Celebration of Running 5k/Fun day

I ran the Celebration of Running 5k this morning right outside the Orlando Science Center. It was a hot and humid, usual summer florida day. I felt great the day before on an easy run and race day i was ready to go. I took it out very controlled and around mile two a exploded from the kid i was drafting and passed 3 guys to finish in 16:56 which ties my best time. And i am very happy because i ran my best time on a hot and humid day and after about a month and half of tapering. I had junior nationals last week and felt no pressure about this race, so it was really fun. Alot of the cool guys i train with (Dave, Richard, Josh, and my coach Marc) also competed and most had great races as well.

I went MTBing later in the day too! w/ felllow training partner Timmay. I ate it in the first quater mile trying to go too fast around a turn, but i learned my lesson and slowed down and luckily im not hurt. We MTBed in Wakiva springs, it was great fun the trails went alot further than we expected which was cool, but there were some rough sections with tree roots. Its all part of my 2 week break that begins today!!! Tmrw were going to much better trails up in Ocala National Forest, were i hope to have a good time but not bust my ass and screw up my running season. Oh we also went kayaking which was cool, fun day anyway!

Junior Eilte National Championships

I flew out to Denver, CO on thursday afternoon and drove 1.5 hrs to Colorado Springs to race my last race as junior. Since Colorado Springs is above 5,000ft in altitude, i can't say i didn't feel the lack of oxygen and the dry air which i'm not used to.

I was ranked 6th in the U.S for junior men going into the race and so i got a good spot on the starting line, although it didn't help much because i got off to a really rough start on the swim. Before the first bouy i had been pushed about 2 feet underwater by one of my competiters which caused me to stop and gasp for air, while already feeling the lack of it due to altitude. I really suffered the first lap of the swim and so lost my position and fell back behind the leading pack of swimmers, where i usually am positioned. On the second lap i regained focus and passed about 5 swimmers before the first transition. I really swam hard the last 50 meters knowing that the large group up ahead would form a big pack on the bike and that i would be caught behind them. On to the bike i was feeling surprisingly good so i hammered as i hard as i could to catch the chase pack but with no success. I settled in with 4 other guys before the start of the run. By now i wasn't really worried about my position, i just wanted to finish strongly, so i ran with the guys from my pack and caught about 5 other athletes throughout the run, feeling better and better as the run went on. I finished in 15th place, not exactly what i had hoped for but i was exceptionally pleased with my ability to bounce back from a bad swim and have decent race. This was my last race a Junior Elite and so know i will first take a 2 week break and focus on my running before i enter my first season as an amateur elite. I hope to obtain my pro card next year while racing non-drafting races all over the country!