You know what I like about meets like these? You walk away going, “shoot, those times were easy! I can kill that at the next meet.” However, that’s a very bad thing to make a habit of. You don’t have to worry about that MC.
I know what you mean. I plan on killing these times next meet. Seriously, for the first time all year I will be pushed (or run over really) next meet. I’ve already talked talked to my coach and he’s letting me run relatively fresh, my events will be the 110HH and the 300IH, with a possiblity of a leg on the 4x4. I need to be fresh for both the hurdle events because I’m going up against the best hurdler in the state (seriously). His name is Garret Green: #2 in the state in the 110HH with a 14.2 and #1 in the 300IH with a 38.6. Without a doubt, I plan on PRing in the 300IH and giving him as tough a race as I can. Also, they’ve got depth, and I believe there are a few other guys on that team that run in the 42s, so it’ll be good competition for me. I just gotta forget about the last meet and move on.
Date: March 21, 2006
Meet: Notre Dame Dual Meet
Meet Time: 3:00 - 6:00
Surface: All-Weather
Weather: Cloudy, Cold, Swirling Winds
Events: 110HH, 300IH
110HH 19.9 FAT 3rd Varsity
Again, I fell, but this time I don’t feel too bad about it. I was moving strong through hurdles 1 - 5, and then from 5 to 6 I lost my steps and got too close when I took off, catching my foot underneath the hurdle. The crash was tremendous, and I got it on video. I’ll see if I can put it up. However, at that point I was pretty much even with a guy who ran 16.3, and I know I can beat that easily. I just gotta work on keeping my speed through the hurdles like the guy who won at 14.6, and I’ll be dropping times like I rock. Other than the fact that I fell, I liked today and I can definitely learn from it. I’ll get touchdown times for hurdles 1 to 5 later.
300IH 42.8 (?) FAT 2nd Varsity
I think this training lately has been detrimental to me. I felt like I was giving 100% effort but it just didnt feel like I was reaching speeds as fast as just 2 or 3 weeks ago. I did stutter a bit on two hurdles, but that’s no excuse for this time. I got this time off the video I took since the timing system failed, but I’m fairly certain of it’s accuracy.
Date: April 1, 2006
Mee: Small Schools Invite
Meet Time: 9:00 - 3:00
Surface: All-Weather
Weather: Scattered Clouds, Variable Winds
Events: 110HH, 100, 300IH
300IH 42.90 FAT 2nd Overall Varsity
Ugh, this race was done from the start. I didn’t know that the starter was using a whistle for set, and so when he blew the whistle I ignored it in my mind and stayed down on my knees in the blocks. Once I realized what was going on, the started set the gun off while I was still on my knees and I was behind from the start. In the words of my hurdle coach, “You started like a girl.” Anyways, I caught everyone on the turn and was reeling in the first place guy on the back straight. My problem though, is that when I fatigue late in a race my hurdle clearances have me leaning back, and so I would catch the guy, then lose my momentum over the hurdle and fall back. So I have to work on that and make sure to start properly next time. If I had a regular start it would’ve been close because he won by .3.
100m 12.4 FAT 10th Overall Varsity
Uhh, yeah, not good. There was a headwind, but I just had a bad race. My start was fine I thought, and I was actually doing well out of the blocks, but I just started to lose it and felt myself slowing down. I guess I’m not used to running without shit in the way to focus on, but I definitely tightened up when I felt everyone running with me and then I lost it. I’m not a 100 runner anyways, but I thought that even with a bad race I would’ve broken 12. Maybe I’ve had illusions of my speed being better, or maybe it was truly just a bad race, either way, I’m gonna try not to think about it.
110HH 18.4 FAT 6th Overall Varsity
I’ll admit it, I pussed out on this race. I looked down the track, saw the wooden hurdles, thought of how I fell the past two races, and said screw that, I’m finishing this race and I don’t care if I’m fast or not. Now that I look back I’m disgusted with myself for doing that and taking the conservative easy approach that guranteed a finish with a horrible time. From here on out I go balls to the wall in this race and either set a massive PR or fall trying. There will be no more mediocrity and in between anymore, I’m just sick and tired of it and all the excuses I make for myself.
