You've got to want it to win it

This morning I went to church with a few of my teammates before some of us competed this afternoon.  We were an interesting group with half of us in jeans or sweats but the ward members wished us luck in our events today.  Later after returning to my hotel room I watched a movie to pass the time until I would need to begin my walk over to Hayward field.  I just had enough time before beginning my warmup to watch Rose compete in the 800 final.  For my warmup I ran laps in the cemetery just behind the practice fields where all of the team tents were set up.  It was nice there because there were soft paths to run on and it was shaded from the heat of the day.  After 2 and a quarter miles I ended up back at the tent and then took a final potty break before checking in and then doing strides and drills.  When they called us to the bull pen I grabbed my spikes and headed over.  I changed my shoes there and then they had us take everything with as we walked to the room under the west bleachers.  After giving all of us our numbers I quickly decided to splash myself with cold water, as some of the other girls were doing, before they lined us up to walk us out.  It reminded me of state last year when Bill poured a whole bottle of water over me before the 3200.  Once we were over at the start we had time for just a couple strides before getting on the line.  I was on the first waterfall about in the middle, and got a pretty decent start.  Quickly I was able to get to the inside and held my position there in the middle of the pack.  Here I told myself I just needed to be patient.  As I learned from my last 2 races, moving to the outside you have nowhere else to go.  The first lap I think was around an 81 or 82 so not bad.  The second lap the front of the group turned into a line but at the back we were still bunched up in a pack, so I waited for it to thin our a bit more.  Second lap we came through at about 2:40 so still at a good pace (though for this race I wasn't focusing so much on pace as keeping a good position and running better than my last 2 races).  On the third lap (or maybe the 4th, I can't really remember...) coming around the curve onto the back stretch the pack in front of the pack I was in started to break away so I left my pack and chased the other one.  This gave me what I needed to keep passing throughout the rest of the race.  I think the mile was around 5:30 but at this point I really didn't care so much about pace.  Halfway through I was at 8:37 so I knew I'd have to pull off a big negative split to go sub 17, but I was happy because I was catching and passing people the whole time :)  at 3200 I was at around 11 minutes so still even :)  I felt really strong the last mile and was really excited the last 2 laps to be so close to finishing and still gaining on people!  On the last lap I didn't kick too hard or I might have caught another girl or two, but after I finished I was in a self battle to not puke.  Even though I didn't come close to a PR and I didn't score, I am still really happy with how I raced and was able to make the situation work for me :)  Also there were people cheering for me on the home stretch in the stands and I couldn't tell who they were so I just pretended that it was different people every time, that really helped too :)  And on the back stretch I knew my teammates were there and also even though that stretch was into the wind I battled it like I did at the regional meet for cross country and was able to pass people.  A few minutes after sitting back at the team tent concentrating on getting my stomach to settle, I grabbed my iPod and went for a cooldown.  I ran out towards the Pre Trails.  I walked some of it because I felt like crap but most of the way I ran.  I went halfway across the bridge toward the trails and then turned around, finishing the cooldown to get to a full 8 miles.  As I was leaving the stadium after the meet was over I passed by a tent that had a bunch of Oregon shirts as they were cleaning up.  I thought about getting a Pre shirt but then decided maybe I'd get one another time... But as I walked away I changed my mind and went back and got a yellow "Go PRE" shirt :)  and I got $3 off since the sign that was up earlier said $20 but the guy who pulled the shirt out of the box looked at the price on the tag that was $17 instead :)  Then as I left the stadium again Amanda, Andrea, and AuraLea found me with the car so we went straight to dinner and for frozen yogurt (3 days in a row for Amanda and me!) and then to Pre's rock.  

After hanging out with the other 3 distance girls for a bit, Amanda and Andrea convinced AuraLea and I to go for an hour run with them.  We went out on Pre's trails behind the river that goes behind people's backyards, this time out for half an hour.  We went so far that the trail ended and we ended up at some different park, and then some bird watch place.  At half an hour we turned around and went back the same way.  We went a lot faster on the way back, we had averaged 8 minute pace on the way out and I was getting about 7:40 pace for the way back, the other girls totally lost me and I'm guessing they were 7:20-30 pace!  I was just short of 7.5 when we got back to the hotel so I added just a bit more until I reached it and then I was done.  It felt great to be done and I'm glad I went, but I think I will probably take tomorrow off since I don't usually run Sunday and I got a lot of miles in!  It has been a really fun weekend and I've really loved it here in Eugene :)  I hope that I will have other opportunities to come back and run at Hayward Field :)