I had an awesome morning prepping for the race, but my legs were still a little tired. I drove up with my mom around 11, and we had plenty of time to watch some races. I wasn't ready to start my warmup. Now that it's over, I can admit that I was so nervous going into this race- especially because I was seeded second. My goal was to pr, that was it. I didn't care if I was gonna place, all I wanted was a pr. When I started my warmup, it was super pretty outside. I loved how warm it was! I only did a mile, but I guess that was all I needed. After I grabbed my shoes and got everything prepped, I went down to check in with Emily. I got in all of my stretches again which was pretty nice. The striders felt good.
When the gun went off, my nerves totally left. I just ran. The first few laps I don't really remember. I just remember passing the pack and focusing on the girl in the front. I felt really good, but I was worried my first mile was way too fast. It ended up being around a 5:30. I was running alone pretty much the entire time. On the 150m mark, I could see the pack 50m behind me. It really pushed me, and I noticed the gap getting slowly bigger over time. I can admit that I wanted to give up at the mile and last 800 mark, but both times I thought that would be stupid because I was in a good place. Because my pace was quicker than normal, I wasn't positive on my times that I was supposed to hit. I know my splits were fairly consistent. The majority of the race was a blur. The last 400 I kicked, but I didn't feel much faster. The last 300, I heard the bell for the leader's last lap, and I kicked some more. On the last 100, I realized this was the last of indoor, so I'd better give it my all. I didn't feel like it was faster, but I could feel the last of what I had in me. I didn't know my time because they stopped the clock.
I never imagined getting second at Simplot, so I'm happy, but I couldn't have done it without all the motivation from other people and Conner's help with workouts. I'm happy about the pr, too. I cooled down about a mile with Emily which was fun. When I got back, Ethan invited me to cool down with him. It ended up also being with some crazy fast guys, too. Luckily, they didn't go very fast at all. It was really fun. It was a fun day!
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