Big South Conference Champions 2011!

Wednesday 2/23:

On Wednesday we left from campus at 10am, I had to go to English class and take a quiz at 8:50 and then I got breakfast before boarding the bus. The bus trip was good, I waited for Isaac to finally get his paper done and then we watched some Chuck. I just spent most of my time, reading and texting people. Then we got to the hotel and after dropping off our stuff we headed over to the track and I went for a run with some of the guys on these trails around the Clemson University campus. Clemson has a super nice campus, it was beautiful down there, the weather was nice and it was good to be there. When we got back to the hotel we showered up and got ready for dinner. I went to this really good pizza place called Mallow Mushroom I think or something like that. I ate with some of the girls and Coach Scott. After that we just headed back to the hotel and chilled for the rest of the night.

Thursday 2/24:

Thursday morning I woke up and went down to the first floor to get some breakfast, I went with my roommate Spencer (the Canadian). Breakfast was good, and after that I really just chilled in my room for along time until our bus left at 1:45pm for the meet. I had to wait around so long because the DMR was the last event and I was the last leg so I was literally going to be the last set of people out on the track. I cheered for people most of the meet, Zach ran the 3k so I cheered for that. Then finally it was time to warm up and I went out and warmed up with Rigler. Finally after I got all warmed up and ready to go, our relay team of Chris Arvey (Freshman), Spencer and Andrew got to the line. Andrew was the lead off guy in the 1200m and he split a 3:10 and got us into second. Then Chris ran the 400m and split a 50 point and he was in third, then Spencer ran 2:00 and kept us in third and so that where I got the baton. Coach Scott told me just to relax especially the first few laps. So I went out in 32 and the guy in front of me built a gap on me, and then my second lap I split a 32 for second lap and then hit 32 again. The Wintrop guy was starting to come back to me and then my fourth lap was 33 and I caught the guy and I just stayed right behind him. The 5th lap was a 34 and Coach Scott yelled for me to get around him and so I did and gapped him and finished with a 31-31-31 or something like that. I know my final split was 4:18.0 and we got 2nd in 10:20.6 which qualified us for Boston. It was a good race, I felt good and didn't even feel like I went all out. So it was a fun night and awesome to be up on the podium with my relay team. Later that night I iced, got pizza, and drained my legs and then went to bed.

Friday 2/25:

I woke up at 6am to get some food and I had a little bit of yogurt just to get something in my stomach. Then I went back to bed for a little until leaving on the bus at 8:30 to head over to the track. I didn't have much time before getting warmed up, so I spent some time reading in 2 Thessalonians and really just trying to quiet my heart and focus on giving my race to God and not worrying about all the stress of the race. After that I warmed up and got ready to race. The rest of the team got to the track just a little bit before the race and Isaac, Sam, Will and I got ready to run. Finally at about 10:55am my race lined up and we got ready to start. The gun went off and immediately there was jostling and fighting for position and I got boxed in and the first lap was a 36 which was way to slow. I tried to get out and on the second lap I almost got tripped up and fell, I have no idea how I didn't fall but it definatly threw me off and I just felt really uncomfortable. My legs did not feel as good as they did the day before and they just tired and heavy despite all the preparation I did. I faded at the end and finished 8th in my heat in 4:25.5 and 9th overall. As soon as I crossed the line, even though I knew it wasn't a good race physically and the time wasn't good, I got down on my knee and thanked God for allowing me to race and allowing me to run my hardest for Him. I felt comfort in my defeat, and I wasn't disappointed but felt like the race wasn't mine but God's and that gave me happiness. I did a good cool down which didn't feel very good because I was tired but I needed to recover well, and then I got changed and cheered for my teammates the rest of the meet. The team did very very well, and we won both the men and womens titles (the guys by 80 points and girls by 20 points). After the awards ceremony we headed home on our very long 7 hour journey. I sat with Isaac on the bus which is always fun and the whole team watched How to train your dragon and Beauty and the Beast. Both good movies.

And now I am getting ready for Boston and just trying to prepare both my body and my heart to race to the best ability that I have and for the complete glory of God.

Tim and I during the awards ceremony, Tim had a Personal Best in the Weight Throw.

The Clemson Track, a very nice facility

The beautiful sunset on Thursday night

Zach thought all went well, "two thumbs way up"