Six days, four PRs

Friday night: 10k at Div III New Englands at Springfield. I run the first 5k in 21:17, exactly half of the time I ran 10k in the previous week. With one mile to go, I'd have to run a 6:15 last mile to get under 42 minutes. Impossible, I think, and proceed to run two laps just under 100 seconds. That means I'd have to run the last 800 in three minutes. Impossible, I think, and run another 98. Then I have to run the last 400 in 80 seconds. Clearly impossible. I turn on the speed and fly past the few remaining competitors on the track. As I kick in the final meters, I realize that the clock says 21:56, 21:57, ... so I sprint even faster. When I finish I shout to my coach, "did I do it?" He puts the thumbs up. 41:59.

On Saturday afternoon I run the 4x800. I wanted to break my PR of 2:38 at the Williams Relays, but I ran an abysmal 2:42. I split 2:36 in this race, and think I could have run 2:35.

Today we had the Slowboy Invite at Williams. I wanted to do the steeplechase, as did a few others, so our compliant coaches set up the hurdles. They had us run a 2k steeplechase, though, rather than 3k. This turned out to be a good idea. My splits for the various laps were something like 90, 98, 102, 111, 108. Kind of pathetic. I jumped over the hurdles, instead of hurdling them. Some of them I just stepped over. And despite my best efforts, I still jumped into the water jump instead of over it. So it goes. Apparently I will make the all-time list for the 2k steeple, since it is run so rarely. Time: 8:33.

Then we ran the 4x400. The teams were mixed gender, and they made them as even as possible. I was anchoring our team, and I knew that while I would get the baton with a significant lead, the other team's anchor leg was much faster than me. So I took the baton with fear in my heart and ran as fast as I could, considering that it was a 400-meter race. With 200 to go I went on my toes and went for it as fast as I could. I could hear her getting closer, and the teams were cheering for both of us simultaneously -- a bad sign. Just a few meters from the finish line, she came up behind me, and passed me -- but just slightly! I accelerated as much as I could, and we both leaned over the line. Too close to call! What an exciting race for the Slowboy Invite. Most exciting part: I broke 70 seconds for the first time (and in wet socks and shoes!), splitting 68.9.