I had a really good mentality going into my mile today. I'm really growing to love the mile, which is strange because I only ran it once or twice last year since I hated it so much. I really thought the 3200 was my race, but I have been dropping time in the 16 like nobody's business and still haven't met my PR from indoor season this outdoor season. So I went out in the mile with a ton of adrenaline. This race is all I had been thinking about all week, so I was so nervous. We got out and I was pretty quickly right at the front with Ladeja and some other girl who just got out too fast. Eliza doesn't like to get out fast so she hung back for the first 2 or 3 hundred meters. We came through the first lap at about 1:18-19. Me, Ladeja, and Eliza started to seperate as the lead pack but still stuck together for the next lap. I can't even remember the rest of our splits because I was just pushing so hard. Lap 4, the 3 of us seperated out a little and we placed as predicted. I had no clue what my time was but I knew it had to be fast because that was the most painful 1600 I'd ever endured. I killed myself on the last lap. I later found out it was 5:31, a 7 second PR, and I was so happy about that! I am dying to break 5:30 but this was a huge step towards that goal! Plus that qulifies me for state, which I never would have thought I would be going to for the mile!
After my mile I felt absolutely terrible. I threw up a few times and couldn't down anything except a few Ritz crackers and water. I had put absolutely every ounce of me into that mile and I had no idea how I was going to be able to run the 2. I warmed up though, which already was hurting really bad, a little bit, but not much because it was extremely hot. The heat was definitely promoting my fatigue. We got on the line and Ladeja basically told me she wasn't going to work hard for this and was just gonna take 4th (she already qualified in 3 other events that she is better at and didn't want to run it at state), which didn't help my motivation at all, but it did help my stress level a little bit because I knew I had 3rd in the bag. We got out well for the first 800 and then definitely started slowin. Mile split was 6:08. Me and Ladeja were going back and forth the first mile but I remembered what she said and I wasn't really worried about her taking a real lead. The last mile was AWFUL and I was just dying inside wanting it to be over. I slowed down to like 1:38 laps when I knew Ladeja had fallen back and I had 3rd easily. Can't remember the last race I wanted to be over this badly. I finished and I didnt care at all about my time. I just was excited about qualifying for states in both of my events and super excited for Eliza because she beat the East Lincoln girl by 20-something seconds who was predicted to win by like 20 seconds. I didn't really cool down, which I am regretting now. Definitely gonna do a good shakeout run tomorrow.
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