View Workout (Austin Murphy)

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"the" district race...

October 22, 2010 (Afternoon)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: Good

Comments:
I was nervous before the race, running Varsity is a great privledge. The guys were excited, I was excited this was it! I knew this was the race I worked all summer and all season for. We had a spiritual group prayer and we were all stretched and pumped to race.

The race started... I got out faster than I normally would and I was doing pretty good I thought. I wanted to stick with Ryan because he was pretty close and I tried to keep an eye on him, I was already pretty tired. Ryan was still close. When we were well into the dirt though I got the worst two side cramps ever. I was been physically destroyed and that destroyed me mentally. I had doubts, I started to hate everything. I was losing people and the guys ahead of me got so far that I was basically running alone...

2nd mile, there was still tons and tons of hell to pay. Cheers mattered little to me now. But when I heard them I was able to just a tiny bit faster to look good, and feel some of the worst pain I've ever felt in my life. People were passing me, it was horrible... that never happens. I had to watch in horror as they passed and no matter how much I tried and suffered I couldn't keep up with them. I wanted someone to slap me across the face and tell me I was going to die if I didn't do good. I wasn't racing anymore, I was just running... I couldn't keep my head up, I was dizzy and I kept trying to remember no matter how much pain or hell there is you must still race for the team, you can't be selfish and just quit.

Third Mile... a guy tried to get ahead, but I wasn't going to take this anymore, I was stikcing with him. I tried and tried but he got ahead, I didn't care anymore. But then the loud cheers were screaming in my ears. It almost felt like I could hear each individual person yelling, and it was weird and then all I heard was catch him, catch him, catch him. I was given a command and I sped up and past the guy who previously passed me and I got ahead. The bad thing was nobody was ahead of me, I was alone again and the pain and doubt just flooded back in, and he passed me... I thought to myself I want to go unconscious just so I don't have to cross the finish line with the feeling of failure. It was almost over and Rusty told me it this was it and Sam's cheers that he promised he would give, gave me motivation to not just survive till the end, but race to the end. I started my real kick and the guy who passed me got a major cramp and he just slowed down completely, now someone else knew the horrible pain. The last 25 meters I was actually sprinting, like fast! All the cheers from the team make it sound like somebody's passing me so I went crazy. The guy in front of me wasn't going that fast and I knew I could pass him. I sprinted and sprinted and it was the last 10 meters and I started to clap because of my own excitement and I finished, feeling more horrible physcially and mentally than any other race that I've done.

I did okay, I didn't have any or little regrets, I ran my hardest and the best I could and whatever I got it was what I deserve and I fought through the worst pain ever. But I felt lame that I couldn't PR. I was pretty dissapointed. And I couldn't believe it when Rusty told us that we weren't going to State, I got more angry and upset than ever. It was Rusty's last year coaching us and I felt so bad that we had to end it in dissapointment. It was frustrated and hard to accept, but time and the cooldown helped. I got better through out the evening. I mostly felt bad becuase the season was over and I was feeling more emotional of it being over that than not going to State.

Thank-you Rusty for the best months of my life, you're truly a great hero and I have so much respect for you. And thanks to all the coaches for their wonderful coaching, and the team for being the best friends I could ever have. I love you more than my own life and you're all family too me. AJ did incredible. And congrats to the Varsity girls and to Dan and Chirs for making to state. This season was awesome, I'll never forget all the memories that I have. XC is awesome and that's a fact!