The elite heat of the girls 1600 had one of the most competitive lineups I've ever seen. Fourteen of the girls had posted times under 5:04 to get in. Twelve of us went under five minutes for 1600m and hit five flat or under for the full mile. It was honestly an incredible race.
Leading up to the race, we were given the VIP treatment. The Chandler Rotary club was generous enough to pay for all of our hotel and travel expenses, and when we arrived, we were given a full tour of the arena, full introductions on the starting line, and any other perks that we could need to be ready for our race. It was very similar to the Nike Nationals experience.
Courtney and I arrived with her dad in Arizona fairly late Friday night. There were some delays with our flight, so we touched down around 9 pm. We were all pretty tired and ready to get some sleep, so we had a quick dinner and checked into our hotel. There was a slight mix-up with rooms, and a very sleepy older man had to come to the door and inform us that the room we had been issued was already taken as we tried hopelessly to make our key work, but it all got sorted out.
Saturday, I went on a two mile shake-out run first thing after waking up. Courtney and I found a clearance Nike outlet in Tempe, so naturally we spent quite a bit of time there before our race. About three hours before we ran, we did the customary Olive Garden lunch, then headed over to the track. The mile ran at 6:20, so the sun was just going down as we raced.
The race itself was a little frustrating. I got boxed in during the first 200 meters, so I ran the majority of the race in lanes two and three, and had to drop all the way to the back of the pack and go around to move up in the third lap. I ended up running a five flat for the full mile, and a 4:58 for the 1600m. It was definitely not what I wanted, but for the first meet of the season, it was good enough. I am going to use this meet to keep me motivated for Mt. Sac, and constantly working to improve.
No comments:
Post a Comment