Well after being home for a bit I finally feel pretty confident about making some comments about the race on Friday. I was 31^st in 24:27 in what was our first big-meet of the season. I actually think I was 32^nd overall but some random unattached cat was running.

As I had made pretty clear my goal was top 20 so I went into the race prepared to run the race to be in that spot. That pretty much meant after the around 3km settling into that second pack and that is exactly what I did. Unfortunately, this year that pack meant being in the thirties, not teens/twenties. I basically finished pretty close to around where I was at that early/mid stage of the race.

The mistake I made was not being there when things started separating. What is frustrating about that is in all honesty, I felt great for a really long time. I had been so concerned pre-race about staying focussed in the tough parts that I let the simple aspect of positioning in the race slip-away. I never felt this good in a cross race last year as I did on Friday, so I guess I can change my strategies a bit now knowing that I am very strong and can run the middle part of the race well. I just have to put myself in it. I thought I was where I should be, and that guys would fade up front. They did, just not fast enough for me.

Berryhill told me I ran a complete race, as in I didn’t shit myself in the middle like I did all last year. But a pretty ‘average’ complete race I guess.

I was running with Alabama’s 5^th guy pretty much the whole way, as well as Oregon’s 5-7 who came back to us after around mid-way. On that third lap macca and some other Nova ginge-cat went by me. At that stage I was actually kind of on my own for a bit so tried to latch on but it didn’t last. It’s one of the parts I’m annoyed I didn’t run to the best of my ability. C-mac ran awesome though – it actually really helped me relax to see him and the giraffe from Madagascar in the race after training with them this summer. Beamish wasn’t in sight for too long though – the three of them ran fucking tops. Great chunder by mac-daddy post race as well. Yum.

In hindsight I am not gutted, but not pumped either. I’m actually pretty happy with the time: the course is flat but it is by no means the race-course that Notre Dame is. (I’m not sure how the weather was there, though). It’s always soft and of course it had to rain the night before as well… Standard shit Oregon/Auckland weather. Looking back I think I had another 10secs or so in me, which would have had me Top 25 I think. That really shows the depth though. That whole top-30 was top quality, and the difference between each guy (aside from the top 10) is not that much, pretty close to a second a spot again or close to it. It’s hard to make a mistake because there are so many guys ready to take your position. Aside from a few hiccups though, I feel I held my weight and threw it down in parts pretty bloody well. Knowing that makes me realise that if I had put myself in it a bit more, things could have been a little different.

It’s funny though, sometimes I feel like here it is so hard to finish a race completely happy that you did everything you could. “Never satisfied, are they?” to quote John Mildenhall, there in support with his lovely wife Janne. It is just really deep in these top races but if you want to run well at Regional’s and Nat’s, you need to be able to race really well. Its for that reason that you often see guys who are really ‘fast’ on the track who can’t race for shit over cross here because all they know how to do is time-trial at Washington or Stanford. i.e all the Brit’s at New Mexico.

In terms of fitness, the strength is definitely there. We certainly didn’t ‘peak’ for this race, but it was important. I know with the training we have been doing that come Conference and running 10km at Regional’s we will really be ready to go. I actually ran over 40secs faster in the race this year than I did last year. Granted conditions were better, but not that much better. So with better tactics for big-meet racing I think things are going to be great this season. It would be great to have a few guys to run with but our team is certainly not what we expected it to be a few months ago. Knowing how I ended the season last year and entered track, I am genuinely excited about my training and fitness. Getting tough over cross will pay off huge come track.

The hard training is still on us though, today (Sunday) we did a 90min run of 1hr moderate then 30-mins fast. Not tempo, but quick. Tuesday is scheduled for 10x1km again and Friday is 3-mile – 2-mile – 2-mile. After that it will likely be some slightly easier-stuff be fore we head to Pre-Nat’s. That is a race where I really need to put to work what I learned at Oregon: get in it early. The fields there are huge, it is a real shit-fest that first couple of miles. If you don’t get out well you are done for. I’m sure the kiwis who were there last year would agree. 

Over and out.

d-wal