Notes
2016 NIRCA Nationals Men's Championship Race in Hershey, PA
Arrive at the course at ~7:40, so had a decent amount of time to relax before my race at 11. Team set up camp, and then spent some time catching up with Bobby, who made a surprise appearance at NIRCA Nats despite being only 1 week removed from being medically cleared to run post stress fracture. Then found Cobert and spent a long time catching up with him! We went to watch the JR/SR Men's B race, and I ended hanging out with him and some of the other Davis boys. Saw the IXC boys crush it big time, which set a great tone for the day. S/O to Quinn aka The Jackhammer aka Cali QT on taking home the W. Watched the start of the girls JR/SR race, then met the squad for the warm up.
Following the wu, immediately grabbed my things and went over to the line to get some quiet time to focus. Did a normal series of drills and then it was time to go. Gun went off and I made sure to get off the line and then settle in in the front middle, probably around 60th place. Grouped up with the team, and really tried to stay relaxed. Hit the mile just under 5:20 in a pack with Weem, Josh, and Frintner feeling real good. During the first hill loop, I was really focusing on just surviving using as little energy as possible. Took the first big downhill too hard, and was gassed on the next uphill, so focused on just going with the downs, and not doing too much or too little on them. Entered the second loop on the Aloha hills, and started to move up. From here, Josh and I worked really well together and traded off leads on the ups and downs and started to move up in the field. Came up on Cobert coming down a hill and he latched on and started rolling with us. Coming out of the hills into the flatter section of the course (~3 miles), Cobert and then Josh made big moves to really get moving. I couldn't quiet cover this move, so they both gapped me a bit, but I was still moving up in the field. There was a huge, scary down hill that crossed a road at the bottom, I was afraid my spikes would slip on, so I took it pretty carefully. At the bottom, we entered a big, flat area where you could see the entire field. Heard someone say I was in 34th, and counted Josh up ahead of me in 30th, so I started feeling really good then. Almost immediately moved up to Josh. At this point, we were in a big group of maybe 15 guys placed from 25th-40th. Things were pretty intense at this point, as everyone seemed to recognize that this was the group that would decide all-american status. With about a mile to go, we turned to head up poop-out hill. Josh and I were running stride for stride up the hill. Made it up the hill and got to the k mark, and really started to roll then. Pulled ahead of Josh a tad bit, and had my eyes up on a Penn St. guy about 5 or so guys ahead. Gave everything I had to move up to him, dueling with a few guys and passing a few more. Came around the last turn going into the last 200 and just took off. Beat the 2 guys I was running with and caught 3 more in the straight away to finish the race. Turned around and saw Joshie right there, which was awesome!
Team placed 4th overall, which is always tough. However, we were 80 points out of 3rd, so there was not all that much more we could have done. The other teams just had a bit more firepower than we did. S/O to Davis and specifically Cobert on the huge race! They earned it. I'm extremely proud of our boys on the race we ran and the all the work we put in all season long. Also, we had great races throughout all the races. More S/O to Anneliese for her all-american performance, and Leonel for his runner up race in the FR/SO race where he almost died at the end. This was a great trip to end a great IXC career. I will miss this team so much. Love you all! Thnks fr th mmrs :') <3
Now for some down time and then onto track!!!