Personally, I learned a lot about pushing oneself to the limits in a long race like that. I know that I am as fit as everyone else on the team, and so there is no reason, on March 7, for me to fall off pace from the rest of them. I must push myself to stay in there, because I can certainly do it. It won't be easy, but I am fit enough.
I wrote a blog entry on Friday night before the race. The hotel we stayed in (which was a very nice hotel--right on the beach!) oddly did not have free WiFi, and I was unable to find any before going to bed, so below is that post.
We arrived in Myrtle Beach about 4 o’clock this afternoon, after having left Montreat at 9 this morning. The weather today was beautiful—a bit windy, but hopefully that will not be a factor tomorrow morning. Race time is 6:30 AM. We went for a 25 minute shakeout jog after arriving at the hotel and then headed over to the official race hotel so that the guys could pick up their bib numbers. We have three guys—Jed Edwards, Ben Hall and Andrew Hege—and two girls—Talisa Bishop and Kayla Suitor—lining up tomorrow morning. The rest of us (Luke Copeland, Jarod Neilson, Elizabeth Elliot, Artie Adkins, myself) are along for the ride and to help with pacing. I’m not sure what the girls’ plans are, but on the guys side, the three of us will be jumping into the race around mile 6 and going to about mile 13 with our boys, hopefully pulling them along to a quality 1:16:00 or so. All three of them will get a second chance in Albany, GA on March 7 (the same day I’m going for it), so they’re just trying to get a guaranteed B tomorrow, so that in Albany they can go for the A Standard and if they fall off, they fall off, because at least they already have a B.
I really appreciate Coach Larios allowing me to tag along on this trip so that I can start to get a feel for the whole half marathon scene. It’s a really good experience because it allows me to know a little bit what is going down in a few weeks. As someone who thrives on certainty, an opportunity like this is irreplaceable.
Last night I had an opportunity to travel with the team to Appalachian State University and compete in a small weekday indoor meet there. I raced the 3,000m, and it wasn’t exactly what I would call a success. They split the 3k into two heats, and I was seeded about fourth in my heat, so I started thinking maybe I would go for the win. That thought process was cemented when Coach Larios said, “Musto, what do you think about just going out and winning this race, huh?” So I went after it. I went straight into the front pack from the gun, and sat in second or third for the entire first mile. Somewhere between 1600m and 2000m, the air quality (or lack thereof) of App’s facility began to get to me, and I faced an incredibly difficulty in breathing. It’s no excuse, because I should have gutted through it better than I did, but I absolutely did the opposite of gutting through. Both Coach Larios and Coach Dawson have told me that they were very impressed with the fact that I went after the win the way I did, but I certainly was far from impressed with my ability to finish. In the end, Luke Copeland ran 10:00, Jarod Neilson ran 10:09, and I ran 10:23 for the night. Luke really battled like a man in his race. He was the last one before the cutoff in the fast heat of the 3k, and after only 300m he was already beginning to lose contact with the field. However, he continued gutting through alone and ended up running the fastest of the three of us, which is certainly commendable.
Coach is giving us a wakeup call at 4:30AM, and we’re leaving the hotel at 5:15, so I must sign off for now. Twitter updates will occur tomorrow after the race is over.
Jed finished first for the Cavaliers yesterday in 1:18:15, Andrew was second in 1:18:26, and Ben was third in 1:20:03. Jed and Andrew both feel very confident that they can hit the standard on March 7.
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