Time Trial Success

Dad calling splits during my time trial

Hey everyone!  I have decided to start a blog to keep everybody (who is interested) up to date on what's going on in my life.  This is the first time I have ever written a blog, so lets see how it goes - hopefully it goes well!  :)

Today (Jan 15th), I planned on running a 5k time trial on the cross country course at McAlpine Park to prepare for the 2011 USATF Jr. XC Championships in San Diego in three weeks from today.  However, the weather had a different idea.  Thanks to my running friends, my dad and I learned that the snow that fell on Monday hadn't melted yet at McAlpine and most of the trail was covered in snow and ice still.  Now, I didn't feel like falling on my butt during my time trial, so my dad and I had to change plans.  We decided to move my time trial to Community House Middle School track.

I went to the track late morning with my mom and dad.  I did my 6 lap warm-up with strides, switched into my super fast shoes (racing flats), then did my drills.  I took off my sweats and we all walked over to the 200 meter point, where I would start.  After sharing high 5's with my parents, I got focused on the task at hand.

I lined up at the starting line and waited.  My dad did the 3 command start, "runners to your mark, set, GO!", then I was off.  There was a headwind on the finishing straightaway and a then it was at my back on the starting straightaway.  So I had to push on the finishing straightaway so I wouldn't slow down and then I would pick-up speed on the starting straightaway.

The first 7 laps I felt comfortable running and was on pace.  My splits were 78.0, 82.1,83.2,83.1,83.1,83.4 and 83.3 seconds.  Then it started getting harder and I slowed down to 84.6 and 85.2 on laps 8 ad 9.  I was really starting to hurt now but was determined not to let my pace keep slowing, so I pushed and ran 84.7 and 85.4 for laps 10 and 11.  That's when my dad said, "600 left, you can do it!"  So, I started picking up speed, pushing to go faster, as I came upon one lap to go, my mom "rang" the imaginaary bell to signal one lap left and I kept repeating "one lap left" in my head.  I ran 83.0 seconds for the 12th lap.

That's when I took off, I only had 200 meters left.  As I rounded the turn, I changed gears and tried my best to sprint to the finish line (it's pretty hard to sprint at the end of a time trial).  I ran the last 200 meters in 38.7 seconds.  As I crossed the I looked at my watch and saw 17:18.2.   I was thrilled and tired at the same time.  My time trial had turned out to be a big success! :)  Now on to San Diego!

Well, I hope you liked my first blog.  I will try and one or two every month to keep everyone updated on what I am up to.  Bye for now!