RunningAHEAD - Topic: For the faster folks here

Mr Inertia

Suspect Zero

posted: 4/4/2008 at 8:09 AM

Tell us about the first time you won a race.

Lane

posted: 4/4/2008 at 8:18 AM
modified: 4/4/2008 at 8:20 AM

Freshman year I won the 800m race at the home meet on our school's dirt track. I started out hard, and nobody caught me. I was very surprised, but very excited. There weren't very many fast people in the race, but a win is a win, and it was a big deal as a freshman.

Scout7

posted: 4/4/2008 at 8:38 AM

Senior year, cross country. Of course, our coach made the #1 guy on the team do a real heavy workout the day before the race, and let me take first. But hey, I'll take it.

spaniel

Feeling the growl again

posted: 4/4/2008 at 8:45 AM

I can't remember the first time I won a race. Probably some 3200m in HS in a dual meet. I don't win a lot of races, even at my peak I didn't because I typically entered races where I had to push myself to be my best...meaning there were faster people to pull me along. When I ran sub-31 10K it was a dream race, best race experience I ever had, and the fact that I was 3rd didn't matter to me. The races I win are typically local races where it's not close and they're not very memorable.

"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

Mr R

posted: 4/4/2008 at 9:43 AM

I was running the 400 on a long turn track. It was a small meet and I'd never run the event before. I was in the outside lane, so I was basically starting on the backstretch, and I couldn't see my competition. I took off at pretty much 100%. On the turn, I kept anticipating everyone passing me on the inside. I was sure it was going to happen. When I hit the homestretch, I still couldn't see anyone. I was totally shocked and thrilled. I didn't see my competitors until after the race.

What was the secret, they wanted to know; in a thousand different ways they wanted to know The Secret. And not one of them was prepared, truly prepared to believe that it had not so much to do with chemicals and zippy mental tricks as with that most unprofound and sometimes heart-rending process of removing, molecule by molecule, the very tough rubber that comprised the bottoms of his training shoes. The Trial of Miles, Miles of Trials. How could they be expected to understand that? -John Parker

bells

posted: 4/4/2008 at 11:39 AM

The first race I won was during my freshman year of high school. The first five guys on the varsity team were pretty solid, and after them we had three of us who were about the same speed, so we bounced back and forth from varsity and JV based on the previous race. It just so happened that the race before our home invitational, I was 8th man, so I was in the JV race that day. It was only the third or fourth meet of the season, and my first JV race ever. I was pretty confident I'd place high, much higher than I'd been placing in varsity races, and my coach even said to me before the race "I expect you're going to win this, so just go ahead and run for time." It's still one of my favorite XC races ever; I took the lead in the first 400 meters and just never gave it up. It was so exciting, because the school drum line was out, and a lot of my teachers were there to watch their students, and I won by 20-30 seconds. Not only that, but it was enough to earn me back a varsity spot! It was basically just a good day all around.

Hannibal Granite

posted: 4/4/2008 at 11:44 AM
modified: 4/4/2008 at 11:50 AM

I won the first heat (the slow heat) of a mile race when I was a senior in high school, only to end up in either 5th or 6th after the fast heat. My first real win was a 3000m race as a freshman in college, I had already run the 10,000m earlier in the meet, but there were only 3 or 4 other runners and the coach knew I could get some more points for the team. The coolest part was that my parents and my HS girlfriend had come to see the meet. MTA: I must admit that the coach also put me in the 5000m at the end of the meet for the same reason (only a couple of other runners) and I finished DFL

"You NEED to do this" - Shara

JakeKnight

posted: 4/4/2008 at 11:50 AM

Well this one time in eighth grade ... Oh. I thought you said fatter. Never mind.

E-mail: eric.fuller.mail@gmail.com
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Mr Inertia

Suspect Zero

posted: 4/4/2008 at 11:52 AM

Thanks. I'm racing tomorrow and was looking for some excitement and inspiration.

TanyaS

posted: 4/4/2008 at 12:00 PM

Funny, JK. I won a 10k when I was 27 on a flat, straight course through the redwoods in northern CA. I ran it in 38:50-ish and somehow won overall (apparently a lot of slow men there that day). I wish I'd bet somebody 2 cases of beer on THAT race. Evil grin

willamona

Hawt and sexy

posted: 4/4/2008 at 12:11 PM

Define faster... I started winning races in grade school in PE class. The boys didn't like that much. The PE teacher said I should go out for track in junior high, so I did. I was and still am, the pinnacle of mediocrity.

I'm touching your pants.

obsessor

posted: 4/4/2008 at 1:08 PM

First race I won outright was a half-marathon. I was 31 yrs old. (??) Leading the race from mile 3 onward, it was a mingled sensation of joy, fear, and pain. That is one addictive cocktail, but these days I tend to seek out better competition, and try to avoid an overly weak field.

Run To Win

#2867

posted: 4/4/2008 at 1:15 PM

I'm not sure what the first race I won outright was. I was generally the 3rd to 5th runner in cross country both in high school and college. Now and then I'd jump into 1st or 2nd for the team, but I don't recall actually winning a cross country race. During track I was always the mule, like Hannibal. In high school it was the 5000m followed immiediately by anchoring the 4x800 (which we did win but doesn't really count) followed a few events later by the 1600 followed at the end of the meet by the 3200. I might have been able to win any one of those, but generally ran for 2nd or 3rd to score points in all of them. College I usually did the 5000m or 10000m and sometimes had to do both. Might have won one or two of those. Road races I've won quite a few of, both in school and post-grad. No idea what was the first one though.

Run to Win
25 Marathons, 17 Ultras, 16 States (Full List)

Runrtim57

Marathon Maniac #3309

posted: 4/4/2008 at 1:45 PM

Quote from obsessor on 4/4/2008 at 1:08 PM:

First race I won outright was a half-marathon. I was 31 yrs old. (??) Leading the race from mile 3 onward, it was a mingled sensation of joy, fear, and pain. That is one addictive cocktail, but these days I tend to seek out better competition, and try to avoid an overly weak field.

Dang dude, after looking at your training log.....you are fast Shocked

. And equally fast on very long distances. Tim

Running has given me the courage to start, the determination to keep trying, and the childlike spirit to have fun along the way - Run often and run long, but never outrun your Joy of running!

spaniel

Feeling the growl again

posted: 4/4/2008 at 3:26 PM

Quote from obsessor on 4/4/2008 at 1:08 PM:

First race I won outright was a half-marathon. I was 31 yrs old. (??) Leading the race from mile 3 onward, it was a mingled sensation of joy, fear, and pain. That is one addictive cocktail, but these days I tend to seek out better competition, and try to avoid an overly weak field.

Totally off-topic obsessor, but is that a home winemaking operation I see???

"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

For the faster folks here (Read 800 times)