EMass D5

I'm sorry for how rushed this is (I write a lot of these way ahead of time and post them all on the same day), but this morning was very stressful because I could not find my uniform. I ended up having to ask the team captain who no longer runs with us) if I could borrow his, which he luckily agreed. It was frosty and hopelessly windy today, to the point where I lost all feeling in my arms, hands, and ears during our warm-up run. And it was even worse during our strides because of how tired they made me, despite that they always felt easy in practice, but I shrugged it off as part of how nervous I was. The boys team had a reasonable chance of making it to the Mass All-State Championships at Stanley Park. It was all dependent on our 5th and 6th finishers (Brendan and Sam). When the gun went off, I bolted; my nerves all shot out adrenalin at the same moment. I felt great my first two laps (it was the first runners high I had ever had during a race). I crossed the one mile mark at 5:28 and the two-mile mark at what I thought was a 12:05 unknowing that the clock was 50 seconds fast. Because I thought I was so slow, I ran my heart out the last mile; I could feel my exhaustion catching up as I closed in on the last 800 meters. I kicked as hard as I could, passing 10 people before crossing the finish line at 17:14. Only losing to my top teammate by 6 seconds and beating Vincent by 28. I was met with hugs and high-fives from my parents and teammates. I was surprised at how I ran so fast despite feeling good for the vast majority of the race. The best news is that my top teammate, Tyler, Vincent, and I are all going to All-States next week. Unfortunately, neither Brendan nor Sam had a good day and as a result, the boys did not qualify as a team. On the bus ride home, I swear I had heard Vincent crying softly.

Post DCL & Upcoming

Franklin Park has been declared a success with a new record of 17:49 despite my shortage of kicking at the finish. Once again edging out Wayland's top runner by a fair 3 seconds. Although I finished after Vincent today, I still felt refreshed knowing that I am capable of running a sub-18 on a very slow course without killing myself. I noticed I felt so shortened at the end that I had to stop kicking with 100 meters left to go, and had to start up again at the 50 meter mark. I told this to the assistant coach and she said "that means you ran well." Even though I am excited that I ran what I did, there is still some disappointment about missing the all-school halloween assembly, it confused me on why this meet had to be on a Friday, when every other year it had been on a Wednesday. At least now I will get two more weeks off from meets while preparing for what is likely my last cross-country race of my high school career, the Eastern Mass Division 5 Varsity race in Wrentham, MA. Other than Barnstable, Wrentham is my favorite course even though a lot of people do not like it. Not only is it quick, but has a few small up-and-down hills, which most runners consider to be a disadvantage. For me, they give me an extra step (no pun intended) to pass other runners who have a tougher time with them (I only have a tough time with consistent long and steep hills). The only thing that deeply worries me is that the warm weather is expected to turn cold by the end of next week, and while I usually feel worse running in heat, I always end up running faster due to increased blood flow from a high body temperature.

Upcoming DCL All-league 5k

Tomorrow marks the 2015 DCL Championship meet at Franklin Park, Boston and also marks my last ever race on the Franklin Park course. I am going to be crystal clear: I do not like Franklin Park; I despise its sharp turns, hard gravel paths that wear down your spikes and impossibly long and steep uphills. What really sucks is that this is coming less than a week after Barnstable, the fastest course in the DCL and possibly in New England. I would have rather had it vice versa so I could start off with a bad race but finish with a good one. Even during our meeting after practice yesterday, my coach stated, "We're not going to kid anybody; your time will be slower than on Saturday." The more annoying thing is that the race is on the same day as Halloween at school. Because it is a relatively early meet, me and the rest of the tea are being dismissed at 12:30, but the halloween assembly starts at 2:15. I was being "PC Principal" from Comedy Central's South Park and had been working on my impression for almost 3 weeks. But let's get back to running. As you've read I had already ran this course twice this season alone. My first meet this season where I embarrassingly ran a 12:03 2-mile and the race last Tuesday where I ran an 18:18 because it just was not my day (my best time at Franklin was an 18:02). I'm at least hoping that other runners have the problem that I do: Inconsistency in race performance. One race I'll feel great and run a great time, other times I will not feel good at all and end up running like s@#t. But I have yet to break 18 minutes on this course, and my parents (my dad especially) are begging that this be the day to do it, because I will have no more races there and do not want to miss my last chance.
I will have to pack an extra set of running clothes to change out of my PC Principal outfit, I will hydrate like crazy, and keep up my appetite. I will just try my best and do what I did on Saturday: Go out at a good pace the first mile, settle in and relax the second (with the huge hill), and then speed up the third and go all out down that last straightaway. It is not an easy course, but I will give it my all and do what I can. If I don't meet my parents expectations but I still feel good about it, then they can shove it. (Just kidding I love you mom&dad please don't kill me!).

