Well I didn't think I'd make it this far....

AM: Went on an easy 7 on my own this morning. 

PM: Did an easy 6 after work. 

AM: Did a light workout this morning. Warmed up 1.5 miles, then did 2X (1.5 miles) at between 8:30 and 9:00 for the whole rep. I jogged a mile in between them. I hit 8:40 on the first, then 8:43 on the second. I felt good, just relaxed into the pace. Then cooled down to get to 7 miles.

PM: Did the usual track stuff, then a mile WU and mile speed changes. We were doing 2X (600, 400, 300, 300) at mile pace, but I did another set afterwards. My goal pace was (1:36, 63.5, 47, 47). We jogged back to the start between the 600 and the four, before the 300's, and had standing recovery otherwise. My times went like this (1:37, 63, 45, 46)(1:36, 63, 46, 47) and then on my own (1:35, 62, 44, 45). After the second set I was feeling it, and the third set I mainly only had to focus on the 600. But I felt strong and I hit my times. Afterwards I did four miles cool down to get the lactic out.

    Solid workout and today served to give me some of my confidence back that I so desperately have been wanting this past weekend.

AM: Easy four on my own.

PM:  After the usual track stuff, we did a mile WU and speed changes, then we did 3X200 and 2X300. I hit 27-28 on the 200's and 42, 43 on the 300's. Then we cooled down about a mile, then I did another mile and a half to be at 6 for the afternoon.

AM: Went on a three mile shakeout. 

PM: We got to Woods Cross High and there was pretty bad weather. Right as we were setting up the tents it started raining, and then thunder and lightning soon followed. The weather got worse and worse for about 40 minutes before the coaches came out of their meeting and decided to cancel the meet and make it a Thursday-Friday meet. That sucked for me because I have to take an AP test on Friday, plus it's an afternoon one, so they are going to have to do some sort of rearranging of events.

   Right after they decided to cancel the meet, we were picking up all our stuff and the weather got a lot nicer. The sun had come out, it had stopped raining, and even the wind had calmed down. Oh well, at least the bus ride home was nice.

     I just went home since it was about 5 and I was too hungry to run. I ate dinner when I got home and then did my workout right as the sun set. It was 10 minutes warm up, then 10X (1 min on/1 min off), then ten minutes cool down. As I was walking in the door my dog was giving me his puppy dog look, so I decided to take him for a walk. I was still in my running clothes, so right after we started the walk, I began to jog  a little and see how long my dog could keep up.

     To say the least, Duke's a big guy. European Great Dane and about 190 lbs. This particular breed of Great Dane isn't athletic at all and they dehydrate quite rapidly, so I was careful to see how he held up. I was surprised he made it about a mile at a medium fast jog. He drank about a gallon of water afterwards and then fell asleep until morning, but he made it a mile :D

AM: Went on an easy 3 mile shakeout on my own. 

PM: After arriving, I started warming up. I got about a mile and a half warm up, which is much less than I usually like to get, then a few good strides in. My focus for Region is just to get as many points as I can for the team, which means trying for the win in the 800, 1600, and 3200. I was feeling decent for the race and knew that it would just be a back and forth battle between Marcus and I. I put on my spikes and got over to the line.

     The gun went off and I got a pretty good start. I went right to the lead, and lead for the first lap. Marcus passed me right before 400, which I was expecting since he tends to push the pace early (62). He surged and I stuck on him. He lead for the next lap and we hit 2:08ish 800. I swung off the curve and passed him at 900 meters, but he passed me again on the second curve. He made another surge and I stuck on him. I was right on him until 300 to go, where I again swung and passed him, but this time kept surging away from him. I gapped him by about a second and it pretty much stayed that way until the finish. I kicked but not as hard as I could have. There was no need to kick that hard today. I crossed the line and had a mid 4:18 on my watch, but of course the timing said 4:19.06. Just barely didn't break 4:19, but oh well. Still a good race and faster than I thought we would run.

       I was done racing for today, so afterwards, Marcus, John, and I cooled down and we talked the whole time. Marcus is such a cool guy and we hit it off and had some good conversations. We became friends and I invited him to run with the team this summer and he said he would love to, so I'm really excited! We ran about 3 miles total.

AM: Went on an easy two mile shakeout, then took an ice bath.

PM: I had the AP Stats test today, which was supposed to start at 12 but ended up starting nearly at 1. It sucked to have to take an AP test the day of a Region, again, but oh well. They rearranged some events at Region so that those taking the test could make it. I ended up getting to the meet a little later than I expected, so I didn't have as much time to warm up. When I got there, they said the 800 would start in 15 minutes. In that time I got about a mile and a half in warm up and strides, then got to the line.

      I focused on getting out well. I'm not used to 800 starts, and I always end up getting out like in last place. So I got out well, and by 150 meters moved into the lead. I made sure to push that first lap, but I also kept some in the tank to out kick if I needed it. I hit a 57-58 first lap and then held what I thought was about a 60ish pace for the next lap. In the last 100 meters, I picked up the pace and saw that there was no one on me, so I kicked, but definitely not as hard as I could have. I got the win and it was also a nice surprise to finally break 2:00, and qualify for state on time.

      I jogged around about a mile with John in between watching some other races. By the time the two came, I put my spikes back on and got to the line. My goal for this was just to hit consistent splits, and out kick if I had to, although I doubted I would have to. I took it out a bit slower than I think was expected and saw that no one was willing to take the lead and push, so I just got ready to hit my splits. I think the first lap was a high 71, so a slow first lap. From here I just hammered out what I thought would be 4:40 pace, and I ended up hitting a 4:42-43 first mile, so a bit slower than I wanted but alright. Marcus was right on me to this point. The next two laps were the same. I slowed down a couple seconds and Marcus was right on me. Then on the last straight of lap 6 I saw by his shadow that Marcus had fallen of about 2 or 3 strides, so I threw in a surge and broke away from him. From here I just hit the same pace again, maybe a second or two faster, and brought it in to a 9:34. So a solid race.

      I then jogged around for about 3 or 4 minutes before I had to get ready for the 4X400. It was tough to throw out a fast 400 after the 800 and the 3200, but at least I held our position well enough. I got the baton in second and held it until the last 30 or so meters. I handed off pretty much even with two other guys, so John was right in their mix when he got the baton. He had an awesome kick for just having raced the 3200 and got us 3rd. Hooray for more points! I jogged around for probably a half mile right after.

      After that they did some awards and they announced the team scores. Despite how well I thought we did, the guys still finished in fourth which was a bit disappointing, but whatever. I was happy that I got the wins I did, and I have rebuilt my confidence over these past two days which I lost at BYU.

AM: This morning I met Bill, Chris, and Sarah at the track to get a workout in. We started with the VA loop over to the cemetery, then did five reps of the hill and exited after one lap, back over to the track along Guardsman, then five of the asphalt hill, followed by two progressive 300's which I hit in 44,43. I had to get home because of a family outing, so I didn't have time to do any cool down. I believe 8.5 is around what the total for me was.