Notes
Novice meet. 5th place in the race, 4th place in my division. I felt really good about how I ran. It was a pretty crazy race, similar to my sophomore year with the novice meet, where there was a huge pack from 4th to about 9th, all aiming for a medal. It got pretty rough at some points: it was crowded, there was a little bit of shoving and pushing, people were getting cut off, and everything. I have to admit though at some turns I would drift a little outside if someone was trying to pass me (no reason to make it easier on them).
I wasn't quite sure what place I was in, but I was determined to try to beat anyone ahead of me, especially if I recognized their jersey as being Division 1. On the second to last lap I saw someone that looked like a Division 1 competitor, and I was slowly gaining on him, so I set my sights for him. I worked up so that I was right behind him going into the last lap, and I passed him early in the last lap. At one point I saw someone come up in my peripheral vision (around the last turn) and I knew I wasn't going to let anyone out lean/kick me again. I kicked it in as hard as I could, never looked back, and never gave up my spot. 2/2 for out-kicking people this week!
There were times during the race that I also wanted to just coast it in and run easy. My mind tried to say, "Who cares about this race, it doesn't even look like you'll medal anyway, why make it hurt for nothing?" I remembered the Ultramarathon Man book (still fresh on my mind if you couldn't tell), where someone's philosophy on races + life was that it was far better to have a spectacular crash and burn where you could barely stand up from exhaustion than to just take it easy. That helped inspire me, along with another team's coach (of all sources). He said something to his runner about medalling, and that just really reminded me that I was there to medal. Not to have a fun, enjoyable easy time, but to actually make a difference, to push myself to the limit, and to get rewarded all the work I've put into my body and this sport. There was going to be nothing that stood between me and my recognition, even if I had no idea what place I was actually in.
This also paces to a PR for my 2 mile! I've improved since last spring!
Oddly enough, my 1st mile time also beat Hammond's mile time tonight (5:18).