Last day of BYU xc camp! No morning run because of the race later. In the past we usually have the track meet at the BYU track and runners have the option of an 800, 1600, or 2 mile xc race, but this year everyone did the xc race at Kiwanis Park. Not a big deal though because I planned on running the xc race anyways. We walked about a mile over to the park around 10 and they gave the girls about 30 minutes to warm up before their race. I started to warm up when the girls started racing. Miah from Davis won the girls race. On my warm up my legs felt really sluggish from a hard week of running and I couldn't really think about the race, so I just decided it wasn't a big deal so I would just run the first mile conservative and if I felt good I would pick up the pace on the second lap. We started and Chad Stevens from Washington took the lead early about 20 meters ahead of the chase pack. I was hanging off the chase pack a little but I felt fine and I felt good about the pace so I stayed there for the first mile. We went through in 5:20 and my legs felt surprisingly good so I started to surge and passed everyone in the next quarter mile except Chad who now had about 30 meters on me. I worked on closing the gap little by little and finally caught him with about 500m to go. We exchanged leads a few times but he finally pulled away with 50m left and I didn't pass him again and finished 2nd. I was a little bummed out that he out kicked me, but I was talking to him afterwards and he has PRs of 4:17 for 1600 and 9:18 for 3200! I wasn't sure at first but I checked out his times and they were legit. This was a big confidence booster for me. Later, Coach Eyestone gave me the 'Wayne Pinto' award (long story) which was pretty sweet. I think it was a successful camp and I'm glad I came.
| 