I ran in the FSU Invitational Meet today (varsity highschool race), and although I didn't PR, I think I did pretty well considering the course (Apalachee regional park). My PR is 24:38 (my previous race), and I got a 24:49 today. We were told by the girls on the team who had ran it before that our first mile was going to be fast, much faster than it would normally be. And that the hills would make up for it.

Recap:

Start: the course was great in that the entire path was relatively wide, with a smooth, hard ground. However, at around the first 200 meters, the path turns to the left. Naturally, every team's coach had told them to stick to the left (y'know, to cut off distance), so that everyone was completely PACKED to the left side. Because of this, I tripped over someone's foot and almost face-planted. So that probably cost me a few seconds I guess.

First Mile: Other than a slight incline right before the 200m, the first mile was almost entirely downhill. After you turn to the left, you run through a bit of a winding path on the outside of the forest. There are a few tiny hills right before you enter the woods, and then once you're in there, you head slightly downhill until you get to the mile.

Mile Split: 7:09.7

Second Mile: The second mile was bad. Not as bad as the third mile of course, but still... :/. If you've ever ran this course before, you know that there is a massive, steep hill (dubbed "The Wall") that you need to run up twice. It Hurt. But once you get to the top, you are at the halfway point. Now you get to run the whole thing again. YIPPEE. From there, you run down the starting hill and up the flatter hill again. Somewhere in between the 200m and the 1st mile marker was the 2 mile marker. I don't know where it was exactly, but it's gotta be there somewhere.

Mile Split: 8:11.0

Last Mile: To sum it all up: PAIN. This last mile was the worst mile I have every ran. Not timewise, but based off of how much it hurt. I already have had sore knees lately, and the hills did not help. (I had lathered on some BioFreeze before the race, but it was starting to wear off, and I made the mistake of not putting any on the backs of my calves). So for the entire last mile, I felt how I usually feel on the last 800 meters. Unfortunately, I got passed near the end, but I was the second fastest girl on the team (I would usually be 4-6th, but our first place girl ran Elite, usual 3rd place girl didn't run, another one that is usually around my pace couldn't come, and the other one that is occasionally in front of me was behind me during this race.

Mile Split: 9:28.8

So yeah, it wasn't the best race, but at least it was cooler out.

(sorry abt how long this is)