. I know with Eyestone planning workouts for me, with fast guys to run with, and not taking a couple months off from workouts, I could be wayyy faster after my mission. And keep in mind the 800 isn't even my event, I'm a miler. So basically what I'm saying is that I'm not done in any way, shape, or form. If things work out, I'm definitely planning on making a comeback after my mish. Although I hope to have one more FRB entry before I leave as I am still trying to run that 51. We'll see if it happens though. I'd also like to update my short term goals, which I hopefully will have accomplished all of after this next week.
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