AM: I was only allowed to do a two mile shakeout this morning. I didn't charge my Garmin and I needed it to be charged for later so I just left it charging and ran my normal two mile loop. I don't know what pace was like, but I just went with whatever I felt like. PM: REGIONS! Wow, I can't believe it is already Regions. Where did the season go? I went into this race feeling confident, but nervous. I have been the top runner in the region all season, but I know that a lot of guys do some incredible stepping up at this race. But, I knew I would fight with everything I had to win as well. I have trained hard these last few months, and my ultimate goal was to be Region champion. We arrived at the race and I had like two and a half hours to my race. I did the usual pre-race stuff in that time. With like an hour and a half left I began my warm up, or rather, the waking up of my legs. This is the first race that I have tapered at all for, and my legs aren't used to being this fresh. So, I knew I would have to get in a solid warm up to shake off the sluggish feeling from them. After about three miles I finally started to feel less sluggish. I took a small break after that to get some water, eat a little something, and cheer on the Varsity girls. Then I went for another two continuous miles. By the end of that I was finally feeling like I was about to race. I put on my spikes and did a little more warm up over to the line and then strides. I got in a few good strides and then the official started us. Right off the line I took the lead, which is something I usually don't do. I usually wait for the guys who start fast, to begin to feel the pace and die off, before I take the lead. Well, I guess I went out faster than I realized because there was no one next to me off the line and there wouldn't be the entire race. Afterwards, Bill told me that guys were scrambling to go with me and not let me get away. Well, I continued on the pace I established past the roller coaster the first time. Going down Bessie is when I got the first clue as to how far behind guys were. By how it sounded from cheering, Jacob from WX was within 15 meters behind me. Before the race started, I wasn't expecting to break away until like mile 2-ish. Apparently, that wasn't the case. So, I thew in a surge right off the turn of Bessie towards the triple trunk tree. I drove up the hill and pushed the flat of the backstretch. By how it sounded, it worked because when I got around Miranda the first time, I caught a glimpse of the chase guys just coming down the last little hill right onto Miranda. So my lead was about 40 meters. I got over to Bessie and I drove up that hill too. I know that hills like Bessie are my strength, so I made sure to power up it and open up the gap even more. Coming off roller coaster and making that sharp turn to go around the softball fields, I caught another glimpse of the Jacob, who had broken away from the chase pack, coming off of roller coaster. So my lead was probably 60-70 meters. This whole time I hadn't looked at my watch, which I wish I had at mile one, but I forgot. Going around the softball fields, about 150 meters from mile two, I saw Bill and he said to me "You've got a great time going, I want you to push this last mile and break 15!" My initial thought was, "Oh Bill, you and your crazy goals.." Then I looked at my watch at mile two-ish and saw that I was in the high 9:40's, and thought to myself "Holy crap! Maybe I CAN break fifteen!" Well, from this point I stopped worrying about the gap and chase pack, and just started focusing on pushing the last mile. I went up and around Miranda, and then up that last steep little hill and onto the backstretch. I pushed off the hill and accelerated to get right into my pace again. I worked on that last back stretch, because from there all that's left is Bessie one last time. I drove up Bessie for the last time in my high school career, and accelerated off the downhill to kick with everything I had left. I finished with a time of 15:14, 32 seconds ahead of the next guy! And, this is a PR by like 33 seconds too! And with this win, all those months of high mileage and hard workouts payed off. I was in a rush after between all the people wanting to talk to me and then the awards following closely, I only had time for a half mile cool down right before we had to leave.
I did well in this race. I have to work on getting out better to get with those top guys sooner, and I definitely practiced that. It's a shame I didn't see my first mile split, but it was definitely low 4:50's or perhaps under 4:50. Best of all, I pushed every little bit of this race, and worked every single hill. Although, had there been someone on me during the entire race, I know I could have been faster. If I pushed with someone else, I just might have broken 15. Either way, I couldn't be happier with this race. I won, I PR'ed immensely, and then to top it off at the awards I turned out to be All-Region! Everything came together just right, and now I can finally call myself a Region champ! And now, STATE.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/229878642
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