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hot on his heels

September 29, 2012 (Afternoon)

Exercise Type: Run

Comments:
all ohio: great weather for the first time. went into the race with some pretty lofty goals-- putting 3 in the top ten, and ideally winning the meet.
it worked. the race went remarkably well, and in coach's words, "the race of my life." that may be fair-- it was quite a good race. we started out pretty relaxed, and came through the half slow, i think, but then the mile was right on-- 5:07. from then on, ethan, chris, and i just ran together, picking off runners one after another. at the mile or something, coach said ONU's beating us right now, but that was fine. they would come back. the hills didn't seem as big as they have the past couple years. except that one big downhill-- it kinda made my quads hurt. got through 3 still with ethan and chris, and decided i had to hang on, and knew i could-- invoking the feelings from last week's workout. the three of us passed the ginger steepler from onu, and he was struggling real hard, breathing heavy and stuff. we had already passed two onu guys between miles 1 and 2, and then the ginger and one other guy between 3 and 4. i knew the last 1.5 would be rough, but it would be worth it. gutted out the last 1000m, and really wanted to get up onto my toes for the last stretch, but there wasn't really anything left. saw the last onu guy right as we were coming close to the line. found just enough speed to pass him in the last 10 meters, and crossed in 25:48. just a second behind ethan and two behind chris. not a bad 1-3 split. the whole time we were running together, i was thinking about how intimidating our pack must be. it was a great feeling. fell onto the ground and retched a few times after crossing the line, but knowing i gave everything i had was extremely satisfying. recovered myself, gathered the team, talked to coach, and headed over to camp. found out shortly afterward, that we had, indeed, won the team title, and by a significant margin. chris, ethan, and i finished 4,5,and 6, respectively, for d3.
got in a few barefoot miles cooldown. the weather was beautiful, and it was relaxing to watch the remaining races knowing we had done what we intended to.