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93 leaves for 2014 (and 19th and 20th in the region...)

November 29, 2014 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: warming up through the 30s and 40s, clear

Comments:
NXN Southeast Regional Meet in Carey North Carolina. For the third year we traveled here Friday and raced Saturday. This year 17 made the journey and 15 raced (long term injury to Matt Ishimaru and ankle sprain jogging the course for Sarah Shine!) A very fine day all around, but highlighted in the final race by the girl's performance in the championship race (19th, 4 under 20, a swimmer running a season best, a "JV" runner PRing, and a new school record of 18:33!)

Along with Cori, Mark, Jens, Sam and David Cohen, Tim Boyer, and Bill Treanor, I ran in the community race. Very satisfied. Felt heavy legged and full of doubts beforehand as I ran from spot to spot to cheer the first three races, but after putting on my yellow and black road racing shoes and peeling off layers I felt light and sharp at the line. Downhill start is a nice way to ease into the effort, but nerve-racking. Spotted Gonzaga coach at bottom of the hill and worked by him over the next quarter mile. Mile was 5:28 (a pleasant surprise after expecting 6:00 average pace.

A small boy passed me at the start of the hill as he did last year, but this time he got by me easily and for most of the remainder he was maybe 20 meters ahead. I maintained a pretty good attitude going up the hill and managed to push myself around the parking lot, but clearly never regained the pace I'd had earlier until the downhill after the two mile mark when I decided to pursue the boy and three other guys he was passing. I also am not proud of my sluggish climb of the first of the two hills in the woods, but I was more focused and aggressive on the second and taller of those two hills and I think I passed one or two folks on that climb/summit. 2 mile spilt was 6:00 as I'd feared.

Pleased that I really pushed the final mile, and it helped to have the mini pack breaking apart up ahead and people cheering for the Gonzaga coach behind me. At the base of the final hill I was still 15 to 20 meters back from the 12 year old Andrew (I heard dozens cheer for him.) I closed on him and focused on form and efficiency. Cheering from Hoppers was a great help and I hit the 3 mile mark in 5:36. Got a good kick on my toes and closed dramatically on the boy who looked over his shoulders twice in the final 100 meters. Finished two steps behind him with a 30 sec final .1 mile. I was 12th overall in 17:36.0. 25 seconds faster than last year. Pleasantly surprised and very pleased as it may be my fastest 5 km in 4 years. Managed to run briskly the rest of the day, too, when needed to cheer for the final two races. Did not catch a single leaf despite a couple of opportunities. Finished the season with 93. Tristan has 66.