I landed in Toronto about a week ago, after finishing up the last few meets of my freshman year down south. They didn't quite end up the way I had hoped. I ran two 5000 races a week apart, but blew up big time in both of them. I haven't even put in the effort to actually find out what the times were, but it was pretty disappointing. I think I was around 15:40 in the first race, and I wouldn't be surprised if I was close to 16:00 in the second race. To be honest, I'm still a little confused as to what has gone so wrong in the past few weeks to go from 14:45 to 16:00, but I'm back in Toronto with a few more weeks in the racing season to figure things out and get back on track.
This whole year has been filled with pretty inconsistent performances going all the way back to my injury in cross country up until the problems I've run into over the past couple weeks, but there was a lot more to the year than what the times showed. I could write pages and pages of blog posts about how much I've learned from my first year in university but it still wouldn't be able to convey the knowledge and experience that I've gained from spending a year in this program in Alaska. I guess you could say that I came to Alaska as a big, dry sponge and spent the year absorbing everything around me. I got a really good feel for what it takes to be a part of a successful university program, and I have a really clear image of what I need to do in order to continue improving and developing on and off the track. I am already feeling eager to get back to school and put this years knowledge and experience to work for more success and consistency next year.
I still have about 11 weeks before I fly back, so I will have quite a bit of time for redemption on the track and base building for cross country. The rest of the season will have a little stronger focus on 1500 work, maybe tossing in a 3000 or 5000 but I'd really like a few cracks at getting below the 3:58 zone I've been stuck in for a while now. Not certain about the racing schedule for the rest of the season, but I'll definitely be doing some of the RCLDS races.
On a completely unrelated note, a guy by the name of Erik Van Ingen (3:38 1500) released a film today called "The Real Maine" documenting a summer of training in Maine featuring a bunch of the NCAA's best distance runners. Pretty inspiring movie, and I definitely recommend all you runners out there check it out when you get a chance.
Click here to watch the movie
Last but not least, I definitely need to give a shout out to the ten UAA Seawolves have qualified for NCAA's this year. They're taking off to Colorado tomorrow to show the nation what they can do. You can find results up at goseawolves.com after the meet this weekend.
Give 'em hell Seawolves!
