Another Shot at The Elusive Standard

After Albany, I said that I definitely wanted an opportunity to qualify again, but that I didn't think it would happen. A late-night text message from Coach Larios last night confirmed that it will indeed happen. A few of us will get a final shot at qualifying for the NAIA National Championship meet on April 25 in Nashville at the Country Music 1/2 Marathon.

I'm amped. This is an opportunity that I didn't think would exist, and an opportunity to race on a fast course, with a lot of competition, and really just overall a good situation.

Spring break was enjoyable. It was a week of super hard training, super hard relaxing (Coach Dawson's favorite quote, "Start on time, quit on time," kind of parallels the ol', "Work hard, rest harder" mantra), and really not much of anything in-between, excepting two races at the end of the week. The races went surprisingly well, considering that, while walking to the line, my legs were on fire from the lactic acid that had accumulated throughout the course of the week. It was interesting starting both races on the "other" side of the track, after four years of high school racing and starting at the finish line due to all distances being whole laps around the track. It felt a little different, but I, being a pretty adapting dude, got over it quickly.

Last week we took the 90 minute trip to Johnson City, TN for the Milligan Relays. A Thursday afternoon affair, with the small atmosphere and single-day format, it was like old times. We were truly kicking it high school style--I doubled the 1500m and 3000m and had to line up for the 3k only about 45-50 minutes after finishing my 1500m. We were treating it as a workout, though, and looking at it in that light, the meet went well. I won the (very) slow heat of the 1500m, by about 10 seconds (in a blazing fast time of 4:39), and then ran a 10:13 for the 3000. In both races, I was pretty aggressive, just seeing how things went, and really started tying up about 600m from the finish. It was a great learning experience, though, and Coach was really pleased with my aggressiveness. And, afterall, all of that was learned in a workout!

This weekend Ben and Wilbourn are both going to the Duke Invitational and a couple of us might end up heading over to North Carolina A and T for the 5000 at their invitational. Otherwise, next race: AAC Championships at Western Carolina.