AM: No school today! I slept in, then went for an easy three mile run. Felt great! Excited for the race later! http://connect.garmin.com/activity/227722961 PM: After arriving at the race, I sat around with the team since I had done my shakeout this morning. After an intense game of UNO, I took the JV boys on a warm up. We got about 1.5 before they had to go to the line. Afterwards I sat around a little more, went to the bathroom, ate a little food and kept hydrated. Then I got the Varsity guys together and we went for some warm up. It was kind of hard to time when to start warming up because they were running behind with all the races. After a good warm up of about 4.5 miles, I put on my flats and we all headed to the line. I got in some good strides in between all of Bill's pre-race advice. Bill told me I had nothing to lose at this race. My biggest problem racing is that I don't get out well enough and I have to really work to get to the group I want/should be in. Well he told me that today I was to put myself right with the leaders, and that if I died later in the race it was okay, but he wanted to me to push with the leaders for as long as possible. Well, that's just what I did. There was a bit of confusion at the line as to where exactly the line was. All the guys had lined up at a very faint, but distinguishable line, yet the official guy came along and pushed us all back a good ten meters. Then he told us to come forward another 2-3 meters and we lined up on an invisible line. That was annoying. Plus, the commands were "On Your Mark," then the gun. Well I'm used to stepping up to the line but since there was no line I could see, I was thoroughly confused. Right after he said "On Your Mark," he fired the gun, and it took me by surprise, so I didn't have as quick a reaction to it as I usually do. Consequently, both groups of guys on either side of me got out right in front of me and I was blocked in for the first 30-40 meters. Then a race miracle happened. The guys right in front of me were all shifting to try to get around other guys, and there was a perfect path left open for me :) Going around the first turn right off the line I was able to pass a lot of guys and before we hit the road I had reached the leaders. Then I just tucked in right behind the Heriman guys and focused on controlling my breathing, because I had caught the leaders on a pure adrenaline rush and was breathing harder than I wanted. Despite all this though, my legs were feeling remarkably fresh. I was right behind the Heriman guys for the about .75 miles until we made the sharp left turn onto the trail that took us on the hilly loop. Up until now there had been minimal movement among the lead pack, from which I could tell had about 6-7 guys in it. After the sharp left turn, it continues as a gradual incline until the trail turns and we head up a windy, steep uphill. Coming off the turn here, I was right next to the leaders, Chuk from Heriman and Kramer from Alta (both Bloggers!). I had seen Bill right before this part and he was yelling something about how "I had it for this race" and then I remembered the strategy he told me to take, so after hesitating a few moments, I took the lead going up the hill. What surprised me is that I really was feeling quite good at this point. I didn't feel like I was pushing the hill harder than I normally do, which scared me more than anything. Mentally, I was kinda freaking out that I had just taken the lead from some really fast guys, but then again I was feeling good so I just drove up the hill and continued to push the pace. When I was almost at the top of the hill Chuk caught me and then going down the hill Kramer went right with Chuk. I was trying to go with them, and I was still feeling pretty fresh considering the long, steep hill, but I just couldn't get myself to lean and increase turnover on the downhill. So this is my main weakness, downhill. I was going as hard as I could down the hill and then Rory from Hermian caught me. I went with him for a bit but eventually he pulled away; a little while later, all this still on downhill, Ricky from Wyoming caught me and slowly pulled away as well. Finally the downhill was starting to end and we came across a small stretch of flat. After that we were back on the trail right before we make the sharp left turn, and we had a small, gradual uphill before we had the long, downhill finish. I was about 40 meters behind Ricky, who at this point had almost closed on Rory. I closed on them for a bit until they got to the downhill part. From here it's just an all out sprint. It is a great finish for most, but downhill is not my friend. Here is where I suddenly began to feel the pace. I got to the downhill part and was just giving what I had, but by this point I was dying. I kicked it in as best as I could and managed to not get caught by the guys behind me. They were both closing on me, but luckily I had a big enough gap on them. Overall, this was a great race for me. I got out of my comfort zone and put myself up there with the leaders early on. This race gave me confidence in my endurance and strength. I know I can push with the fast guys, and this race showed me that I need work on downhills, as well as just kicking harder. I raced well and got a good time on a very tough course, at higher altitude than I'm used to. Plus I had a lot of fun racing! After I got a mile cool down with my phone (oh yeah, I forgot my Garmin) and then we all headed over to the awards. After I got my medal the team headed to the Loco Lizard for some dinner!
| 