Which of your races are you MOST proud of?

Hmmm. Actually got me thinking on this one.

In high school I ran the 4x400 (2nd leg, usually). At one meet early in the season we were at a rival high school, and this particular school had one of the best 4A teams in the state. I think they had actually won the team title the year before, and they were particularly strong in sprints. Anyways, when it came time to run the 4x400 at the end of the night, I don't think anyone (including ourselves) were giving us much of a chance. Our school was kind of a joke compared to them.

We went stride-for-stride with them for the first 3 laps, and our anchor did the same until there was about 20m left in the race, at which point he took the lead and won by a stride-length or so. We set a new school record.

We were elated and the other school's relay team were baffled. We laughed as we saw them arguing with each other and their coach. This was a significant race for us because it was the first time we actually felt like real competitors; like we actually had a shot at being a factor in the state meet. So we started carrying ourselves with a little pride after that.

sophomore year in high school after running a solo 9:49 3200 on an indoor 160 meter track, got injured spent 6 weeks in the pool 2 weeks out of the pool 9:24 3200 outdoors.

Won the 3200 at my district outdoor track meet senior year after being hurt for two months during the winter. I hadn't had a great season up until then and had only run 9:58 and 4:34. It was a slow race through the first mile, then the 5th lap was an 80 so my coach yelled at me on the backstretch to " Just Go!" Dropped the hammer hard the next lap and hung on for the last 600. Ended up running 9:50 which was a PR and was in complete shock crossing the line knowing I'd won.

Mine was more of a team effort. State meet my junior year for xc, we were co-favorites with 2 other teams for the championship. I ran with the #1 runners from both schools through 3k, then surged on a tough uphill. 1 guy broke on the hill, the other broke on the ensuing downhill when I surged again. They both had sub par finishes while I ended up 4th, and we won the title.

Funny thing was, I got beat by 2 guys I normally owned. They ran for mediocre teams, and just blasted from the start. Everyone in my pack let them go, assuming they would die. They did, but not as badly as I thought they would. Looking back on the race, I wouldn't trade the team title for anything, but losing to those 2 guys is the fly in the ointment of an otherwise perfect race.

Winning the 400 in my high school district championship.

It was my pre-season goal and I did it.

I didn't even run the 400 the year before or qualify to run in the meet at all in any event.

I had much more success in college and beyond but that was the race I was most proud of.

Thirty years ago four of us were training to break sixty minutes in a popular 10 mile race in Stockton. We trained for it like it was a marathon. Three months of hard training for one race.

My friend Jim and I ran together. We hit five miles in 29:35 but our fifth mile was run at 6:00 flat and I was really beginning to struggle.

I told Jim not to wait for me that I wasn't going to be able to hold the pace.

He looked at me and said, "Ken, you knew this wasn't going to be easy."

It was the best thing he could have said. I decided that I would hold the pace til I dropped. We ran 5:56, 6:04, 5:49, 6:08 & 5:56 and finished at 59:28.

The 6th & 7th mile were probably the most painful two miles I ever ran. Then I started feeling great and stupidly ran 10 seconds faster than we needed for the 8th mile.

Jim paid the price. He pulled me through 5 & 6 and I pulled him through 9 & 10.

I've run hundreds of races the last 38 years, but that was the only one that I felt like I had broken some pain barrier.

I always run hard...to the point of dry heaving at the finish, but the Stockton race was an almost out of body experience. (the last three miles)

hello.... wrote:

sophomore year in high school after running a solo 9:49 3200 on an indoor 160 meter track, got injured spent 6 weeks in the pool 2 weeks out of the pool 9:24 3200 outdoors.

160 meter track? I call BS.

Fun question.

I went to a small, lower-tier DI school - we were never close to qualifying for nationals or anything like that, so although our league meet was important, the real highlight of the season was the dual meet against our big rival school.

I ran the 1500m, and within the first lap my two teammates had been dropped. The spectators from the other school were making comments like "you got her, it's 3 on 1!" etc. With a lap to go it was between me (a sophomore at the time) and their top girl, a senior who had always beaten me easily. I doubt she even knew my name. I was supposed to wait until closer to the end to kick, but with 300m to go I couldn't take the tension anymore and just flew by her. I won by 7 seconds.

Later some teammates told me that they overheard one of her teammates say "damn, [name] just got rocked." That was the icing on the cake.

It was a 160 meter track, 10 laps for 1600 and 20 for 3200. What is hard to believe about this? The race was run at a up state ny suny college.

the millrose track when it was at the garden was 160

hello.... wrote:

It was a 160 meter track, 10 laps for 1600 and 20 for 3200. What is hard to believe about this? The race was run at a up state ny suny college.

Reminds me of the old standard" yardage tracks... 160 Yards, 11 laps to the mile. Madison Square Garden, etc.etc.

to be clear it was actually 160 yards

yep, there were a few 200 meter tracks in my day. Toronto CA had one, we went Dartmouth they had one and Cornell had one, Cornell is were NY state meet was in my day.

hello.... wrote:

It was a 160 meter track, 10 laps for 1600 and 20 for 3200. What is hard to believe about this? The race was run at a up state ny suny college.

Which SUNY College?