East Bay Challenge

Last year our team ended up not going to two of our scheduled meets: Brown and Bronco Invite. The same thing happened this year, but I instead got two races in, and we went to a hillier race in Portsmouth instead of Bronco.

The East Bay Challenge (also called the East Bay Invitational) did not seem like a good choice for a meet. I couldn't find anything about it- no past results and no event information besides a poorly drawn course map. My first thought was that it would be an easy meet- with the only competition being weak, local teams. I also thought, until I got there, that I would end up wishing we went to Bronco instead. I ended up being wrong on all accounts.

I'll get into pre-race soon, but let me recap on the rest of the season first. It started out well with a very surprising 16:26 5K time, followed by a second place finish at the Ryan Park (NK) league meet with a good pace for a weird distance, then a disappointing time at St. George's meet (17:16, 5K) but ending up winning it. Also, Stavros went well with a huge course PR, a win. The huge Ocean State invitational followed, but I ended up running out too fast and finished 17:03 for 5K. Another two victories at league meets followed (Westerly, Chariho) with times of 16:18 and 16:25 for 3-miles courses. Finally, a return to open races and a break from the Cross Country scene. Extremely disappointed with my Pumpkins time (I'm still wondering how it was that slow) but glad with the win, and happy with my Penguins time and win (biggest field I've topped). This was my next race after that.

What three teams did I see shortly after getting off the bus and unpacking? Prout, Chariho, and EG. That meant I had Jonny Eckel, Kyle Keefe, and Jackson Cronin (and other fast EG runners) as competition. My plan was to just hang on to the lead pack. Plenty of time for bathroom breaks, warm-up and stretching before heading to the start line at 5:20 (We got there around 4). Waiting around for the gun to go off actually made me less nervous than I usually am. It seemed Westerly was given the perfect spot all the way on the right. The first cone turn happened also to be to the right, so I and others on my team figured we'd have to run less distance. The gun went off.

We were wrong about the cone on the right. We rushed straight towards the first turn, and a few seconds in I figured out the first cone was on the left side of the field, so I lost a few seconds and started heading left (the other cones were after a lap). I ran fast for the first quarter mile to catch up to the leaders. When we got off the first field, I was in about 10th place. For the rest of the race, I was only behind Kyle Keefe and a bunch of EG runners. I felt strong until I hit the hills. The course was pretty much 3/4 of the perimeter of one field, then another field, then another field until you looped back to the start. Then you did another lap. Usually, the first straightaway on a field was downhill, then the next was flat and then uphill. I stayed pretty close to the leaders on the first lap- by Mile one I was in 7th or 8th. A mile split was called out to a runner near me- 5:08.

I finished the first lap still feeling pretty strong and less than three seconds behind the leaders. I settled sixth place, and it was still a pack of leaders, not just one. I thought about making a move to catch up to the leader, but every time I did I hit a uphill and got really weak from it. Besides getting really tired from the frequent hills, not much happened until the last mile. Eventually the seventh place runner dropped off from me, and it was a pack of six. A EG runner I didn't recognize took the lead for a while, but eventually got really weak and was passed by the top five with half a mile to go. At this point the placements went EG, Chariho, EG, EG, then me. The top two runners broke off on the final quarter mile around the start/finish field. The number four runner seemed close to me, and I tried to pass him with a tenth of a mile to go, but he surged ahead. I tried once again on the final straightaway, but couldn't again. The finish clocked kept ticking: 16:58, 16:59, 17:00. I was thought I was 16:59, but wasn't sure.

I was very happy with my time and place, as it ended up being 16:59. My second time breaking 17, although the 16:26 may have been a short course. Results. Next week start the final meets of the season with Class Championships at my favorite course, Ponaganset. I'm planning on putting a lot of effort into future runs to make Class and States great meets for me.