Date: April 11, 2006
Meet: Loyola Dual Meet
Meet Time: 3:15 - 5:30
Surface: All-Weather
Weather: Cloudy, Headwind for the 110HH
Events: 110HH, 300IH
110HH 17.3 HT (PR for 39 inch hurdles) 3rd Varsity
This race felt better than it has in a long time, and the three-step didnt seem that hard. However, people tell me that I really lose speed as the race goes on instead of gaining it, so I gotta work on that. I three-stepped to hurdle 8 again, but I really want to get that whole race next time. This is technically a PR because what I have listed as my other PR of 16.7 was run at 36 inch hurdles. Good day I guess.
300IH 41.5 HT (PR) 2nd Varsity
Now this PR was great. I knew that the guy I was up against had a 40.2 PR, so I lined up in the lane inside of him to let him “pull” me through the race to a better time, and that’s basically what happened. He won with a 40.8, and I set a PR of .8 seconds with that 41.5. From what I thought of the race, I thought I made good adjustments on the fly and that my form was strong throughout. My friend has a video of the race though, and he said that I actually stuttered slightly on 6 of the 8 hurdles, and that the last 2 hurdles I still lean back a bit. So there’s room for improvement, but this definitely puts me a lot closer to my ultimate goal for the season of 40.3.
Great job on the results man. 300 hurdles are lookin good. I really wouldn’t be suprised if you dipped under 40 seconds before the season is up. Good luck, keep workin hard! It’s about to get to crunch time here pretty soon!
Thanks, but really if I get 40.3 I will consider my season a success. Going under 40 would be phenomenal, but I really need to see that video of me to find out where I can make the most improvement and to see what I’m doing that needs to be corrected. Gotta keep working hard, because my high school career ends in 4-6 weeks, and then that’s it!
Date: April 25, 2006
Meet: Harvard-Westlake Dual Meet
Meet Time: 3:15 - 6:00
Surface: All-Weather
Weather: Cloudy, headwind in 110HH
Events: 110HH, 300IH, 4x400 (1st leg)
110HH 16.9 HT (PR at 39’) 2nd Varsity
This race I really just didnt care too much. I adjusted my start from the blocks and I got to the 1st hurdle a lot sooner than I have in the past, probably a bad idea to change block settings on race day. Anyways, it helped for my three-step and I did three-step, albeit rather poorly, the entire race. I hit a few hurdles, and there was some bounding going on, but I got all the way through. I lost 1st by a lean at the finish line, so it was competitive. Even funnier, I think the people must have misheard the timer or somthing because in the book it says I ran 15.9, but I know for sure what kind of race I ran and a 15.x time was not it.
300IH 41.8 HT 1st Varsity
This race I just went out hard and kept it strong. My clearances over the first few hurdles were a little high, and I think I should spend some more time adjusting to IH height after running at HH so I don’t lose time over the hurdles like that. Also, I hit the 6th hurdle, and I stuttered on hurdles 7 and 8, so there’s definitely some more potential to improve. I just gotta hit it next week when it counts, and maybe then I’ll get pushed some more because I was running out in front by myself today.
4x400 Relay (1st Leg) 54.xx split 2nd Varsity
Normally we don’t even run a relay, but today we needed to win the relay in order to win the meet, so I was conscripted into duty for this. I just got out hard since I was the first leg and apparently I was tightening up the entire race. That usually isnt a problem for me, but there was a lot of pressure on me to get out fast to give us a lead and so I let it get to me subconscously. Still, I’m fine with this split. I was told that my first 200 was blazing, and it felt like it, and about the 320 mark, like you would expect for a 300 hurdler, I started dying hard and the other guy started catching up. I still gave our team about an 8m lead, which they proceeded to squander and never regain on that second leg. Even worse was that on the exchange the guy didnt move, so I ran him down and I ended up having to fall out of the way so I didnt run him over. That probably didnt help our time much either, and we lost the relay and the meet too. Oh well.
