By Meredith Kilburn
Hi! Last week I had the amazing opportunity to run in New Balance Indoor Nationals in New York City, and two of my teammates, Mallorie and Emily, got to come with me!
Thursday
Thursday was pretty uneventful, thankfully, as our flight arrived on schedule and we were able to quickly get to the hotel. The hotel was really nice, and after walking around for a little we all went to bed.
Friday morning I woke up and ate breakfast, knowing that it was going to be a long time before my race at 7 p.m.… little did I know it would be even longer than anticipated. We arrived at the Armory at 2 p.m., and the meet was around already 20 minutes behind schedule! I was a little surprised because I didn’t think a national meet would run behind… but it continued to get farther and farther behind as the day went on! The atmosphere of the Amory was so exciting; I couldn’t believe how many people were there! While waiting for my race, I met up with some of my future Wake Forest teammates! I was so excited to meet everyone, and it only makes me more excited about going there next year! Most of the afternoon was spent sitting around and trying to pass the time and stay relaxed.
Around 5 p.m. Jenny Simpson arrived and started to sign autographs, and after waiting in line a while we got to meet her! She is pretty much my hero so getting to meet her was really awesome! By the time 7 p.m. rolled around, the meet was an hour and a half behind schedule! 30 minutes before my race I warmed-up outside with Mallorie and Emily. Shortly after I checked in, around 9 p.m., we were led to the track and allowed to do strides around one of the turns. As soon as the last girl finished in the heat before ours we lined up and in a matter of seconds the gun went off. The race was so competitive and even though I had a good start I quickly ended up at the back of the pack. For the first mile I stayed behind a girl in front of me, hoping that we were going a good pace… we ended up splitting a 5:28! This was a lot faster than I had wanted to go out in, I had hoped for somewhere in the 5:35-5:40 range! The race was mostly a blur until we had 14 laps to go, when I started feeling that first mile. The laps slowly ticked by and finally we finished! I was completely exhausted, and unfortunately I didn’t start my watch so I had no idea what my time was. I quickly found Mallorie, Emily, and my mom, who said that she was pretty sure I was under 18.
Fortunately, John Olson found us and I was able to see my time right away! I was so happy to finally break 18! I did a short cool down and then we left to go in search of food. After eating, we arrived at the bus stop, where our bus was supposed to arrive in ten minutes, which would be 10:30. As the minutes passed, 11 came and there was no sign of our bus. The next bus was supposed to come at 11:40 p.m., and once again it didn’t show. Needless to say we were all getting very worried and tired! Finally at 12:40 a.m. the bus finally came and we were back at the hotel around 1 a.m.!
Saturday
Saturday morning I woke up very sore and tired from our late night and the hard race. I had planned to do my long run today, and Mallorie and Emily ran with me for some of it. After finishing my run, we went sightseeing in the city. For the rest of the day we walked around and visited Times Square, Rockefeller Plaza, Fifth Avenue, and Ground Zero. It was so cool getting to walk around and see all the famous places! Not to mention the food was pretty fantastic! After a full day of walking around, we were all exhausted, so we headed back to the bus station. This time we made sure not to get to the bus stop too late and I think we all breathed a sigh of relief when our bus came on schedule.
Sunday
We were all up bright and early Sunday morning in order to get to the airport in time for our flight. Our flight was right on time, and even though it was fun going to New York, I was happy to be home!
I am so thankful that I was able run in such a competitive race and gain more experience! Even though I didn’t run the smartest race, I was happy with my time. It was also awesome having my friends with me and getting to sight-see in New York!
