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Great Lakes Regionals 2017

October 28, 2017 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: 30s

Comments:
Today was the race I had been training for all year long- Regionals. One of the flattest and fastest courses out there. Did it live up to everything I was hoping? Did I achieve my goals? Well let me walk you through.

We got to Regionals and it was cold as fuck. I had a long sleeve, sweat shirt, a head band, and gloves, and I was freezing. Luckily Nick let me borrow his extra sweatshirt. Going into the race, I was cold, decently tired, and still stressed out from all of the travel issues this weekend, so it wasn't the best mind set to go in with. But, I did a decently fast warmup and felt pretty good. I warmed up about 2.81 mile, listened to music, and felt ready to go. I also chewed run gum, which of course helped (Thanks again Austin)

We started the race, and I went out with Lucas, Paolo, BJ, and Garrett. It had worked at EMU, so I figured why not do it again. I had my hat and headband on because it was still cold. I think the cold air added a little bit of a challenge, because we hit about 5:08 for the first mile together and I felt uncomfortable. I felt as if I went out too fast.

For the second mile, I got passed up by a lot of people, including Red Cap Jack. I lost all 4 of the other guys, and was 6th on our team. I probably got passed by 20 people. I was simply trying to settle in, but I wasn't feel great. I read my watch to the group of guys I was with and hit 2 miles at 10:36.

On the way to mile 3, I was kind of able to come back to life. I had finally settled in and felt good again. I was able to pick up the pace a little bit and saw Garrett dying. I was able to pass him up and I slowly was moving closer to BJ. I was passing people and making surges and thought maybe I still had a chance to run well. I hit the 5K at 17:00, which is what I've been doing the past 3 8KS.

The 4th mile I got stuck in no-man's land. BJ was within sight and I was very slowly gaining on him, but I didn't have a lot of people to run with. Not much happened at this point. I couldn't find my 4 mile split.

Since I couldn't find the 4th mile, I had no idea where in the race I was. I was still by myself and very slowly gaining on BJ. I looked at my watch though and saw 24:40 and knew the race was almost over. Once I got past the hills and bumps, I was able to make my final move with about 600 meters or so to go. I moved past BJ and about 6 to 8 other guys. I sprinted for what felt like a long ass time. I yelled at the line and cross in 27:24.

I was kind of disappointed with the time, but happy with the race as whole. I finished 4th on our team, which solidified my Championship spot for Nationals. It also turned out that the course may have long, so I at least have one more chance to break 27 minutes at Nationals.

We didn't finish great as a team, but still got 7th (Just good enough lol). Hopefully we can all absolutely send it at Nationals. But for today, I'll call this race a success. The season is coming to an end, and I'm thinking I can finish this season with a bang!