Step by step, mile by mile

Yellow hill repeats. The first repeat we just sprinted half a mile straight up. I got out ahead of everyone and kept a steady lead. Mason caught me towards the last pole but I managed to kick it in and blaze it. The second one we ran up two poles, down one, making it about 1000m. Kedric, rather than taking the downhills easy, hauled down them, messing up the workout, but I still managed to barely beat him. The next one we moved up a pole so you'd only have to go up 2 and down 1 three times. Kedric sprinted down again, and I took the downhill wayy easy, instead hauling uphill. Going into the final uphill he had about 20m on me. I caught him by the first pole and had blazed ahead of him by the second. On the next repeat we only had to go out twice, but I started to fade out pretty bad. Jogging back down after the repeat, I thought I was going to pass out. Pushed through the next repeat, but I had to get water after it so I wouldn't die. Kedric, me, and a few other runners missed the final repeat because of this, but I chose to do it. I took off with coaches watching me, and I was hauling. Way faster than any other repeat. Then I passed Jacia and rylie, and for some reason I started kicking way harder. Felt dead when I finished. But happy that I pushed myself hard in a workout for the first time since track.

Warm up, core, then a little over a 4 mile run with Mason. Ran by Brendon's house, shed a few tears. Then ran by Courtney's and Gena's and didn't. Took a three hour Calculus final at the library after. Almost dropped a toaster in the ice bath that night.

Mile warm-up, then 2 mile run. Afterwards coaches informed us we'd race a mile today, courtesy of Christian Graham. I had to run in the 2nd lane for basically a 200m stretch so I'd call it a mile. Coaches told us to hit a 75 first 400m. Race goes off a little quick. Hit the first 200m in 35. I slowed down a tiny bit. By the 400m I was in 5th behind Mason, Aaron, Austin, Kedric, and Christian right on me. But, I was the first one to hit 75 seconds, I heard Christian say "We're right on pace Nathan!", so I naturally sped up a bit. By the 600m Mason had about 5 seconds on me, and the rest of the varsity guys on my tail. Hit the 800m at 2:28. Good. By the time I hit 1000m I was within striking distance of Mason, and no one was with us. Unfortunatly Mason had an insane kick and ran a 63 last lap. I hit the 1200m at somewhere between 4:39 and 4:41, and my kick just wasn't there. I coasted. Settled for silver again, I should have kept with him. With 200m left I heard the breathing and heavy footing of Aaron behind me, so I sped up to a good pace and managed to beat him by a second, running a 4:53. Only it wasn't Aaron. It was Christian. He came in at 4:54. Ran my second fastest mile/1600 time ever, and got 2nd, which was pretty cool. Did a three mile cooldown on the track after with Jacia where we just talked trash on everyone on the team, except Cherokee Kenny, and it was super chill and fun. Except I ran in my spikes during the cooldown, sockless, and my feet were hurting #norisknoreward I shaved off a full 20 seconds from this same race from last year, and I got 7th last time, and only one of those people ahead of me weren't present today.

Handicap race. Basically the slowest person starts, then based on times people keep taking off, with the last person being the fastest. Started 18:20 after the first runner. 4th to last to start behind Christian, Aaron, and Mason. Kedric started 20 seconds in front of me, and I caught him by the 800m mark. I hit it in like 2:27 and I knew the race wouldn't be enjoyable. I caught Clayton, who started a full minute ahead of me 2 miles in, and should have caught Austin but I coasted. But I did beat him by a full minute timewise so who's the real gazelle here? Anyway Mason ran a 14:41, Aaron ran a 14:54, and Christian ran a 15:14. Could have PR'ed had it been another quarter mile but whatev's. I hit the first mile at 5:15 and slowed down pretty bad, just wasn't going all that hard, so it was a quick time. Pumped for region. Watched four hours of girls soccer after with Mason and I think the number 12 shouldn't exist 

Warmed up, then did a 30 minute easy run. Aaron, Christian, Austin, Jordan, Zack, and I ran around the baseball fields while throwing each other tennis balls. It was sick. Afterwards Christian and I and a couple other guys ran the flags at the football game. Basically what that is is four guys with four flags with a U T E and S on each one run up and down the football field to get the crowd pumped. We led the football team on the field and hauled down it in front of the entire school, which was rad. Fun night. As the buzzer went off I ran down the field shirtless, in short shorts, with a red U on my chest, carrying the "U" flag, and everyone chanted my name which was sick. Too bad the score was 8-38.

So I took the SAT, ad that was super grueling. Ate lunch at Quizno's with President David (Great)White, changed the oil on the car, and took a nap for an hour. After that I woke up to go pick up Emma from the school, where I discovered Christian took tenth place with a 16:31, getting 1rst on the team with Mason and I not being present. I'm super proud of him, but I was admitedly a bit jealous. I then did a sick workout. Warm-up, then 16x400 repeats at the high school at goal race pace, with a 200m jog back to the start. I didn't stop moving after I finished a repeat I immediately started jogging, and as soon as I hit the starting line I was gone. There was about 250m slightly downhill for the repeat(on concrete) then a full 180 speed sappin' turn, then an 150m uphill. Some repeats were over a 400m, some were less, so rather than times I'll just put the mile paces.

1-5:05

2-5:07

3-5:10

4-5:04

5-5:28(Idiot)

6-5:15

7-4:54

8-5:10

9-5:12

10-5:02

11-5:10

12-4:59

13-5:13

14-5:08

15-5:08

16-4:48

Overall averaged 5:07 pace. Felt pretty good! Mile cooldown afterwards and some strides, then I realized how pointless strides were when I did four miles of them. Something I nooticed is when I drive my elbows back when I run, those were the repeats where I went really smoothly and at a good pace. Gotta remember that. Still aiming for a top 5 finish at region.