3000-Meter Steeplechase

Steeplechase is tough, but not impossible.

I got up at 7:00 to get ready for the Valley Stream Challenge, our first meet of the season. It's the day I've been dreading/looking forward to all week; the day I try steeple. We got to VSN around 9:00, and Pat, John, and I started warming up as best as we could (it was freezing!) and doing some hurdle drills. It was windy and cold and I was terrified. Finally, it was time to get clerked in and walk to the line. Luckily, as with most races. the people in the Boy's 3000m steeplechase were really nice and supportive. We all talked about how much the race was going to suck, and how slowly we were going to run it, just little pre-race pleasantries. We stripped down and got on the line, and the gun went off. The first 200 meters were fine; no one fell, and I made it clear over the first steeple. Then it really hit me that I had seven more laps and THIRTY-FIVE MORE JUMPS, SEVEN OF THEM OVER A PIT OF WATER left to go. The jumps really made the race fly by though. That and everyone screaming at me all around the track. I really need to work on my water jumps, and my hurdling while I'm at it. But I did hurdle all of the steeples!

So I came pretty close to last, at 11:52. I'm just happy I finished and didn't fall. Now that I've gotten over my fear of jumping, I can really start to work on improving.

I didn't run anything else the rest of the meet because there wasn't a 3200m and the mile was right after the steeplechase. I hung out with the team for hours, watching events and trying to stay warm. We finally left just before 4:00.

I got home and showered quickly before going to Molloy for a cello lesson. When that was over, I went home and Kenny came over and we had dinner (mac and cheese and leftover wonton soup). Alyssa came over a little later and we just talked for a few hours.

Tomorrow I'm filming my Italian project, La Gara Sorprendente. It's going to be a long day.