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NIRCA T&F Nationals 2018 Day 1

April 14, 2018 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: All over the place

Comments:
Well, here I am at 1:00am finally logging both days of NIRCA Nationals. Man, what an interesting weekend. The half marathon was cancelled due to a storm that never really happened, the weather was absolutely sporadic (I think I experienced almost every category of weather throughout this entire weekend), and there were some wild performances. So let's get started!

Before the 4x800m: After a less than mediocre sleep with Paolo (uhhhh I mean definitely didn't sleep in a bed with another guy), I woke up and immediately went to Waffle House. Did I go to Waffle House alone? Maybe. Did I end up going to that same damn Waffle House three times during the trip? Well absolutely!!!!! On the first Waffle Visit, I told one of the workers "Do you guys take card? Sorry it's 5-7 years since I've been to an Ihop". Suddenly the southern hospitality left the room and the dude responded with "Man, you don't even want to know what i put in your food!". Honestly, I deserved it lol. RIP PTSD Ihop flashbacks.

Anyways, after that we left for the meet. It was raining in the beginning, so I hung out in the high school. I probably chilled there for 40 minutes or so just rolling out and stretching out. I was just trying to feel ready for the race. As stated in the previous log, I wanted to put us within 2 seconds of the leaders or in the top 5. I figured I was feeling mostly pretty good and ready to go.

4x800m: By the time we were going up, it started to get really humid, but nice outside. No more fucking rain! The order of the 4x800m was me, Austin, Carson, and Lucas.

The race started off pretty solid. I positioned myself with the front group (though Coach Diener, AKA Mr. 1480m himself, later roasted me for hanging in lane 2). I went through the first lap in 57 or 58 I believe and still felt decently strong. The top 3 guys got away from me, but I still managed to stay strong and maintain a solid 4th place. Down the final 100, I thought the next leg would start rolling to the first lane, but no body was moving! So, I focused on just keeping fourth and getting the baton to Austin in the 3rd or 4th lane. I split a 2:00.5, which definitely wasn't bad but the same split as last year. My only problem with my split is that I wasn't dead at the end. I felt like i had more in me and I left something in the tank. Slightly disappointing, but I did exactly what I said I wanted to do. So can't be too mad.

Austin ran a pretty solid 2nd leg, but I could've put in a better position either exactly behind the leaders or with the group behind me. I could've set him up a bit better. Carson had a good leg, until he died in the last 200m and let several teams pass him. Lucas ran a good leg and we managed to hold onto to 8th place for an 8:11 effort. ALL AMERICAN BABY! So good stuff for sure, definitely happy about that!

Afterwards: The 4x800m was all I raced that day, so I simply stuck around and cheered for everyone afterwards. I watched BJ absolutely go full Paul Chelimo with an absolute "Go Hard or suffer the rest of your fucking life" style 5K race. Though the end was rough, he still gave it his absolute all. It was an inspiring race to watch for sure that definitely go me really pumped.

After that, my car went to the NIRCA Buffet. It was ok, but pretty mediocre. I then went on a 30 minute journey with my car (feat. Ryan Whinnery) to find Four Loko for him and Garmin. I COULD NOT FIND FOUR LOKO ANYWHERE! NOTHING AT WALMART OR ANY GAS STATION. Eventually I drove with Whinnery to a liquor store (but honestly should've done that first tbh lol) and I finally found the forbidden drink. SO HARD TO FIND SHHEHHHHHEEEESSSHH. But also 10/10 adventure for sure.

Finally, I went back to the hotel and kept pretty lowkey. I took a 16 minute ice bath (took me 2 attempts to successfully get in RIP) and then went to bed early. I got a bed to myself, since Carson stayed with his mom (shoutout Mateo for choosing to sleep with Paolo lol).

Satisfied, but not completely fulfilled. Luckily, there's still another day right? Yup, there was! STAY TUNED FOR PART 2!

EDIT: Also Discount BJ, BJ, Emily, Eric, Steve, and I explored VanPelt ditch. Turns out in was a ditch under a highway. I went under the bridge, scraped my head on the ceiling, and got mud caked into my hair the rest of the day. Gross stuff. VanPelt Ditch was a solid 3/10, but still bury me there when I die boys.