D2 Indoor Nationals: Day 1

AM: 45 mins. (6 miles) + strength
PM: Meet

And we're off to the races! Today was the first day of the national meet, and I was front and center for most of it. We started the day with a nice relaxed run along the river--it was as flat and sunny and perfect as yesterday, and I loved every minute of it. Tanya and I ran the first half of this run with Jenna, then parted ways with her at the turnaround as she had a tempo run planned for the second half. We ran into Coach Simmons and his friend Mike Hillyard, the coach at Southern Indiana, a few minutes later and joined up with Mike for the rest of the run. He joked that he was going to gradually work the pace down to wear us out before the race, as we will be competing against his best athlete tomorrow night (Mary Ballinger, the 2009 outdoor steeplechase champ). Fortunately Tanya and I were too smart to fall for his scheme, and refused to run faster than 7:20 pace for the rest of the run.

I headed over to the meet early in the afternoon, as my parents had arrived in town and were waiting for me at the convention center. Huge props to John and Sharon for not only flying out for my race, but also sitting through countless races they had absolutely no interest in just to spend some time with me. Oh, and for buying my dinner too. Thanks, Mom and Dad!


Simon on the starting line (far right)

Now back to the meet: Simon was the first Queens athlete up to the proverbial plate, and he took off just past 4:30pm for the second heat of the mile. Three athletes would automatically advance from each heat, plus the next three overall on time. This meant that only three athletes would be cut from the finals. Simon was stoked when he found out yesterday that he would be in the second heat, as the first heat is usually notoriously slow, but unfortunately things didn't go to plan today. Apparently Adams State wanted to make sure all six of their guys advanced automatically, because the three of them in the first heat shot out like cannonballs--on 4-minute pace through 600 meters--breaking the rest of the field and finishing in 4:10. The final runner in the first heat finished in 4:13--much faster than Simon wanted the race to go--and as a result he was forced to run for his life from the gun. He did his best but couldn't respond when the pace changed at halfway and struggled to a 4:16 finish. He would not go on to the finals.


Nelson preparing for his race

Next up was Nelson in the 800. Also in the second heat, he would have the advantage of seeing those before him. The first heat wasn't as slow as he'd hoped, but wasn't untouchable either, and I knew Nelson would have a chance to advance if he ran smart. Though he didn't end up running one of his fastest times, he competed well and hung on when the pack kicked the final lap. He nabbed the 9th and final spot for tomorrow's finals, which means he will claim All-American honors if he can beat one guy.



The rest of the meet was fairly predictable. Adams destroyed the field in the men's DMR, and Jessica Pixler ran down Neely Spence to earn Seattle Pacific the women's DMR title. Tanya and I watched this race with interest, as several of our competitors for tomorrow night were competing in tonight's DMR. Naturally, we're hoping they're all too exhausted from their efforts today to challenge for the top spots tomorrow. Could be wishful thinking, but I'm going to run with it. Pun intended.