Saturday, April 17, 2010

Mt Sac Wrap Up

After two solid day time races it was Shayla and Alyssa's turn in their evening races. Shayla was part of the Puma Mile, a special event that featured a group of unsigned professional men and women battling for a one year contract from Puma. The women were given a 29.4 second (difference between the women's and men's world records over a mile) head start over the men. Shayla and two other women went to the front and pushed the pace completing laps of 68-69-70. Shayla ran the final lap in 72 and ran a lifetime best (by 17 seconds) of 4:41 to finish third among the women. Several men caught the women with about 180 meters to go. It was a fun race with a great atmosphere as fans were encouraged to line the track in the outside two lanes. (See the video).

The final race of our trip was Alyssa's debut in the 5K. After overcoming nearly falling in the first 500 meters she pushed her way back towards the lead pack and found a great rhythm completing the first mile in 5:08 and the second in 5:12. Her final mile was covered in 5:24. Her final time was 16:29 which is the third fastest time in school history. Truly an outstanding effort. She was very gritty and tough in the last mile to maintain a steady pace. As a 1500 meter runner she is not used to this endured pain that the 5K brings over the last mile.

It thought the weekend was very successful. You can't run a lifetime best every time out. We had two PR's and two efforts that were just off all time bests. We still have a lot of season left.

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