Track Meet Results!

The track meet was so much fun! It reminded me so much of swim meets, which were a constant for about 10 years in my teens.

So these events are put on by the Empire Runners and Heart and Sole, a running store in town. It's a Summer Track Series, and this was one of the middle ones. I can't make any of the others, so I'm really glad I went tonight!

When I got there, I paid my $3 and got my number for life:

Seriously, that's *MY* number. I will use the same one year after year. I like it.

I found my pal Alicia pretty quickly and it wasn't long before the first race started - the mile. I did it cold, no warming up. I hoped the food I'd scored at the thank you picnic beforehand was good fuel (potato salad and cornbread for sure!) and worked on holding a strong pace. It burned a lot, and man, 4 laps is a LOT of laps! Tracks are so long, but so short. What is up with that? Anyways, I saw the 7:XX on the clock when I hit the final straightaway and I gave it what I had left (which was not a lot). And check this out: I came in dead last. But also, check this out:


That's right! FASTEST TIME EVER! First time under 8:00!! Now, it's doubtful that my recorded time will be sub 8, since I wasn't up on the front line, yadda, yadda. But I know it in my heart. <3

After that, it was time for the 100 yard dash:

The kiddos came out to play! Their heats were adorable. :) I did not do the 100 yard dash. I have a feeling I would trip.

Next up was the 800, which I had considered doing. I was definitely all pumped up and caught up in the excitement, so I lined up and hit the 800 hard. I went faster than in the mile, so that's good!

Yeah, a little extra .1 action. It happens.

After that was the 200. My crazy friends gave me a wild hair and I DID THAT TOO! WAHOOOO! I was just on a roll!

The 200 was pretty interesting. We each got our own lanes, very official-like. I chose lane 7 so I got to start up "ahead" of everyone else that was going to pass me later. ;) What can I say, it's a mental game. The gun went off and I gave it all I had... and I came in 4th out of 7! I was SHOCKED!!!


Apparently those track workouts especially paid off in my 200! I felt like a rockstar.

After that was the 400. I decided I was being a maniac, and skipped that one. Because after that was.... the 5k. After doing the mile, I was kind of dreading the 5k. Cuz seriously? 3.1 miles on a TRACK? WTF. Boooooooring. But luckily I had some pals there doing it too so I wasn't able to wuss out.

I didn't really know what to do, strategy-wise. It was definitely my first time doing that many laps in a row on a track (12 and a half, for those of you counting). I decided just to run it STRONG, not like a road race. I was tired, I'd done all those sprints, etc. So I settled into what I felt like was a nice jog for the first mile and was surprised to see it sub-9 when I was glancing down. Sure enough, mile 1 split clicked over at 8:42. Sweet. I realized I was actually on track for my road PR... if I didn't slow down.

Running a 5k track was was just so interesting. I got lapped a lot (cuz there were several sub-20 guys!) and I never had anyone near me at all if they weren't passing me. In fact, I lapped two people myself! Wow! I hugged the inside line tightly and had been informed that the guys lapping me were supposed to actually go around me and pass on the right. Interesting.

I was getting tired for sure and I was seeing 9 somethings occasionally when I'd glance. I could feel my legs running out of steam. I wasn't surprised to see a 9:XX flash up on mile 2. I just kept chugging. One girl I'd sort-of met earlier (no name though) at the 200 was watching the race and told me to drop my arms down and relax. I lowered them and immediately noticed my pace increased without an effort increase. Thank you, random girl!! My pace was back under 9 and I had less than a mile to go. I could do this.

Some young girls from Girls on the Run were cheering for me, and Kenny (who works at Heart and Sole, remember the story of the guy who ran the trail race with David's race number, him) was supportive and cheered me on each lap. He also took a bunch of photos which I hope to someday see.

I tried to pull it in harder coming on home but I didn't have much left. I was a bit stronger than on the middle mile, but not a lot. I could see on my watch that my Garmin was going to measure over 3.1 miles and I was curious to see what my exact 3.1 split would be. I hit the "lap" button when I saw 3.1 flash and I knew it was 27:XX but it was time to charge. When I hit the stop button at the line, it measured 3.2 miles. Garmins are not always perfect, and I didn't start up on the line, and all that stuff. A track 5k should also be about 3.13 miles because of the 1/2 lap thing.

Anyways, I am QUITE pleased with my results. Here they are:


My current 5k PR is 27:24, from the Nike Women's Expo last month, so -- HECK YEAH!! Of course, my official race time will be 28:XX. But still -- this is a different animal - at night, after a day of eating, after 3 other races, going around in circles, a track atmosphere is different than a road race atmosphere... in general, I am damn proud.

Again, I was reminded of my past swim meets. I'd often go in to a certain event thinking "I won't go all out, I'll just cruise this one" and then once you get in there, you just can't. You give it your heart. I stepped up to the plate at this track meet and it was awesome.

I had a TON of fun, and you better believe I'll be doing one next summer and comparing my times!