Okay, so first just to say, this shall be long! and so I'm going to break it down into parts, so if you really want you can skip to the more fun parts!
Friday: Driving
So there were 10 of us who ended up going, plus a coach.
I rode up with Erin Fitzimmons in her car. Also in the car was Ellen Pinnete, Jessica Leeman (Squirrel) and Rebecca Merrit.
The drive down was a ton of fun, not an hour into the drive we got off the highway because our coach, had to pee. We got out of the car, and headed inside and who would we see, but Joe Hyatt our team photographer from last year!
He is there in his car, I swear!
We then got back in the car and continued on our journey. We definitely had the fun car. We blasted music, and there was a great time while we were listening to the beatles really loud, and all singing along... and it felt rather funny.
With another stop to pee (coach again) we finally arrived at our hotel.
We hung around there for about half an hour, and then got back in our cars for the drive to Darmouth College.
Friday: Meet night
So there were only 2 of us running Friday night, Me and Ariel, and we were both running in the mile unseeded.
We got there around 2 maybe 2:30 and I didn't run until 4, so it was way to early although I didn't know it at first.
I warmed up for awhile, and finally my coach made the smart idea for me to put my headphones in, and lie down to relax.
At 3:50 I headed over and got my number, i was in heat 3, seeded 5th
My plan for the Mile was to go out and PR, and maybe hopefully get a 4:50
That meant I would be running a 2:25 800, that wasn't impossible.
My coach had planned out every 200 split I would need and so he had found a place to stand near the finish line and he would let me know how I was doing.
The start was incredible, I was seeded 5th, and the guy next to me had never broken 5 minutes so I thought it might be a nice fast and easy start, I was wrong. The gun went off and he was throwing his elbows everywhere. I knew one of my ways for a good race was to get out start, so I had to push him aside and take off.
I'm so fast you can barely see me!
I came through my 800 at 2:26, about a second off so I tried to pick it up a bit. With a 400 to go I tried to pick it up, but it turns out that lap was a bit slow. I came into my last lap around maybe a 4:10, I'm not sure because I couldn't remember perfectly what the clock said. Either way I knew it was a bit slow and so I kicked it. I had been running with a group fighting for 2-4 and so going into my last 200 on the first turn i pushed and pulled into first. By then the number 1 runner had pulled ahead a bit and that is who i was going for. I picked up into my sprint with a 150 to go, about 100 earlier then usual but I had hope I could make it. As I pulled around the last corner into the last 55 I was in 2nd. Out of nowhere another runner comes out of nowhere sprinting into the finish, I dug deep but wasn't able to catch back up to him, I finished third in my heat with a 4:55.22 a new PR, although not the time I was looking for.
After the race, as I cooled down I watched Ariel Mcnett run her Mile. She was seeded a 6:03 but because she missed her heat, she ran in the slowest heat, and ended up running a 6:09
Friday: Dinner
Because Ariel and I were the only ones running on friday we were able to leave after Ariel finished. For dinner we went out to a restaurant called Molly's. While there we were sure to leave our mark
We let them know who we were!
and why we were there
I also managed to get this beautiful picture of Coach Holmes pretending to be a spawn of the devil.
After our fun dinner we went back to the hotel to relax. We ended up hanging around our room until about 11 when we settled down to sleep.
Our coach offered to sacrifice a bed for us
Saturday: Race Day
So now we get to one of the longest posts. Our first runners of the day were Erin Fitsimmons and Rebecca Merrit in the 55 Hurdles. Rebecca ran a 9.6 which was a PR and Erin ran a 10.46
We then jump forwards to the next event that we had people running in. The 400.
Ellen Pinnete and Jessica Leeman ran in it. Ellen ran a 1:08.78 and Jessica ran a 1:06.13
After that we had Rebecca running in the 300, we don't have the 300 in Maine, so it was an interesting race. She ended up running a 44:07 which as far as I know, is not bad!
During all this we had Timmy and Mckenzie jumping, and Randi throwing Shot Put. In the Long Jump Timmy jumped 20'-06''.75
In the Triple Mckenzie jumped 41'-00''.75
and Timmy jumped 42'-02''.75
Both jumped incredibly well, and I know at least Mckenzie PR'd
In the Shotput Randi threw 36'-05''.75 which was a foot farther then she was hoping for, and a PR
Continuing on we had Erin and Chloe running in the 800. Chloe was seeded 2:30 and Erin 2:35
They both did very well, and Chloe ended up edging Erin out by running a 2:34.80 compared to Erins 2:35.55
After that was the mile and 2 mile seeded. The mile was a great race for me to watch, and gave me times to
look for next year!
The 2 mile was an incredible race, Will and Jake ( a kid from somewhere else!) were 1 2 during the entire race,
until finally going into the last lap Will started pulling ahead and ended up running a very fast time of 9:18.70
Liam then ran in the next heat and had a huge PR by running a 9:36.64
After that we had the girls 4x400
Our 4x400 team was Ellen, Jessica, Rebecca, and Chloe. they all ran very well, especially considering they
had all already run and had been at the track for about 9 hours now. they ran a 4:28.12 which I found was
very good!
We were finally able to leave the track, about 10 hours later around 6.
Saturday: Ride Home
So we headed home, same cars as on the way up, but this time we were starving. It was a very fun ride home,
but I'm going to be quick. It was really a lot like the ride up, although for the last hour or so, we were all getting
pretty tired but we didn't want to sleep, because we didn't want erin to be alone, so Ellen plugged in her laptop,
and we listened to the Across the Universe soundtrack. We ended up getting home somewhere between 10:30-11:00
Overall I loved the trip, it was tons of fun, some great bonding, and I am very much looking forward to White Plains
this spring and Both of them next year!
