Notes
League meet at WH. A little sick- cold- the previous few days, but felt fine during the race today in that respect. Z told me, Coner, and Johnny (as well as Mike D and Jesse) to go out and try to run with WH's 5th man. I didn't have a great start. The course starts with a lap on the track, and I ended up boxed in and towards the back of the pack ayfter the first straightaway (it starts at the 100m dash start). I stabyed calm, got outside, and made up the ground on the back straight, catching up to the top group. Our pack coalesced into me, Jesse, Mike, Johnny, and a few WH kids. The pace felt pretty fast, but I was still feeling ok (as it was the beginning of the race) and convinced myself that the pace would naturally slow down. I did a good job of hanging with this group over the first mile. Coming out of the first mile, Johnny passed me and started to pull away with Mike and Jesse. I latched on to a WH kid, and did a good job of focusing on him for the next mile, around the WH fields. There was a hill coming into the start of the third mile, where I passed the WH kid. The course then followed the first loop around the school again. At some point the WH kid passed me, as did two or three more WH kids. As we entered the fields heading back to the track for the finish, Eric passed me (and gained 15 seconds on me before the end). I still finished 5 seconds ahead of Coner, who I didn't see the entire race. We won the meet by a fairly close margin.
I'm happy with this race. Obviously, I would have liked to have run a faster time and have been in the top 7 for Pembroke, but I don't think that was going to happen today. I still believe that I will have a chance to get there by the season's end.
I did a good job today, I believe, of going out and racing- not thinking about how I was feeling, but simply doing my best to hang with the people I wanted to hang with and then compete against him. Although Jesse, Mike, and Johnny pulled away after a mile, I still had Jesse and Mike close all through the second mile. The third mile didn't go so great for me. Although I'm sure that Eric at least is purposely running slower at the beginning and faster at the end, I think that the majority of the fault for me getting passed in the final mile lies with me. I did make an effort to pick off the first kid who passed me and go with him, but I didn't have the juice to switch gears. I think there are a few factors in my getting blown by near the race's end:
1. It is possible that I am starting too fast. I think, however, that this is to be accepted if I want to compete in the race; I can't lose contact with anyone I hope to finish with.
2. It could be that I am just not "race sharp" yet, and that I don't have the strength yet to run a race hard to the end. I was feeling sore before the race today from training. This week being a light week, I will probably feel somewhat better Saturday. In any case, if this is the problem than it will naturally go away as my fitness improves and I become more race ready.
3. I think that one component is that I don't have the right mindset for the end of the race. At some point in the final mile- maybe not the whole mile, but with at least a half mile to go- I need to stop thinking about hanging with whoever I am running with and start thinking about picking it up and running in as fast as possible. A prolonged kick over the last half mile to mile will serve me better than a really fast, short finishing kick, which I never really have anyway. As I got onto the school loop after the mile marker with a mile to go today, I should have been thinking about doing whatever it takes to drop the kid I was with. I think that once I took my pace up a notch, I hopefully would be able to use the momentum to finish the race strong, rather than having people come after me and trying to pick up their pace. I know it seems obvious that I need to try and get it over with one the last mile, but I think its worth putting in writing.
With no workouts this week, I won't really get a chance to "prove myself" again until Saturday's meet. I will come up with some concrete goals as it approaches, but I am really excited for it. I think that being number one for Pembroke should be my first goal... which means beating Coner and Eric, something I think I am up for.
I think that Johnny probably has the talent that if he wants to, he will always be able to beat me. Coner, Eric, and Mike, however, I think that I can beat. I know that I can beat Coner and Eric; I did it last year, and I have done much more training over the summer than they have. In addition, I have ran at exactly Jesse's level for two years of track, and I KNOW that I can run with him. I have faith that if I keep putting in the work, everything will come together for me by the season's end.