Cross Country 2004 Indoor Track 04-05 Outdoor Track 2005
Cross Country 2005 Indoor Track 05-06 Outdoor Track 2006
Cross Country 2006 Indoor Track 06-07 Outdoor Track 2007
Cross Country 2007 Indoor Track 07-08 Outdoor Track 2008
Also, post-high school race recaps will be posted at the blog.
-600m 1:49 (relay) 12/12/2007 SWCL-East Indoor Relay Meet at Northbridge HS
-800m 2:32 (relay) 1/30/2008 SWCL Indoor Championship Meet at Tantasqua HS
1000m 3:14.52 2/09/2008 District E Indoor Meet at Fitchburg HS
Mile 5:29.66 1/30/2008 SWCL Indoor Championship Meet at Tantasqua HS
2 mile 11:46 (5:53) 4/16/2008 SWCL Dual Meet at Oxford HS
5000m 19:16 (6:12) 10/14/2007 Rutland, MA Pumpkin Paddle 5K RR
6000m 26:30 (7:06) 6/10/2007 Worcester, MA Firefighters Memorial 6K RR
4 mile 24:45 (6:11) 3/15/2008 Oxford, MA St. Patricks Day 4mi RR
11. 1/23/08 Indoor Meet: Run out of Northbridge with nearly two PRs.
0.3 seconds was all it took for me to have two PRs in my last indoor track meet at Northbridge. That's how much off I was in the mile. In the 1000, it was a PR by 0.5 seconds. To that point in the season, it was my best meet by far.
10. Fallon Mile 2004: The 6:09
Fallon was the first and second road race I'd ever run. It was only a mile long, and I've spent a total of 22 minutes and 57 seconds on it, but by the third time, 'Fallon' had become very important to me. I cared strongly about my time. This was the first time I can recall ever worrying or planning for a race the night before. It all paid off though, as I set a PR in the mile by 1:11, and broke my course best by 1:35. I finished 7th, the highest ever at the time. I was 10 seconds behind winning a medal for 3rd in my age group, but I had already won the award of self-satisfaction, and no ribbon can substitute that feeling.
9. XC at Oxford 9/23/05: From 8th to 3rd
About a mile into the race I was in 8th place. Halfway through, I was in 7th. In the next mile, while maintaining and increasing a difficult pace, I managed to pass 2 opposing runners. I moved up to 5th. As I came out of the woods The 4th and 3rd place runners were about 15 feet in front of me. I passed both of them in the parking lot, neither giving a challenge. I ran away from them, and finished in a course-best time (I would later break the mark). The 3rd place finish was my highest ever.
8. XC Districts 2005: "I felt terrible, but I just kept going."
Perhaps I was too confident, perhaps it was the long downhill to begin. Whatever went wrong, I started too fast. I also felt sick this day. Simply put; after the first quarter mile, I felt awful. There was no difference after the second quarter mile, or the third quarter mile, or even the tenth. However, I wouldn't give up. No matter how bad I was feeling, I was not going to slow down. I pushed through the pain more than I ever have during any race. After, I wrote in my race summary "I felt terrible, but I just kept going. I was doing as good as I could have, I never let up a bit."
I will always remember this race as the 2.9 miles of pure determination. In the 19 minutes and 48 seconds I spent running this race, I proved to myself that in addition to natural ability, possibilities are limited only by will. Because I never give up on a task I honestly care about, what started off without hope ended up being my fastest race pace that season (for a course longer than 2.4 miles). On November 7th, 2005, I never gave up.
7. Indoor SWCL 2005: The 4x800
I had battled intense shin pain throughout the season, and the otherwise dreadful season was to end with me running 2nd in the 4 by 800 relay. I cared very strongly as to how I did due to the fact that I was running for somebody other than myself. How fast I ran with the baton affected the other three runners who were to hold the metal cylinder. I became as nervous as I've ever been before a race. When I finally got to run, I flew. Honestly, I don't remember my feet ever touching the ground during that race. I didn't even know how many laps the race was. I still don't. I ran as fast as I could for the half mile.
6. XC at David Prouty 9/18/07: VICTORY.
I strongly believe that how well someone runs has nothing to do with how fast their competition is. In other words, I don't run to see who is fastest compared to everyone else, I run to see who is fastest compared to themself. On this day, I had everything working for me, and no matter who I was running against, this was a good race. However, on this day, I also finished 1st. It feels great to win.
5. Central Mass Striders 5K 10/20/07: Another victory.
I ran the race as perfect as possible. I was in second place for much of the race, keeping the distance short. At about the 2 mile mark I made my move and ran away with the race. I won it with my second fastest 5K ever. Pretty good for a "training race."
4. Rutland Pumpkin 5K 10/14/07: The fastest race I had ever run
Call it the "Pumpkin Paddle 5K", the "Pumpkin Patch 5K", the "Rutland 5K", the "road race with a stupid name", or whatever else your crazy heart desires. I call it what it was at the time; the fastest race I've ever run. Until this day, no PR race pace for anything longer than 1 mile had ever been faster than 6:12. I also finished 4th overall and 1st in my age group.
3. XC SWCL 2007: faster than ever.
This was my fastest race ever by 5 seconds per mile. I went out at my pace (with all the other runners going fast), and between the half mile marker and the finish I passed about 30 runners. Seriously, it was probably close to 30. I only got faster as the race went on.
2. Indoor SWCL 2008- 5:29.66
My favorite thing to do? PR in the mile. After finally breaking 5:47, the mark I set my freshman year that had stood for 32 long months, I beat it in the first meet of the season. I broke it again the next meet, then I aimed all of my workouts towards the SWCL mile. I was rewarded with my best race of the season, a 4 second PR ran in style with relatively even splits the whole way before really turning it on the last two laps. Later in the meet I would PR in the 800 by 4 seconds as well, despite being fatigued from the mile.
1. 3/15/08 Oxford St. Patricks Day 4 mile road race
Reached all goals of a top 5 finish, first in age group, and breaking 25 minutes. I ran smart and this was the fastest I've ever run, using the times from the McMillan calculator. The race marks the beginning of a major breakthrough I expect to make over the next few months due to my increased mileage training.