June 10th, Saturday

Far surpassing any personal expectations, I finished third today in the 800m finals in a new personal best of 2:57.91.  The race evolved much like yesterday in which I went out faster than most of the runners and hung on to secure my place. The two Runners who beat me are both seasoned senior and Masters runners. Gary Patton, the winner, is probably the most outstanding senior runner in the US for the last 10 years. He is an automatic whenever wherever he goes. Today he set a new senior record for the 70-74 category 800m. 

Me and Gary Patton after race.

I feel very tired this evening I believe more from the heat than from the race itself. It was a very hot and humid afternoon, and we ran our race at about 12:45 p.m. I tried to do a post-race cool down but I was just getting hotter by the second so I could only complete a half mile. Eventually I had to put some ice packs on my head and neck just to feel as though I was back to normal. Tomorrow I plan a different strategy. Rather than waiting around for my race all morning in the heat, I’m going to stay in the air-conditioned Samford University Library until the last moment and jog over to the starting line. I think it will give me an edge.

It has been a very successful weekend so far, and I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, but I don’t think it’s important and I am very relaxed about the whole situation.  Still goin for second though!  LOL