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CMLXIX

October 17, 2015 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: 50 degrees, breezy, wore gloves during race

Comments:
The 28th Consecutive Williams Victory at Little Three Championships

Most of my nights of sleep in college are fitful and it feels as though no matter how early I go to bed, I wake up terrified by the alarm and feeling like I could go back to sleep for another four hours. Today was no exception and the abrupt return of the cough had me feeling a little pessimistic before we even got to Amherst. Nevertheless, I heavily medicated and even took a brief stroll around campus with David to wake up my legs as per Pete's advice. Finally learning from races past, I had an extremely light breakfast at Driscoll and planned not to nap on the bus, even with the 1pm start time; but with the constant rocking back and forth I dozed off 15 minutes before we got there. Feeling better as the morning dragged on, the warmup and drills made me optimistic, and another dose of cough syrup assuaged all my fears about sickness.

As for my race, the course was the most challenging one we've run all season, with some flat, dirt sections in the woods, a bit of gravel and two times around some steep, undulating hills known as the meadow loop. Cheering was limited and coaching non-existent--excepting Sarah yelling at me to focus, which helped--so I had to go it alone almost the whole time. I passed two people: a Wesleyan guy during the first Meadow loop, and Matt Tarduno during the second. Nobody passed me, except a different Wesleyan runner in the last 100m. During the third mile, I tried to work up to someone from Amherst, which helped me concentrate on the race and not drift off. Still, without constant awareness of where I am in the race--like the awareness I've developed for the 5k--it's not easy to judge where to surge and how much is remaining. Although 67 seconds slower than last week (!), I was mentally much stronger throughout and am more pleased with the effort.

The girls swept 1-6 and the guys took 2, 3, 6, 11, and 14. Pete said he's been impressed with my training, but we both know that I just did not taper for this, save for the past two days. Looking ahead to Plansky, that means running minimal distance for most of the week and maybe even taking Thursday completely off. Now I may be stuck battling illness AGAIN.