Zack Smith Blog: California Dreaming

The ultra popular Arcadia Invitational bag is one of the perks that every participant receives

After a few weeks away, it is nice to be back to blogging and to Illinois!  This past weekend, Tony Zea, Ryan Clevenger, and I went out to California for the Arcadia Invitational.

We arrived on Thursday morning and were welcomed by a beautiful day in Los Angeles.  We could not have had better weather during our entire trip as every day was absolutely perfect to train in and to relax in.  We settled in on Thursday, and met up with Jesse Reiser [McHenry], Dan Lathrop [Plainfield South], and Simon Thorpe [Dixon] for dinner.  It was really cool to get to spend more time with some of the other guys from Illinois this weekend, and it really helped to have them to train with while we were there.  Unfortunately, we were not able to meet up with more Illinois athletes while out there.   

On Friday, Tony, Clev, and I went out to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena to do a little sight-seeing, and we had a fun afternoon driving around Pasadena and checking out the mountains.  The Rose Bowl was really cool to see because I have watched so many games played at that stadium over the years.  The scenery of the entire area was gorgeous, and we spent some time driving through the mountains and checking out some of the awesome sights up there.  After our daytime excursion, we again went out for dinner with a bunch of the Illinois guys.  Afterwards, we relaxed and prepared for the big day on Saturday.   
 

On Saturday morning, we headed over to the track for Ryan and Tony's race.  It was a great morning to run, and both of them killed it out there running big PR's of 4:16 and 4:18 for the full mile.  It was very motivating for me to watch them run so well earlier in the day, and it really got me excited for my race that night.
 

After a relaxing day, I felt really good going into the race.  It went out hard, and I just tried to hang in there with all of the other great runners in the field.  Fortunately, I was able to hang with them for most of the race, and they pulled me along to a PR of 9:08.44 in the 3200!  I was very happy with how I raced and with the time, but I know that there is still more in the tank for the rest of the season!
 

Aside from the DGN guys, the rest of the Illinois runners represented the state fantastically out at Arcadia, with a handful of them all running huge PR's.  It was awesome to watch the other guys from in the state perform so well, as well as some of the best track and field athletes from around the country.  The invitational 3200 was really something special to watch, and I am very lucky to have been there to witness such a great race.  I cannot wait to continue to improve and work my way up to that sort of level.  Again, huge props to all of the Illinois guys this weekend, fantastic job!  Thanks for reading!     
 

Editor's note: "The Boss Crew" featuring Tony Zea (Sr.)- 4:16.95; Zack Smith (Sr.)- 9:08.44; Ryan Clevenger (Jr.)- 4:18.63 indeed made the trek to Sunny California a very successful one. They will be armed and dangerous for all takers back home in Illinois for the remainder of the season.