January Racing

Four years ago I was working and teaching in Philadelphia. I was in my second year of Teach For America (and also my second year out of college). The (fucking) Heps, in this particular year, were going to be held at Cornell on the Barton Hall track. As many of you know, I was really excited about it because almost everyone I had known at Cornell was going to be back in town for this meet.

I remember that I'd had to leave late, and on the road up to Ithaca, true to Ithaca form, it had started snowing heavily. I had to stay in the tire tracks of the truck that was ahead of me to keep from swerving off the road. Anyway, when I got back to Cornell and watched the meet I was struck by two things. First, I was envious of the fitness of the guy's that were currently on the team. Watching them made me want to race again. Second, every person I met up with made the same shocked exclamation upon seeing me again: "Oh my god! You've lost so much weight! It's like your wasting away!"

So, I went back to Philly motivated (and shamed) to get back into shape. I emailed Will, told him what I wanted to do, and he gave me some ideas for workouts. I, also, contacted the Central Park Track Club and joined their team (I was moving to NYC at the end of that June). All through that spring I kept a log of my training. After school, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I would jog from my apartment on 13th and Pine, across the river, to Penn's campus and to Franklin Field where I would do workouts.

At some point, Will said I needed to race. I was not enthusiastic about the idea because I didn't want to run when I was not in tip-top shape, but I could understand the logic. It's been over a year and a half. I need to practice racing again. So, I signed up for a race in NYC. To take the pressure off the race I signed up for the 400 meters.

There was a lot that I had forgotten about: nerves, how the timing of the meet can get pushed around (my race started a half hour late), racing from a gun, etc. I think I ran 52 point something. I remember I lost to a guy from Ithaca College (before the race I saw him warming up and thought to myself, at least I know I'll beat that guy). I wasn't distraught by the result, but I certainly wasn't encouraged.

I ended up not racing again on a track for four years. I think I held off on writing this post because I was afraid that I would somehow end up not racing this past Friday night. I am very glad that I was able to get back out on a track and race.

As for results, they are encouraging. I ran the meet a little bit like a workout. I raced in the 3000 and the 500. Sam and Steve were running the 3000 and I wanted to be able to run with them, and I wanted to run some speed so I entered the 500. The week before the race the meet was not really on my mind. I had labeled it as a workout in my head. The night before the race I got a little bit of nerves, and on the day of the race all of my racing nerves were sending off big jolts of adrenaline and fear. Once I got to Barton Hall and warmed up with Sam and Steve things felt a little better.

After we went out, I settled down a bit. I had no idea how the 3k was going to feel (not having run one ever before). I knew that I wasn't going to stay with Sam and Steve, but I was surprised when they bounded away from me in the first lap. I settled into pace (and got pacing advice from John and Robert, which was really helpful). I lost count of the laps, and the person who was switching the "Laps To Go" sign messed up and left up "5 laps to go" for two laps in a row. So, I wasn't sure what I was doing. I heard Robert yell something like (you've got to get a 70), and guessed that I had two laps left. So, I picked it up and finished for a 9:25, which felt great. I assume that 9:25 is not a great 3000 time, but I was very happy with it being that it was my first 3k and I don't count myself to be a great distance runner.

After the 3k I was feeling good for about 30 minutes before I got nervous again for the 500. I asked myself again why I ever signed myself up for these things. The 500 came and at the gun I tried to get out, but had a hard time accelerating. I was in last after the crash, and I tried to pass guys the entire way, but only managed to catch two of them in the final straight away. I was beating myself up the entire run because I was in last, but down the last straight I saw the clock and knew we were going to hit a good time. The time ended up being a 67.1.

I had gone into the meet hoping for a 9:30 and a 68. I hit 9:25 and 67.1. So, all in all, I'm very pleased with how it went. I'm excited to get to the next meet.