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WMC Championships @ USM-Gorham

February 11, 2011 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: N/A

Comments:
Wow, this was a long meet. They ended the meet being around 1.5 hours behind schedule, so I was pretty damn tired when I got home. The meet went pretty well, although my 800 could have gone much smoother. Play-by-play time!

Alright, so the 4x8 was an easy win for us, but we were shooting for a good seed time too. Unfortunately, I was the only one who got the memo about that, because I went around 2:09 while everyone else on our team went substantially slower. We ended up running 9:01, which might have been excusable early in the season, but we really need a good seed time, and that's not going to do it. If I ran 2:09, Thomas ran 2:07, Sam ran 2:11, and Will ran 2:14 (all of those times are slightly slower than our PRs), we would be running 8:41, which isn't great but would probably score at States. I think the main problem was that Will had a bad first leg--I think he ran 2:20--so Sam was a little disheartened and ended up running slower. When I started my leg, Freeport was ahead of us, but their 3rd leg was Mason Cyr, who I knew runs around 2:20 on a good day. So I cruised past him to run a 33 for the first 2, and gradually picked it up from there as I've grown accustomed to doing. Thomas ran a pretty slow leg for him, which was probably because of a few factors: he was running the mile/800 double, so he probably wanted to stay fresh; there was no one ahead of him nor near him, so he could afford to go easy; and he went out fast as always and got tired, so he naturally slowed down so he wouldn't kill himself racing in an, admittedly, unimportant race (unimportant because at that point we had a guaranteed win).

Anyway, after that we did some Lactic Acid draining and a short cooldown. That race was around 5:15, and my next race was scheduled for 8:15, so I chilled for two hours. Of course, halfway through the meet they were already almost an hour behind schedule, so we ended up running around 9:15. I was really nervous, because it had dawned on me that I had a shot at winning--I was seeded 3rd, pretty close behind two people who were just coming off the mile.

My nervousness may have been what hurt me during that race, though. I've gotten used to running even splits for the 800m. It's worked really well, and nothing beats passing kids who went out too fast like a boss (I'm the boss, not them). However, in large races running even splits doesn't work because everyone goes out too fast, and since there are more people, you end up having to pass on the outside of curves for the first half of the race and even into the third lap. This happened to me. 50 meters into the race, I was in last place out of 14 or so people. I realized (a little late) that even splits would not happen, so I picked it up and passed some people right away. Unfortunately, I was in the outside lanes for quite a bit of the race--in fact, my second lap was a 33 even though I'm pretty sure I sped up a bit, because I was getting pushed into the outer lanes. Anyway, I finished 4th in 2:09.07. It was a bit of a victory, because this was the first time I've run sub-2:10 in both the 4x8 and 800. Still, that was an incredibly frustrating race. I know I have to get out fast, but that is a stupid way to race. I wish we could just make a pact to all go out on pace...

Anyway, I vented my frustration by running a relatively long cooldown. I was even more frustrated because at that point we had effectively lost the meet to York. However, all of that anger went into my 4x2. At that point we *had* lost the meet to York, so all that was left to do was to beat York in that race. They were seeded 1:42 while we were seeded 1:44, and we knew they had a really fast Anchor. If we were to have any hope in beating them, we were all going to have to PR. And I believe we did! I didn't catch the splits apart from mine, but apparently we all ran our best 4x2 splits of the season. Jacob went out like a beast, as always, and got us a decent lead, but York's first runner was pretty fast so they were only 15 meters behind. Thomas lost us a bit of the lead, but we still had a 5-10 meter lead. Shreyas looked strong, but York's runner was fast and caught up to him. He tailed Shreyas, hoping to pass us on the hand off, which they ended up doing. Our hand off wasn't very good since Shreyas didn't say the command loud enough with all of the cheering, and he had trouble catching up with me even though I warned him that I was going to start at full speed, so he shouldn't have given me the command until he was close. York, on the other hand, had a great hand off, so Josh Brooks (their fast anchor) started ahead of me. I knew he was a sub-25 200m runner, but I was pissed at so many things at that point--our bad hand off, how I got screwed in the 800m, how apparently no one in the 4x8 cared except me--that I pushed myself to stay with him. I trailed a meter behind him pretty much the whole race, but at the 100m mark I almost tripped since I was so tired, which slowed me down a bit and let him gap me another meter. At that point it was all about just getting as close to him as I could, so I tried my best and even leaned like a madman (I fell forward at the finish because I leaned so hard), but no lean can make up a 1 second gap. I never thought we'd lose a race because of a hand off; now I've learned my lesson. On the bright side, that was a 25.flat leg--a state qualifying time if I had run it in the open 200m. Yeah, I qualified in the 200m, bitches. Wait 'til the guys from Cross Country hear about that...

Writing this makes it sound like it went terribly, but I still had fun up until the open 800. I've given up on the 800m Sophomore record, now I'm just shooting for sub-2:06. I honestly think I could do it if it were just me and Thomas in the race or something. The problem is the fucking start, where everyone thinks they're running a 200 or something, and the fact that there are so many people I have to pass when they start slowing down. I've also heard some rumors that I will be running three events at States--the 4x8 and 800, obviously, but also either the 2 mile or maybe the 4x2. I didn't technically qualify in the 2 mile, but since only a couple of people have done so, they'll accept entered seed times that are near the qualifying mark. Not including times run at Conference meets, I'm 12th in Class B in the 2 mile, and that's perfect since they are looking for at least 12 runners in the race. Of course, the point of putting me in the 2 mile would be to perhaps pick up a point or two, but I'm doubtful that I could score so soon after the 800 (and so are Jorma and Mr. Paul, which is why it's remaining a rumor). It's more likely that I'll be in the 4x2. If I run in it, then Reid can do the Triple Jump, Long Jump, and Hurdles, all of which he will probably score top-3 in, and in the latter he'll probably win. 25 seconds isn't amazing, but it's not much slower than Reid's 4x2 leg, so it won't impact the 4x2 team too much.

And, yes, I realize how funny it is that a sophomore who runs distance is now on one of the best open 4x2 teams in the State. What I care about is this: if I can run a state qualifying time in the 200, what can I do in the 4x400, which is closer aerobic-wise to my main event? I feel like I could run in the 55s now that I have 25 second 200m speed and 2:08 800m/4:52 mile endurance. Oh well, I've already written a shit load, so I'll end the speculation and complaints now. Onwards to States!