Notes
Sorry for the long logs. When I look back on this weekend I want to remember as much as possible because I had a blast.
When i graduated high school and heard about this club, I had one goal that I wanted to accomplish in college. All I wanted to beat my mile time of 4:31. The mile has always been my favorite race, so when I came to the club freshman year and couldn't break 4:50, I was pretty upset. I had gotten 20 seconds worse in 9 months time. I told myself that my track days were over and that I would focus on cross instead. But I kept signing up for the mile at meets just like I had in high school. I kept running badly compared to what I had done before. Small improvements came at meets, but I couldn’t touch my PR. Sophomore year I ran a 4:46. Again, I just accepted that I didn’t have that sort of mid distance speed anymore. But that’s not true. I always kept signing up for the mile because a part of me hoped that I could have a breakout race that could at least bring me close to my PR. I missed being fast and I didn’t want to be the guy who peaked in high school. Fast forward to NIRCA Nats.
The night before, I could not sleep at all (not because of the Mega-Bed). Maybe 3-4 hours total. I woke up and had a big breakfast and kept snacking until around 1PM. I didn’t race until around 5:15ish. Did a light shakeout when we got to the stadium and then just lazed around until 90 minutes before my race. That’s when I drank around 650-700mg of caffeine. Before this, the most I had ever had at once was around 350mg. Hooooly cow I was on another planet. Looking back it was kind of scary. I was hyperventilating and my eyes were dilating. I couldn’t focus on anything. The warmup felt really tough and my heart was pounding out of my chest. But it was too late to change anything now, and just had to trust that I knew what I was doing. I went to the bathroom like 4 times and as I was spiking up I remember thinking I had to pee so badly. I didn’t have time to do that, so I’d have to run with a full bladder. I hoped that the feeling would go away once I started, and it did. The plan was to go out comfortably, and stick with Rhode until the last lap. A week earlier I PR’ed with a 4:19, and Rhode had a 4:20, so I knew he would race smart. My brain wasn’t working right at this point anyway.
I have no idea what any of my splits are, but I remember coming through the 800 not feeling comfortable at all. I was feeling bad, but every time Rhode made a move around someone, I would go with him. With 400 to go, I saw all the Illinois people lining the curve, and I saw Connor holding Katie’s speaker above his head. I couldn’t hear anything, but I knew for a fact that he was playing Black Skinhead. I tried to smile but it probably didn’t look like it. The only think I heard was Ryan yelling at me. Something along the lines of “You have a 65 second kick? Lets see it.” I don’t really remember exactly. But I went balls to the wall. It felt really fast, and I wish I knew what I closed in. I tried to go for the win, but the two guys in front of me juuust pulled ahead. There was about a half second between us three.
When I saw 4:09 I couldn’t believe it. I would’ve been content with a 4:18. I was stumbling around for a bit and I my head was hurting so bad. The caffeine crash hit me hard, and I was basically a zombie for the next few hours. 4:09 converts to about a 4:27 1600m, which is well under my HS PR. My original goal is all but accomplished. I just have to do it in a full mile race now. But I can’t even describe how happy I am with this race. 3 years of feeling like a shell of my former running self is gone. I’ve always considered my 4:31 mile the best race of my life. Now it’s this race. Thank you to Richard for the coaching, for Rhode for the pacing and tactics, and to everyone at the Illinois camp for cheering. I couldn’t have done it without you.