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DCCCLVIII

May 9, 2015 (Afternoon)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: Cloudy and mild in the morning, sun beating down in the afternoon, not as hot as last year

Comments:
We triumphed over Potomac by 42 points today when Anthony thought in February we weren't even going to win the MAC. Immediately the boys made a statement with the 4x800m: Kravitz led off and then handed it to Cowan, at which point we were in a distant third to Sidwell. Erkin passed Potomac immediately as Tristan said, "Just gimme a shoulder, Erkin." He made up about 70 meters and reached Sidwell's dying third leg beautifully whom Tristan let lead for 700m before blowing by him. I've taken the time to narrate these races because it set the stage for the rest of the day. Watching the meet took my mind off the race and gave me confidence that we might win after all: Boyer out kicked all those people in the mile, Rihanna got first in her heat, and Tristan and Zeke absolutely handle the same distance to finish 1, 3. Danny ran to second place in the 400m, Simone set a school record in the long jump, Katherine in the mile, Evan and Ian went 1,2 in the long jump--so I had no shortage of inspiration for my one event. The warmup was another matter. Trying to stop myself from falling apart, Jackson and I jogged through a sweaty warmup. Zeke considered doing a huddle on the infield, but then said, “You guys know it all already, we don’t need to.” But then I talked to Jackson separately and said how I felt like when I was a sophomore my seniors went to college and forgot about me and that I would not do that. “But I had not so much of man in me, And all my mother came into mine eyes And gave me up to tears” (Henry V 4.6.31-3). 15 minutes away from the race, I fell apart completely, sobbed uncontrollably, for a minute or two and then was fine—no nerves whatsoever; that must have helped ease my fears. I only got to do two striders before having to wait on the straightaway with all the other competitors. I poured some water on my head, and was even more relaxed as we walked up the straightaway, shaking hands with some of the other hoppers behind the fence. Luckily, they didn’t make us wait any longer. During the first lap there was jostling and positioning between, Zeke, Jake, Kyle and myself; then Jackson came on the scene and for a little bit we had a GDS pack leading the race, but Kyle took the lead around the mile mark (5:01), and maintained it for the rest of the race. Noticing the heat for the first time, I just told myself, “Alright, now it’s going to get hard, so stay focused and enjoy it and for God’s sake don’t lose to Sam.” I later learned that Anthony had been mitigating some crisis having to do with the 4x400m, so he was not able to do very much coaching while the 3200m was going on. Jake then surged ahead of Zeke, but we both worked our way towards him, and by the seventh lap, I think I had gotten rid of Sam and passed some other Potomac kid with 600m left. In the last lap, I remembered my form Simonson’s essay. While I didn’t have some amazing kick, I made up more ground on Jake and finished in a convincing fourth. Despite missing my PR, it was a good race and I doubt I would have done much differently. Very proud to be a hopper today.