Time Trial.

Who doesn't love a good race? Ask that question to a bunch of little kids and they'll scream/get excited about the opportunity to race. Ask that same question to me about twelve hours ago and I would have said "Not me." All throughout high school, I never got the true "racer's" mentality. Even now in college, I am still learning how to race properly. I know that every race is different and the only way to learn is through trial and error.

I woke up at 6:55am (too early....) and made my way downstairs to grab some breakfast, eating a bowl of cereal with some orange juice. I don't like to have a lot of food in my stomach before I go racing; I have had bad experiences with cramps during races. After I ate breakfast, I quickly took a shower, got dressed, and relaxed on the couch waiting to leave for the ponds. I asked Matt if we were driving, but he then told me that we were walking. Oh well. As we were walking to the ponds, Ryan passed us in his pick-up and gave us a lift.

We got there a few minutes before 9am (When the girls race was scheduled to start). All of the guys sat around the picnic tables, waiting for the starting gun to go off, simultaneously signaling the start of the women's race and the beginning of the guy's warm-up. We strolled along the course for our warm-up, about two miles, came back and laced up our flats/spikes. By the time we had gotten there, two of the girls were already finished. Shortly after all the girls finished, the men gathered together and headed toward the starting line, decked out in our racing apparel. We (The guy's team) stood behind the starting line, while our teammate Scott (Injured at the moment, but our #2-3 runner) gave us the starting commands and we were quickly off.

In the novel "Once a Runner," Quenton Cassidy states that the first lap in a mile race is "lost in a flash of adrenaline." That's exactly how I felt during the first mile of the race. The first mile went by very quickly, yet I heard my split (Yelled at me by our assistant coach) as "6:08." During the second mile, I was just trying to keep the rhythm I had in the first mile. About a mile and a half in, I saw Peter (A freshman from Eisenhower) 150 meters ahead of me and could tell that he was slowing down. I don't know if he had gone out too hard, but my goal was to catch him, and eventually, pass him. I did just that right at the two-mile mark, which I crossed in 12:34. My third mile was a struggle. I didn't have anyone in front of me (That I could see). It's always tough to run hard by yourself. I guess that's one skill I need to pick up on rather quickly.

About 400m away from the three-mile mark, I saw a guy ahead of me, who I immediately tried to catch up to. By three miles, I was only a step behind him and coasted behind him for about 400m. After that, I decided to pass him because he was starting to slow down. The last mile (for me) was pretty tough. I knew that I just needed to push through the pain and focus on maintaining my form. About 400m from the finish line, I began to hear footsteps coming from behind me. I thought that it was going to be the older guy I passed at three miles, but it was Peter. He flew by me (It looked like he was starting his kick), but I didn't think to go with him. I knew that I feel like I could have out kicked him if needed be, but this was just a time-trial. I just kept pace and only quickened my stride the last 150m. My final time was a 25:54, yet when I looked down at my watch, it told me that the course was actually 4.08 miles, instead of four miles. On paper I averaged 6:28min/mile pace, yet I actually averaged 6:21min/mile pace.

I got second to last out of my teammates. I didn't expect to beat anyone else (Just Wes). My goal is to be able to run sub-six min/mile pace for the duration of an 8k (or a sub 30:00 8k). I know I can do it, I just have to get use to pushing the pace (by myself) and hopefully that can turn into some fast times. Today was another trial of miles, with many more miles of trials left to go this season.