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CL

November 24, 2012 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: 40s, sunny

Comments:
Regionals for the first time. Today marked the end of my second season of cross country and fourth season of running (as well as my 150th run since June 5th). What a milestone--pun intended. I walk away with mixed feelings. Before I go off on a tangent of Anthonian proportions, I must congratulate Nomi for getting a well deserved school record and thank Anthony, Mark, Darren, Cori and the team for a fantastic season of cross country. All the PRs today were staggering--everyone seemed to run a brilliant race. I woke up at 6:30 after a fitful, brief, anxiety ridden night of sleep on the very edge of my bed and had a breakfast of pancakes and fruit. Once at the course, Zeke, Matt and I began our warmup immediately, went through drills and got to the line. The fact that we were doing the same routine as always helped to calm my nerves; I kept my sweats on as long as possible. During the striders, I gave a characteristic pep-talk to my teammates, huddling them up and stating, "We have trained for this." For the first time ever, after Anthony addressed the three of us, Zeke and I counted down the subsequent "run good." The starting gun was no different from any other gun, and the steps I took were no different from any other steps I would take off the line. Though my plan to run dead-evenly was well formulated and most things went the way I wanted, my Glory Days personal best and sub-18 regrettably eluded me once again. My first mile was 5:38; I had not strained and was feeling confident. I tried to fly down all of the hills and was able to pass some people. I never got a two mile split, but felt that I had slowed down slightly by that time. The hills in the woods were "phantom" hills, but coming towards the finish, this was not the case. Even then I was hoping a personal best was still within my grasp--how foolish of me. I went by a few people in the final 200m though. Later my Dad asked, "So, you felt like you were hurting in that last mile?" I should've known I have no kick--the problem was that I wasn't hurting enough. This season was certainly less frustrating than last year's and much more consistent, with the only truly bad days for me being DC Maryland champs, and Oatlands. But in all types of running--races, track workouts, hills, runs on the weekends I always walk away feeling like I haven't done enough. One thing that makes me bitter is that despite my work over the summer, I have only really been on varsity a few times. And even that's debatable. So--I'm not that great. I've improved, but everyone else has too. I have had a great deal of trouble explaining to non-runners how good our team actually is. I have learned now that cross country does not begin at pre-season camp, nor on September 4th, but in June. It has been an honor. Until next year. Ran good!