Twilight Invitational

This past saturday, 10/24 marked the 5th annual Bob McIntyre Twilight Meet at the Barnstable Fairgrounds in Cape Cod, MA. Barnstable is one of the fastest courses in the DCL, if not the fastest. The course is about 90% flat with a very slight 100m incline in the middle of the lap with a long downhill nearing the end. Combined with fast runners and a fast course, even novice runners can notice a significant change in their times. The only thing that made this meet quiet were the fact that our captains were not attending due to school and family-related affairs.
I was freaking out of nerves worse than at any other race I had ever run; I knew this could possibly be my only chance to get a good P.B. (personal best).  As soon as the gun fired, I bolted, but not before being elbowed, kicked, spiked, and tripped by the 250 surrounding runners. The runner I always stick with, Vincent, was about 200m ahead of me at the start, this got worried me so I began to dodge my way around runners but was unable to find him again. During the second lap I attempted to conserve energy for the third, but then I saw a familiar head right in front of me. It was one of the Wayland boys, Zach, who I worked with at a day camp over the summer. He had beaten me every race this season and always gloated about it, but that was to be no more. I sped up along the uphill and past him and before I could tell, I was level with Vincent. When the second 1/2 of the third lap came around I began to stride to prepare for my ending kick. I passed Vincent and knew I had to stay in front of Zach. And when I saw the clock say 16:45 as I came down the 150m stretch, I gave it my all and sprinted as fast as I could. I passed through at 17:03, disappointed that I did not break 17, but satisfied with a new PB and that I beat both Zach and Vincent.
Before I knew it every boy on our team had gotten an astounding new PB that night, including some former "scrubs" finally breaking 19.
It feels so great to be back, despite how quiet it was that our captains were not there. I felt on top of the world, but I knew there would be greater expectations to follow in the future.

Me (3117), Zach (2933), and Vincent (3107) on our final lap.

The following practice

This post is going to be different because for the first time in almost a month I will be covering a practice instead of another race. The captain (who will also rename nameless. He instead will be referred to as "M") has been requested the day before to get a blood test to see if his iron or ferritin levels are low, as these could possibly be the case for a naturally lower level of endurance, and therefore a much slower time. But as parallel with my dilemma, all of his tests came back negative. But one thing I did notice about M is that he was only struggling in races, but unlike with my story he seemed totally fine and full of energy during practice regardless of how hard or fast our workouts were. One other thing that makes M different is that while he is only about 5'9", he has a large BMI (165 lbs) due to his strength. M is the strongest person on our team, and his average 10-rep bench-press is 160 lbs. For an athlete, it is actually not uncommon for someone to bench around than his/her own weight, but for a distance runner, it is quite a lot. For instance, I am 5'4" and 120 lbs, my average 10-rep bench-press is about 105 lbs.

