(Photo by Tyler Copeland)
So here we are less than a week before district at Larry & Penny park. I had pretty much planned to go easy, get a win and conserve energy for what promises to be the toughest region in the states. No such luck. I happened to catch the 305 Classic there last Thursday. I've been avoiding this park all year.
For some reason I haven't been able to officially break 19:00 there. At the meet, I saw Nicole Matysik blaze the course in 18:38 defeating my Miami Elite teammate and 4th place finisher in the flrunners.com ROC, Valerie Lastra by over 18 seconds.
Then it hit me she crushed me last year at the Junior Orange Bowl Classic on her way to running the second fastest time ever at that course. She clocked in at 18:27 to my 19:06 handing me my worst loss ever at 5K.There is something about Nicole and that course.
The course is one of the toughest in the state. It's very rocky. I mean there are pockets of limestone sticking out of the ground in certain areas.This makes it very difficult to go all out without risking a fall. But no risk no reward right? I think this is where Nicole excels. She runs very smooth through these areas without chopping her stride.
Dont get me wrong, I've had great success here, as a 7th grader. I actually hold the 2.1 mile course record of 12:23. That was my last MS race, and unofficially I ran it in 11:58 last year. Don't ask me why we run 2.1 miles in Dade County, but it gives us the edge when we run the 3k at MS states.
So after thinking about last year's defeat, Saturday I found myself at the course with my dad and four different types of shoes. Surely one of the keys is what type of shoe to wear. No such luck. What was good on one part of the course wasn't for the others. So after 2 hours walking the course and changing shoes I don't know how many times, I was more confused than ever. I think this course is getting to me and I'm over analyzing everything.
On the way home dad suggested I call someone who runs the course fast and ask what they use. I'm on it. I call one of my best friends Gabriel Nunes, who is one of the top freshman around, and runs for Belen. Why dad didn't suggest this earlier i'll never know.
Getting back to this race, even though I have got a lot of recognition this year, I believe Nicole should be the favorite. I think it will be a dogfight and it's anybody's race to win. As if 2A wasn't tough enough throw in Nicole's name as another one of the 6 or 7 girls that can surprise at state. For now I'm just focused on districts at L&P Park where I've never officially broken 19 minutes. Keyword here is officially.
