Notes
15:00 WU
18:01 CD
Before I even ran WU (with Dillon Gaines and Swain), I did 4 barefoot strides with Alicia Arnold, who already raced. Note to self: Jumping into strides when you aren't stretched or warmed up is a dumb idea. My legs were definitely feelin' it. But the atmosphere was electric.
This was the event Jon organized to set a Guinness World Record for the largest relay of runners to run a mile each in 24 hours. I raced in spikes earlier at the Alumni Meet and opted for them again for the relay. After some dynamic stretches and strides, I was ready for my dad to hand off to me.
He finished his mile, handed me the baton, and I took off. Legs felt so so tired. Managed to run in the low-5:30s. Someone had me clocked at a 5:33. That is slower than my 10k pace, and I beat myself up for it a little. But as everyone reminded me, I was racing against myself out there, and the record we broke (of 180 people) averaged 8:00/mi pace.
I handed off to Swain, and she passed the baton to our old teammate Shaka Dukes, who passed that torch (get the metaphor?!) to soon-to-be sophomore on the team Max Benoit. Kevin Hanson, Sharkie, and the Greb family also ran miles while we were there. I was pleasantly surprised to see dozens of supporters there as well.
Swain remarked how I put so much pressure on myself and was an irrational bundle of nerves before my mile. I think she has a point...I never used to freak out this much before races. What's changed? Am I nervous because I'm going into my final year of athletics? Are confidence issues brimming to the surface? I will start working on developing a tougher and calmer mentality.