Notes
CCIW 2014
25:55.12 (79 second PR, skipped the 26:ss and went all the way sub 26:00)
Came into today as our ninth man the past two weeks, knew I wanted to win a varsity spot for the postseason. Had dropped big time each meet, but pretty disappointed with how the season was going, had only gone 27:14. Training had gone well just hadn't got the break through race me and coach wanted. Got to race in the top 10 varsity race for us this weekend at Conference. Our goal was to beat Augie, which was gonna be pretty hard but we thought achievable. My goal was to go 26:30, go out in 5:20, and try to make the varsity lineup.
Beautiful day to run, flat course and good temp with no wind. Gun went off, very quickly got out quick, trying to stick with Gatlin at the beginning, came through 800 in 2:29 (coach later told us he lied when he told us 2:29, actually 2:25, but he didn't want us to freak out). Kept moving and came through the mile in 5:02, which was crazy way too fast, but I felt good and it didn't feel that hard. I knew then that I just had to keep taking risks and go all in and push hard. Me and Gatlin worked our way up towards Boggs and Dereck, and were a pack of four the rest of the race. Second mile passed a good amount of people, came through in 10:22 (5:16), and still feeling good. Course was very poorly marked, and so we just meandered as we saw fit. Finished the first loop feeling great. That third mile we kept cruising and we finally were able to see the Augie pack way in the distance. Clocked 15:28 through 3 miles (5:06) and still feeling great. It was at this point that I knew I could hang with the guys and that I could even end up scoring for us. I came into the race knowing I had to be super mentally tough from the 3-4 mile marks, that the 4th mile is where I had to push hardest. Stayed mentally focused, surged up a hill right when I was about to lose our guys and kept contact. We were looking great, coach and Wally were thrilled and were telling us now was the time to catch Augie. We came through 4 miles in 20:41 (5:13), in amazing pace. Right at the 4 mile mark, Boggs and Gatlin took off and I tried to go with them but couldn't, was a bit scared that last mile would be super tough. But me and Dereck kept pushing hard, coach yelled 3minutes left and we pushed hard. With 400 meters left me and Dereck took off, an Elmhurst guy passed us in the last 200, didn't have a great kick, but came through and saw my time was sub 26:00, and I was amazed. Finished the race in 25:55.12 (5:14). We were so stoked at the finish line, 7 guys sub 26, and our top pack was close to sub 25:00. We ran an incredible team race, everything finally came together, and our top 7 is set for a run for Nats. Regionals in two weeks, now I gotta just race as a pack with those guys. By far the best day in my running career. A huge PR, now a 25minute 8k runner, the highest I've placed since Clay Middle School. But the best part of the day was the pure joy that everyone had, the whole team PRed huge and everyone was so excited for each other. Huge day and such a blessing from God
5:02
10:22 (5:16)
15:28 (5:06)
20:41 (5:13)
25:55 (5:14)