Date: May 1, 2006
Meet: Mission League Prelims @ NDHS
Meet Time: 2:00 - 6:00
Surface: All-Weather
Weather: Hot, Sunny, slight tailwind on 110HH
Events: 110HH, 300IH
110HH 17.26 FAT 6th qualifier overall
Well, I didnt expect to but I made it into league finals in the high hurdle event. I came out strong from the blocks, and apparently I was with the leaders for the first 3 hurdles. After that I lost ground on them, and I three-stepped to the 8th hurdle and then 5 stepped my way to the finish line. I think that this will set me up well for league, and I’ll build on this hopefully to finishing somewhere in the top 5 at finals on Thursday.
300IH 43.33 FAT 7th qualifier overall
Oh my gosh did I fuck this race up royally. I got out decently and I thought things were looking pretty good. As I’m coming up the 2nd hurdle I feel like I’m not gonna make it ever so slightly, so, spur of the moment, I end up slowing down, knocking over the hurdle with my hands, and then speeding back up. Luckily, where the 2nd hurdle is located is partially blocked from the view of the judges and starters by bleachers, and so nobody saw what happened and as of right now I’m not disqualified. Thank goodness I managed to get back into the race and somehow come away with a mark good enough to make it to finals. Hopefully there I can get this shit down and drop a PR in league. I just gotta prepare myself to run out of either lanes 1 or 8 though, but I’m in the race and thats all that matters.
Date: May 4, 2006
Meet: Mission League Finals
Meet Time: 2:30 - 6:00
Surface: All-Weather
Weather: Cloudy, cool, moderate tailwind
Events: 110HH, 300IH, 4x400 (lead leg)
110HH 17.82 FAT 6th place Varsity
I knew after this race that the meet was going to be a struggle. The fact is, this past week I’ve had too much time off bceause of not only my schedule, but my back was killing me the past two days and so I havent been able to do anything. I got out of the blocks and I just felt sloooww. I didnt have my normal burst or that spring in the step, and my legs felt just dead. My hurdling was better, but it was offset by the fact that I had no speed.
300IH 42.23 FAT 6th place Varsity
Going into this race, I knew I had nothing in the tank. My legs were literally dead, and it was pissing me off to the point where I was considering not trying at all. My friend came up to me about 5 minutes before the race though, and it was almost movie-like where he gives a really inspiring speech, and so I decided that no matter how my legs felt, I was going to run the best race that was possible for me to get that day. I got out of the blocks, and I was again just slow. I saw people pulling away from me (I was in lane 1), but I just kept it up. My stride pattern was perfect, my hurdling was perfect, and by far this was the best technically sound race all season. Without a doubt I’m happy I was able to get this time, and I can only imagine what would’ve been if I had combined this focus on technical proficiency with the sheer speed and stamina I had about a month ago.
4x400 Relay 3:41.xx (split 54.3) 5th Varsity
I had to run the lead leg on this baby, and like I said I wasnt feeling well at all. I just went out hard and left it on the track, I fought a stomach cramp all the way through the second turn and home straightaway and got our team into fourth place off that first leg. Checking later, it turns out my split was fastest on the relay, and this was the last high school race of my career. It was just a nice chance to run around the oval one more time, and no matter how we did it was awesome.
Great job man… You’re a fighter. Congrats on the season, hope you continue your success with whatever you encounter in the future.
Good job 
M.C. I have got nothing but ultimate respect for you and your efforts during this past year. You have truly dedicated yourself to track and field and exemplified the kind of athlete that we all can be proud of. Times are a biproduct of hard work, commitment and talent, not the ultimate goal. You’ve ran a damn good season, and a fine 300ih time.
I wish you luck in college.
Great season and hell of a high school career. Good luck in college.
Thanks for all the kind words everyone, I really do appreciate it. I guess I’m still waiting for it to kick in that high school track is over.
Hey man, its onto bigger and better things for you im sure. Its been great reading your journal.
Best of luck and keep in touch…