I am very happy to be back to my old good runner self, but it is very hard for me to relish in it knowing that there is another runner who was once sub-18 and now runs worse time as a senior than he did as a freshman. At least in my case it was only around a minute slower than my junior times. As I see him struggle and walk away after every race with a sense of doubt on his face, I feel increasingly ashamed for being all "woe is me" and feeling so sorry for myself. I wish I could help M, and it pains me to see him so unsatisifed and upset, despite he has lacrosse to look forward to in the spring. Only time will tell whether M gets over his block like I did, and who knows? Maybe he will come back stronger than ever, if not in cross country, maybe during indoor track (he won every 1000m race the past two years).

Last Home Meet

Underdog Billy Mills (722) becomes the first American to win the 10,000m race at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games

Today was actually very exciting because today was my last time I would ever race on our dreadful home course. Our course has been plagued by the natural tectonics under the surface. Bombarded with land blemishes like steep uphills, slanted straightaways, and hard sharp turns. It is by far one of the slowest courses in the DCL, and it is all on weak dirt and occasionally sand. I had just raced on this course a week ago and managed to pull an 18:44 compared with the 17:56 I ran last year. However, when the gun went off I shot out and began to almost stride through the first 400m. The mistake i had made the previous race was starting off too slow which made it harder to speed up in the middle and end. But for some reason I felt a sense of endorphins and confidence rush through me during the race, and with every person I passed I felt better and better. I made the effort to go out hard during the first mile, then settling in and conserving the second, then the last short lap came around and I bolted my way through the football field and up the hill. By the time I came back down the hill I used my kick to stride my way past the lake and up to the track. I felt as if I was nothing; light as a feather as I sprinted down the straightaway and crossed the line at 17:49. Even going as far as to beat the "second best" kid on my team who had beaten me at every meet this season, by four seconds. It was at this moment that I knew I was "back" and whatever had come over me was gone. It's kind of frightening now because my block was the whole reason I put this blog together. But there is one other person on our team who has come down with some sort of untreated block, the former captain. Today, he ran a 20:50, compared with his freshman time of 19:30, and his 5k record of 17:55 he ran as a sophomore. Now that I am, back, I cannot help but still not feel satisfied knowing that another runner has it far worse than I did and that I was feeling so bad for myself.

Meet Day

I know that it's been a while since I last wrote here. I have had a lot of other stuff/work/family matters get in the way and I sincerely apologize to those who have been waiting. So I'm writing this response to my first meet roughly a week after it happened so apologies for a possibility of low detail count.

On the bus ride to Franklin Park, MA I was disappointed to hear that I would be put into a relay with two of the JV rookies, (who, out of respect, shall remain nameless) rather than of the teammates who I've usually beaten in the past. However, I was relieved that it was just short of a 2-mile rather than a full 5k. It was around 85 degrees during warm up and I felt myself dragging along behind the rest of the pack; my trainer sneakers might as well have had weights duct-taped to the soles. The cap-gunshot for the first leg of the relay echoed throughout the field which signaled me to head down to the starting line to stride and prepare to perform the handoff. I purposely chose shoes heavier shoes to train in because it makes striding and sprinting in spikes feel much easier. My coach called me over and told me to just "run how I feel, don't get uncomfortable, don't kill yourself; it's still early and time does not really matter yet." Eventually the officials lined all of the second-leg runners up as we waited for our first legs to finish. It seemed a whole year had gone by by the time I saw the 6 foot 3 runner with our schools black uniform with the light blonde hair and the long legs racing towards the finish. I got in position with my left foot forward and my right arm back. I grabbed the baton and shot off the starting line. Your body is trained to forget the actual "race" part of the day; all I can say is that there actually was not a certain moment where I felt "I can't go on any further" like during practice. I thought it just s happened that I was "coming back" but I new the consequences of a comfortable race once I heard that my time was 12:03, which is roughly a minute slower than my usual 2-mile split in a 5k. I probably could have gone faster if I had actually ran to the point of exhaustion like I used to. I felt that day with a sense of disappointment that it was the slowest race I had run since my freshman year but also a sense of pride that I was actually able to get through an entire race.