Hurdle Week Part 2: Sophomore Year

The second of 4 "blast from the past" entries about my high school hurdling career...back in the days when I thought 300 meters was a really, REALLY long way...

Sophomore year I kind of struggled and didn't have a great season.  A lot of my "notes" sections seem to involve not doing as well as I wanted to/the weather sucking/messing up some part of my race or another.  Not really many memorable meets that year.  I was excited to run in all 3 conference meets and at regionals for the first time...even though I raced horribly there.  The highlight of my season came early when I placed 2nd at conference in the 55 low hurdles...it was my first taste of being "good" and even though the rest of the season didn't go that great, the wheels were already turning for me to really get serious and get good the next year.

Watertown Coed Dual - April 8, 2003 - JV
-55 m highs
Heat 1, Lane 3
Time: 10.2 <--PR!!
1st in heat, 2nd overall
-200 m dash
Heat 4, Lane 4
Time: 35.1
3rd in heat
Notes: well, a weird meet.  Running the 200 was bizarre...no hurdles?? Fisher wanted to do it for my endurance, but actually it was kind of fun! Hurdles went well, beat Olivia but got beat by Jennifer.  THAT SHOULDN'T HAPPEN! Oh, well..beating Olivia is still nice! I just need to get quicker between hurdles and take.21 off by Saturday so I can break 10!
[Jennifer was a super speedy girl who had just joined track this year. She had really weird form, but was so fast it didn't really even matter.  She ended up going to state the following year.]

Conference Indoor @ Carthage College
April 12, 200 - varsity
-55m high hurdle prelims
Heat 2, Lane 4
Time: 10.38
2nd in heat - QUALIFIED FOR FINALS
-55 m low hurdle prelims
Heat 2, Lane 3
Time: 11.22
2nd in heat - QUALIFIED FOR FINALS
-55 m high finals
Heat 2, Lane 1
Time: 10.12 <--PR!
4TH OVERALL!
-55m low finals
Heat 1, Lane 3
Time: 9.74 <--PR!
2ND OVERALL!!
Notes: wow...what a meet. low trials tried to 3-step - BAD DECISION, so i was in the slow heat for finals, then they set up the hurdles wrong, so i had to run that twice, but 2ND IN CONFERENCE! me and ashley went 1-2! stephanie [my newest person who I had decided to defeat, from our rival school Whitnall] beat me by .01 for 3rd in the highs - she'll get hers at outdoor!
[This was totally the highlight of my season - I'm really surprised there's not more rambling in the "notes" section of this.  The track we ran on for indoor only had 6 lanes, but 8 people made finals for the sake of team points.  So having effed up in prelims, I got to run with one other girl in the "slow" finals heat. One of the hurdles got set up on the men's marks the first time we ran, so we had to run a second time, and somehow I beat everyone out of the fast heat besides a girl from my school.  When they announced the results I thought I heard my name announced as 7th...until my coach informed me that I actually was 2ND...a huge thrill.]

Conference Relays @ Greendale - May 6, 2003 - varsity
-100 m high hurdle shuttle
Team: me, Ashley, Jenny
Time: 54.7
Heat 2, Lanes 3&4
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS
-3 x 300 low hurdle relay
Team: me, Ashley, Jenny
Splits: 60.0
Heat 1, Lane 3
4TH OVERALL
Notes: shuttle = GREATNESS! 300 = shit! cold, wind, had to pee, couldn't breathe, messed up blocks just to name a few...but still, shuttle champs! woo woo! we probably could have placed in the 300s cept for me, but i'm trying not to be too hard on myself. [even then, I beat myself up really badly over poor races. Though I had plenty of excuses to make for them haha. ]

 Well, in actual real-life news, nothing too exciting has been going on.  I started and finished a GREAT book over the weekend - "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak. I enjoy a lot of different types of books, but it's pretty rare that I put down a book and am like...wow, I wish that didn't have to end.  This was TOTALLY one of those books.  The writing style was different than anything I've ever read before and it was just...beautiful...I think that's probably the best word I've found to describe it.  The story is incredibly sad at some points [set during World War 2...depressing moments are pretty much a given..] and the ending brought me nearly to tears, but I thought it was an absolutely wonderful, well-written story that just totally sucked me in.  I would absolutely recommend it, 100%. Loved it.

So craziness - I only have ONE "workout" this week! I know, it was weird for me too going out for a run on a Tuesday and not having it be some kind of crazy interval workout.  Definitely a much needed break after the weekend though!  I did my 8 miler today on the end of the Boston course and used it as kind of a visualization exercise - just kind of noticing the feeling of the ups and downs, landmarks on the course, seeing the final stretch down Boylston...etc.  I won't lie, I got the shivers a little bit when I looked up at the Citgo sign, and again when I passed the finish line on my way to do a loop around the Public Garden.  It's still a little unbelievable to me that I'm going to be running THE Boston Marathon in 8 weeks. You would think it would be hard to forget that running 60 miles a week and doing crazy workouts has a greater purpose, but sometimes it seems to me like I'm just doing this stuff for kicks haha.  It's a good thing I have that training calendar to keep me in line...kinda. :) 

Tomorrow I've got a 12 miler on the schedule which I'm sure will be tons of fun in the rain/snow we are expecting all day...gross. Ohhh well...gotta be reminded of one of my favorite running quotes...
It's miles when you're tired.  Miles when it's cold.  Miles when no one's watching, and no one cares.  That's what makes a champion.