Not Quite Mt. SAC, But Still a Good Effort

So, a couple weeks ago, I went to sign up for the Mt. SAC Relays and the Payton Jordan Invitational Meet at Stanford.  I find the Mt. SAC site, and BAM!  I realize they closed the entries the day before.  Despite much pleading and reminders of my race last year (I ran alone to win the second heat of the steeple) through e-mails and phone calls from me and my coach, I was not allowed in.  Last week, as the meet approached, and I still hadn’t heard back, I became more and more irritated.  I was mad at myself for being too slow and frustrated with the race directors of Mt. SAC for ignoring me while letting one of my teammates in.

Well, good thing they have the Bryan Clay Invitational at Azusa Pacific University for people like me.  I was able to register for the meet a couple days before flying out to California.  I was wary about running the meet because winning times from previous years were not what I wanted to run.  However, I was pleasantly surprised when the heat sheets came out – many women with fast times were entered. 

When the race went off, I tucked into second place.  The first 700 meters were a little too comfortable.  I took the lead with 800m to go and picked up the pace.  We went through 800m at 2:20, not nearly as fast as I had hoped, but I was able to run 4:21.  The race felt good, and I hope I’m able to run another 1500m soon.  If I start out a little quicker, I think I’ll be able to run in the 4:teens. 

Usually Mt. SAC and Payton Jordan are two weeks apart, but this year, they are only separated by a week.  So Meghan Peyton, Matt Llano, and I are staying in California for almost two weeks to run at the two races.  Now that the 1500m is done, we will fly to the San Francisco area to train for the week and run at Payton on Sunday.  In order to save the team money, we found a very lose connection for a place to stay in California.  Matt know Brandon Gregg, a recently graduated Stanford runner, through racing him, and we all know his sister, Kaitlin from RunPro camp in 2011.  He and his roommates are very generous and letting us stay with them for the week.  As usual, I am living as a nomad, but it will be a fun adventure.