We got to New York late Thursday night tired and hungry. It was about 11pm and none of us had eaten since lunch. We were running the 3200m relay and the DMR the next morning so we decided we needed to get some food into our systems. We went to a diner near our hotel at about 11:45pm and didn’t get back until about 12:30am.
Despite staying out late the night before, we were all ready in the morning to go on an adventure to find the Armory. Our route required getting on a shuttle bus, walking a couple blocks through an interesting part of the city, and taking two different subways. After about an hour and a half, we finally arrived at the Armory. When you first walk in, you can tell this meet is big time. There are New Balance advertisements every where, runners sporting their New Balance freebie back packs, and plenty of inspiring pictures and posters. It was time to start warming up for the 3200m relay. We had two teams in the event, so eight of us total were running. Warming up outside the Armory was a challenge because there were so many people on the streets you had to dodge them. We were all really nervous before the race because we knew the competition was going to include a lot of the top runners in the country.
The Armory’s track is the nicest indoor track I had ever run on. It had banked turns which helped all of us do really well in the relays. The ‘A’ team even left with a third place finish, receiving medals. We also got to watch St. X compete; it was nice having another KY team there to cheer for and to have a little extra support. After the relay, we had to wait for the DMR to start. The schedule was running a little late, so the race didn’t start for about 5 hours. The wait was exhausting. The team still did really well and nearly ran a school record. Day 1 was a success and we were all really pumped to see what we could do the next day.
Day 2 began the same way, taking a journey on buses and subways get to the Armory. Our only event of the day was the 4xmile relay, we were hoping to get in the top 6 to receive an All-American title. We felt like we could do it, but the competition was the best in the country. Warming up, we recognized girls from Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon. We knew they were there to do some serious things, like chasing a national record. There were so many teams in the 4xmile, enough to make three heats. The first heat had our ‘B’ team in it. With 4 girls each running a mile on a 200m track, we had to cheer for someone about 32 times. They ran really well and we were hoping we could do the same. Our ‘A’ team was in the last heat, which had two teams going for the national record. The heat had so much competition which helped us run at a high level. We ended up getting third place! We were all so excited about competing so well and getting an All-American Title. After our races, we stayed and watched St. X run their 4xmile.
That night we went exploring the city. First we went to the WTC memorial. It was very inspiring. We also went to Times Square with thirteen girls and managed to not get separated which was challenging. New Balance Indoor Nationals was an experience I will never forget. We are already making plans for going back next year. Hopefully it will be just as good as this year was!
