Geez. What an exhausting day! It was really hot and humid before and during the steeplechase, then it was a little cooler but even more humid for the 10k. Before we warmed up for the steeple, we just sat around in the shade with ice bags under our armpits and on the back of our necks, trying to keep our core temperature down. That was fun. Then, about 20 minutes before race time, we warmed up for a few mintues, stretched out and did a drill or two and got on the line to race! Steeplechase race - started off the first 200+ about 2-3 seconds fast, relaxed a bit and ended up with Steph and Marissa for the first couple laps. I was feeling good and I was racing my plan, so I decided to pick it up a little and started making up ground on the next couple girls ahead of me. With 3 laps to go, I passed a non-teammate, then with 2 to go, I passed Alicia. On the last lap, I could see a NM girl ahead, but I couldn't get her. Took 4th place, Erin took 2nd. Cooled down a few minutes after, then went back to the hotel to rest up for the 10k. Our 10,000m ended up getting postponed for 2 1/2 hours because of a thunderstorm, we raced at 10:30 pm. The men's race right before ours got cut short (9 laps early) because of the thunderstorm and the coaches and officials decided to take the places as they were at that point! Not great because our guys had a "start off super slow and catch everyone at the end" plan, so they ended up in 3&4 when they probably would've been 1&2 in another few laps. Bummer, but what can you do? NCAA regulations are strange. So, I'm guessing that outcome made strategy go differently in our race. 10k race - warmed up a few minutes for the race, then Kim and I got on the line. It was so humid, I was pretty wet from the get-go, but they had people out to spray us down and to give us water during the race. My only real hope in this race was having a nice big pack stay slow for the first half or more, then being able to pick it up later and make it come down to the last 2-3k. That failed, probably due, in part, to how the men's race got messed up earlier. First lap went out really slow, then Flores, Lee-Painter and Kim took off from the pack after about 300m. Veseth peeled away next, then a three others soon after - all within the first three laps. So, there went the whole pack idea. Having never done a track 10k before, I didn't know how fast I could/should go, so I just tried to stick to a 6:05-6:10 pace. By 8 laps in, I was completely by myself, with almost 100 meters between me the the next girl (ahead of me or behind). So after that, I just tried to stick on pace (which had sagged to 6:20's or so). Tried a couple pushes with 10, 8, 6, 4 and 2 laps to go but there was no catching the next girl ahead. So I took a wonderful 8th place and scored 1 measly point for all that misery. Time was around 39:11, so nothing spectacular. My calves are totally thrashed. Cooled down with 2 laps, then I went home.
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