directions_run Run • Sept. 7, 2024, 7:34 p.m.

Splitting the race into groups again I think that helped a lot last time with post race reflection. Race Prep, In Depth Race Feeling, Post race / Run with Nick P and Thoughts on the team placement. Race prep was perfect, got a routine locked in. Watch said I slept 9.5hrs before the meet which felt great. Ate a bagel and sipped water before the race like I usually do. Attitude shift for this race. Tried to really think of the race positively. Had a mental talk with myself telling myself that I was capable of running where I should be. As for the race, I felt an astronomical increase in overall effort and motivation from Wednesday. Really helped a lot running with Cooper and Tarasi, although I was not with them for the entire race. Felt like I got out hard at the start of the race but definitely felt the effects of having hundreds of runners crowd into a funnel. There were a lot of elbows and pushing going on especially on the north first hill with the many trees. Could tell after the first 800 that my head was in the game, as I was keeping my eye ahead on my teammates as well as keeping my guard up for pushing from my opponents. Really started feeling the burn on the second lap south hill, but I was prepared for that and started gaining momentum again on the downhill. Used this momentum to carry me through the 800 meter to go hill. Reminded myself that I am not a sprinter and started speeding up long before the finish. As the final turn began I turned on the burners and fought to win a few more places in the last stretch. Kick was WAY faster and harder than last week with opponents pushing and fighting alongside me. Also felt like I went deeper than last week which is good to see. Wiped the nasty 18:06 3 mile pr off my record as well. Finishing time was 15:42 which was awesome to hear. Place wise was so so, 57th. Ran a warmup with Nick P and we talked about strategy and fighting through pain. Was great to see him go from last week’s 14:08 to a 13:04 in the two mile. He said he plans to run track and field and I’m looking forward to seeing further improvements. Excited to see where we go from this race. As a team on the varsity level, we did okay. But it’s important to keep in mind that we did not have Henry or Cole and that Ferren had been sick for two days before the race. Also, both Quinn and Kasra have long term injuries preventing them from running. I don’t want to make excuses for ourselves, at the end of the day no one cares what you could have ran, but what you actually ran. Given what we had, for the first race of the season, an “okay” race is nothing to be ashamed about. We will grow from here and there will be many more races to be ready for the state series. Very excited to continue to see the team progress.