Portland Bound

This weekend was definitely a success. My team and I flew out to Mesa, Arizona Friday morning.  We booked all of our seats together in the back of the plane.  Being a very close group, we were fairly chatty.  The man next to me, who had the misfortune of being crammed into the very back, seated next to us, and being of a size that was impressive to say the least, had clearly had enough of this day already, as he started doing shots somewhere around 10 a.m.  It's five o'clock somewhere, right?
The adventure continued when we arrived at our hotel.  Our previously booked hotel called our coach about a week ago to inform him that the pipes had burst, and that it was now the home to many impressive specimens of black mold.  Since this meet is enormous, all other desirable hotels in the area had already been booked, and we ended up at a place called America's Best Value Inn, which my teammates suggested was probably a brothel at some point.  It was certainly interesting.
We did a course run-through Friday evening.  This involved me making my friend do my dirty work for me and steal one of the course flags, and another teammate getting a cactus stuck in his shoe.  The course itself was definitely nice.  It was very similar to the course this race has been at in previous years, and it was really beautiful.
Race day came, and I was strangely calm about the whole thing.  Going into the race, I was still expecting it to be nothing more than a run-through, practice for Footlocker.  I was hoping to run a good time, and make top 21, but nothing more than that.  At the gun, I tried to stay with the top pack and avoid getting boxed into the back.  By the end of the first mile, I was part of the group that made up the top ten.  Our first mile was much faster than I'm used to-low 5:20's-but being closer to sea level made it so much easier to recover from the effort.  The race itself didn't feel horribly difficult.  Essentially, I just tried to hang onto that top group, and I found myself racing for a top-7 position going down the home stretch.  I finished exactly seventh, and got a new PR in the 5k by 11 seconds.  It was an amazing feeling.  And, after one qualifier decided to go for Footlocker instead, and another's team qualified for nationals, I found myself in the qualifier's tent filling out the paperwork.  I was lucky enough to receive the opportunity to visit Portland again for a second shot at the Nike Nationals.  And this year, I'll have some Utah friends to keep me company.  It will be a fun group to compete with, and to spend that weekend with.  And this year, I'll know better than to show up with only one pair of tights and no base layers to wear under my uniform for the race.