First meet of the season @ Cony HS

Hey everyone! Welcome to another season of outdoor. Yesterday was our first meet against Cony, Skowhegan, and Nokomis. The weather was pretty nice for a meet. It was actually really sunny most of the time. I entered into the 4x8, the mile, the 300 hurdles, and the 4x4). I generally dislike the mile but I figure that it didn't really matter because it's just the first meet.

This was Addie's first track meet, since she had been injured in past years. It was so exciting!! She did the mile, the 2mile, and the 4x4. I'm so glad she's running this year!

I was anchor of our 4x8 with the first three legs being Gwen Beacham (at left), Caitlin Douglass, and Lindsey Keenan. Since it was such a small meet I wanted to race it moderately so I'd have something left for the mile, etc. By time I got the baton we had a significant lead but for some reason I went really hard.. well, not REALLY hard.. but harder than I had planned. Gwen split a 2:36 and I split a 2:32 so I was pretty happy with those times. I think come states we'll have a pretty decent 4x8. We are missing Shelby Aseltine this year but we've got Addie now so hopefully that keeps things even.
Gwen and I were dreading the mile because after the 4x8 we felt really dead. My cool down in between consisted of starting to jog around the track, getting about halfway, and walking because I was so tired. The race actually went by a lot faster than I had expected. Addie took the lead right from the beginning and held it for the first couple laps. Behind her was me, Morgan Beede, and Gwen. I stuck right behind her but every time we came around the third corner Addie would pick up the pace a little! That was tough because there was a fairly strong headwind to go against. Going into the third lap I started to try and pass, and Gwen was right next to me with Morgan there too. The last lap was a kick between me and Morgan but I had no idea where she was so I just tried to sprint from the 200 to the finish. The time was a rather slow 5:52, but I'm not too worried about it. Second was Morgan, with Gwen and Addie coming in a very close 3rd and 4th. I don't think I'll be doing it again for awhile, if at all.

After the mile I had to go get a splinter taken out of my heel that I found right before the mile. The trainer had to take a tiny pair of scissors and open the area a little to get it out. It took a little while but she got most of it out and then wrapped it up.

Next I had the 300 hurdles. I was nervous because we hadn't been able to practice them and I thought I was going to fall on my face. That didn't happen, but I did have some pretty weird stepping. When I got to about the 3rd or 4th hurdle my steps were way off, and I had to kind of pony hop over some of them. I came in first with 51.xx (I think) which was pretty disappointing. My PR is 49.3 so I thought I'd be able to kind of start out at a 50 or under. I definitely need to practice them.
Addie (above) ran the 2mile for the first time and I believe she won (it was guys and girls) with a time of 13:05. Then she had to be the third leg of our 4x4. Here's our 4x4 wave for the boys.


First leg was Gwen, then Eliza Richard, then Addie, and me. When it was passed off to me we were about a second behind Cony and I hate it when it's so close!! I was also about to go against a girl who I knew to be a pretty good sprinter. Basically I was just looking forward to finishing and laying on the ground.. it's such a good feeling. I stayed a good distance behind the girl, and we finished pretty close together with her winning. After I finished I layed down and rolled around on the ground while coach Kelley yelled: "GET UP!" So I walked over to her and asked for my split (64.xx) and she said "okay now you guys have a small speed workout.." and I threatened to beat her with the baton that was in my hand. :)

So the first meet - not too shabby! We've got another meet on Thursday I think... at Maranacook maybe. Oh and also I have committed to UMass Amherst, so I will be there next year running as a UMass Minutewoman! I'm very excited. I start training in July for cross country.

Good luck everyone with the start of your track season!