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2012 Great Lakes Regional Championships

November 10, 2012 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: Pretty much the best day ever

Comments:
WE DID IT! WE DID IT! WE DID IT! Pretty much best feeling ever at that meet. From almost smothering Phil in a huge group team hug, to holding my sobbing father, to making a ridiculous scene when Barnes told us we got third. Those are moments I will never ever ever forget... like ever. Taylor Swift style. What a team, what a year, what a dream, what a race. Seriously the best ever!

Didn't feel all that great leading up to the race. The strides at the course Friday didn't really fill me with confidence. And in the morning my back ached on the right side. I probably slept funny. Whatever I just tried to put it out of my mind once we go to the race course.

We got there a little early so we threw our stuff down in the tent provided by the start line. It was a pretty nice day. A little windy maybe but the temp was perfect and it was overcast. Just kinda lay around and peed a few times while waiting for when it was time to warm up.

Got on the warmup pretty good. We did such a good job of being loose and relaxed. All week and that didn't change. Lots of jokes and having a good time as we kinda just ran a big outer loop of the course. Went to the bathroom and talked to Pat Burns from JCU/Solon. We talked about how crazy it is that we're still running against each other 10 years after we started.

Did some leg swings then jogged some more. We got over to the line pretty early and got checked in. Did a few run outs and did the cheer. Coach had told us who to key in on (Wabash, watch out for Hope, Mount) so we were ready. We had the game plan down. Out well then settle and run our race.

Stripped down and stood on the line for final instructions. This took FOREVER. Literally we stood there for what seemed like 5 minutes while the starter talked to us, then walked over to the side of the course, walked back to the center, finally got ready to start, then held us on the line for an eternity before finally shooting the gun. During that whole sheboigan a bee landed on my singlet, and I thought wow we've come full circle. We started the season at the farm with kids running through hails of bees, and now I'm going to get stung on the line at regionals, the clumination of the entire season. I didn't get stung though. I just brushed off the bee and got ready to race.

Got out well I felt. We were together and to the outside. These two JCU kids were way out there and some other people were out to our inside but we were fine. Got really good space going into the scrum. Passed Barnes in like 2:28 at the half. Then went through the mile in a touch under 5. Tried to keep people relaxed going into the back loop behind the houses. Was battling this kind from Mount for awhile. He would cut me off so I would shove him forward out of the way. Did this several times.

Coach was giving us positions of runners a head of us. So at 2 miles I knew there were 3 Wabash in front of me. I looked up and I could see them all. That helped a lot in the coming miles. Also I think I was in the 40's at this point. I knew I needed to move up so I started rolling at around 2.5 to 3k. Said to myself now was the time. I felt pretty good and was confident that I could move then. Also I knew that Hope's guys were around also. Just focused in on the Wabash guys as we went into the "rolling" section of the course. It was long straits. At this point I passed the Mount kid for good.

Kept rolling up towards the Wabash guys. They were a long way up there but every time I would look up I was gaining on them and that lead me to keep pressing knowing that if I kept up the pressure I would eventually catch them. There was a lot of racing left. As we came to three miles I caught the first of them. He didn't fight me and I just passed him. I think that at that point I had moved up into the 20s or 30s. Ran that third mile real hard. Like 5 flat ish. As we passed the starting line they were announcing runners that were coming by and I heard a couple Albions and a Manchester. The Manchester worried me. I was with the wind and I knew we needed more places for the team.

At that point I caught up to Matt Melvin from Albion and started trying to pass him. This was a battle. We battled as we came through 6k by the finish and turned back into the wind for the final loop. The wind really killed me. I started to have doubts. I thought I was done passing people. That that was as high as I was going and I started to think about holding position into the finish. Melvin came up beside me and passed me at that point. I remember thinking that was dumb of him and tucked in behind him. He was shorter than me but it still gave me some shelter from the wind. Then as we crested a little hill it seemed like the wind just dissipated or something. And I passed Melvin and again focused on passing people. There was a fairly big group of people up ahead. I started thinking about reeling them in. This was probably the last big pack. It also contained the last two Wabash kids I think. I knew it was gonna be a long shot though since they had a fair amount of space on me. I believe I was in the mid teens at this point.

As we got to the end of the away from the finish part I started looking for the cart and the leaders on the other side of the course to see how much longer there was. I was hurting pretty bad at that point. It was rough just trying to keep things together into the finish. Was still battling Melvin at this point. I passed Barnes and he yelled something about dropping my arms and going and how bad do I want it. I wanted it pretty bad at that point and tried to up my tempo. Got rolling pretty good at that point. The group in front of me had broken up and I stated really reeling those kids in. Just tried to pass an many people as I could. With about 500-700 to go someone yelled that I was the 8th individual. I told myself I needed to pass some kids and did that. But what really did it was seeing the last Wabash guy up in front of me. I knew if I didn't pass him and we lost by a point to them I'd regret it for a long time so I found one more push and passed him at the finish.

Probably one of the best races I've ever run to be honest! Felt like I really put it out there. I didn't know if I'd have it in me from about 5k on but somehow found the strength to push through. Seriously don't know where it came from. But if I had to guess it was from my teammates, all the work I've put in for so many years, and especially the fans and coaches. They really helped me push through.

This team has been one of the most incredible I've ever been on. Seriously I love all you guys! I'm so honored that you chose me to be your captain and that I get to finish my cross country running with you guys. It's gonna be the best ever and hopefully we get to go out in style. I'm so excited. It'll be the most fun ever!

There are so many moments I will never forget from this season. And hopefully theres room for a few more at Nationals. It's gonna be a real dirty ride!