Hello all, it's Alex Riba again for the first time since the beginning of the season to talk about NXN. Boy was it quite the experience. One of my goals since freshman year was to make it to NXN so going into the regional race I only had a top five finish in mind so winning it was quite the pleasant surprise. Some people also thought I blew off Foot locker to focus on Nike which is false. I just had a bad race. Prepping for NXN I just kept very simple workouts usually with a few 1000s to 300s at "pace". Although at this year's NXN, pace was relative. I was only really trying to maintain my taper for that time so I've been at a mere 30 miles per week for the past 4-5 weeks.
On the flight out I sat next to Sam Wharton and we just talked the majority of the time. Once we got to Portland, we got bussed over to the Hotel where we ate lunch, got our rooms, credentials, and signed agreements saying we wouldn't do anything stupid, etc. There went to the Nike HQ. There we went on a run around the Nike campus exploring. We did find the track in the middle of the woods after some time and ran a few laps on it, but mostly we just ran on the running trail that circles the Nike campus.
When we finished we were able to get our gear. They had it set up in a really cool way, where it was on a stage, and only the five guys (or seven teammates) from our region walked out to the display with all our uniforms and spikes with strobe lights flashing and recaps of each of the individuals being announced. One of the things we received were a pair of the Victory XC2. Afterwards we were able to go a product development building to get our trainers. They had displayed all the colors of all their spikes for the next two years already displayed. (the 2013 colors are way better than the 2014). I also got to talk one of the product designers about the design that goes into the spikes which was really cool. At the opening ceremony we got to see all the pros that were there for the event for the first time. As the midwest we had Evan Jager and Chris Derrick as our team captains. Just around the campus though we had run into a few like Shalane Flanagan. At dinner all the pros sat with the teams from each region so as individuals we never really got to talk to them all too much.
On Friday, we were able to go out and run the course that morning, it was just a slop fest. In the finish straight away they were actually pumping water out because it was shin deep. It was a good time though trudging through the course. The Whoop-de-Doos as they call them were much steeper and taller then It appears on race videos or pictures. After a wash up and some recouping we were back at the Nike HQ again to play ping-pong in the hospitality room, meet and greet all the pros who all had little tables for signing stuff. Dinner was just pasta in their cafeteria. Back at the Hotel there was another hospitality area with ping pong tables, we played alot of ping pong. Right before we headed to bed, we got a midwest individual meeting with the ten of us and our pros. There was no Jager though, but Kara Goucher and German Fernandez did join us in addition to Chris Derrick.
The next day all of us individuals had our own warm up routine so we kinda of did our own thing. After putting on spikes and making the last final preps we got behind the finish line to be called out for ourregion. We got called out, ran through the fog machines, then headed to the start line. The box was big enough for four across so we drew straws to see who got the back. I drew the shortest.
When the gun went off I worked my way up mid pack then we hit the mud which would be there for the whole race. It went flying. After the first 200 meters we were just as muddy as we would be for the whole race. It was very tricky finding footing. A lot of people gravitated to the far outside where it wasn't as bad, but it wasn't much better. Looping around the outside befeore going into the loop-de-dos someone went down that i was able to hurdle, but he went into the ankle deep water and got covered so for a split moment we couldn't see him. The loop-de-dos were hard packed dirt so they weren't too bad. Once we got out it was just a mud run getting through the middle. I heard no splits for the whole race, not that it mattered anyway. While i was running it I actually was unsure how much I would have to hold back to reserve energy for the second half. It was a very technical race in that regard. Some guys went out too hard and just died, while others were too conservative and saved too much. I ran more on the conservative side. I didnt really move up or down position wise after the mile. It was just a mud run. I found it enjoyable. I finished in 75th at 18:23. I hoped to have done better, but it was a fun experience. It was also great to hear Sam had won as i ran into him as soon as I crossed the line.
We all took photos, got interviewed by Wheating and played around in the mud a little bit. When I finished my legs were shot, but my breathing were just as if I went for a leisurely stroll. We hopped back on the bus to the hotel after the race to clean up before heading back to the closing ceremonies where they awarded the trophies and announced results. We also had time in the hospitality room where I was scarred for life after hearing the York team sing karaoke. At the end of the day there was a dance in the ball room. I just went to the hospitality room within the hotel and played ping pong and hung out with some guys. That was pretty much the end of my NXN experience. It was such a great time, I made some cool connections with guys, and got to run a great race. I could write so much more that happened but this is quite long as is... and I need to get caught up on homework.