Notes
Augustana Brissman Lundeen Invitational 2015
Wow, extremely pleased with this one. First 8k PR since this meet 2 years ago, and finally the breakthrough I've been waiting for. Had a very stressful 3 hours or so before the race dealing with travel coordinator things, and then the entire meet got moved up 10 minutes when we got there, which only made things more hectic. Had our team warm up cut a little short and got the team to the line about 5 minutes before the gun went off. Tried to get the team settled down, because the rushed warm up seemed to have everyone a little spooked. Once the gun went off, all of the stress went away. Remembered getting boxed early last year, so I made sure to get out well towards the front. Ended up up right with the U of I varsity team. Settled in for the first 2k, and just tried to stay relaxed and in a good position. Found Frintner at 2k (!!!) and grouped up with him for the next 5 or so minutes before he fell off a little. Felt great until about 4.5k when a huge group from Loras College passed me, which caused me to lose focus and start to struggle. Found Joe Cowlin (varsity) and worked with him for a while. Going into the last 2k, I was almost content to just sit and coast in the rest of the race. Saw Steve and a big chunk of the girls team, which helped to get back into rhythm and keep moving up. Had a strong kick in a finished 30th, which was great. Saw my time crossing the line and I almost didn't believe it. I didn't think I was running that fast, I was just more focused on racing and beating people. Very encouraged, because this race was far from perfect. There's definitely a lot more time I could drop and a much more complete race I can run. Very excited for what the remainder of this season has in store.