Paul Short

Heading back to New Haven currently, after a pretty tough day for the guys. We ended up 19th out of 45 teams. Had some disappointing performances, and were lacking our #2 runner due to injury (plantar fasciitis but he should be back by the Princeton Invitational in 2 weeks), as well as one other guy usually in our top 10. But no excuses... Individually, I was extremely pleased with my performance, finishing as Yale's #2 about 9 seconds off of our consistent #1 Sam Lynch, but it's tough to leave a meet like that pleased with the day when it was such a missed opportunity for us as a team. Brown, Dartmouth, and Harvard finished 7th, 8th, and 9th respectively, and there's absolutely no reason why we shouldn't be right in the mix with those teams. I still believe that we will finish in the top-half of the league at Heps (4th place or better) and will look to make some noise at NCAA Regionals after that. Out of the teams that beat us today, only a quarter of them have more physical strength than us. I firmly believe that, and it's evident from both our mileage and our workouts. Still, we seem to lack the key ingredients that can't be bought through mileage alone or even difficult workouts during the week: mental strength and execution. Every other team out there (except for Oklahoma) is studying the results sheet right now and trying to calculate, "what if so-and-so didn't have an off day?" or "what if so-and-so was healthy? Imagine where we would end up then..." So I won't sit here and talk about where we could have placed and try to outline those big if's. Today we were a 19th place team. No better, no worse. Fuel for the fire.

8k Course Map, Paul Short

The Start

Here's the race recap I posted on my running log:

Terribly disappointing result for the team, but I'd say I'm happy with how I ran personally. Fantastic experience to run with such a big field, 402 runners total. The course was great, pretty muddy at some parts but a beautiful day, warm and sunny. Was prepared to go through the mile in 4:50-4:55, but didn't hear where I was when I passed through the mile marker, so it was a bit surprising to see I was just 5:04, but the first 1k is gradually uphill. Started moving well right before the mile mark, and fought to get up with Kirtner. Keyed off of him for about a mile, and then pushed past when I set my eyes on Sam Lynch about 10m ahead. Took a while to get up to Sam, and was moving well in the field, then worked well with Sam throughout the back woods and ended up passing Nathan and Demetri before we got out of the woods. The mud was a bit of a factor in some parts and I almost slipped a few times but ended up alright. The last 2 miles were f---ing painful. I was very pleased with how I zeroed in on Lynch's neck and focused hard on staying relaxed and in the zone while we picked it up. Coming across the final bridge I moved up on Sam and he told me, "If you've got something go for it." I made a surge up the hill by the start and brought on the pain even more. Moved very well from a mile out until about 700m out, but the finish was further away than I expected, and my final kick didn't quite have the bite that it did at Harvard-Yale. Lynch put 9 seconds on me in the last 800m. Didn't pass the puke-test at the finish, so I know I have a bit more in the tank to give. I'll be looking to combine the first 90% of Paul Short (and then some) with the last 10% of Harvard-Yale by the end of the season.
If I had to do it again: Not too much I could change here, this race was a huge confidence booster, and it's made me hungrier than ever to make the jump to being a consistent sub-25:00 guy. Was mentally TOUGH through 99% of the race, but could have used a bit extra in those last 400m. Didn't turn into a sprinter like I could have. Gonna envision that last straight-away the next couple weeks and build up some mental strength so I can put some potency in that kick.

I had a gym teacher in 7th and 8th grade that used to sing this annoyingly catchy song that went like this: "Good, Better, Best. Never let it rest until the Good is the Better and the Better is the Best." So in the spirit of optimism, I'll end with the following:
Good: Michael Cunetta also had a great day today, finishing as Yale's #3, in 25:43.
Better: See if you recognize 105th place in the results... turns out I finished 3 seconds ahead of NCAA 800m champion Robby Andrews. I don't care if cross country's not your specialty, Robby. We've raced once, and I'm 1-0.

Beat him by 3 seconds. That must make me a 1:41 guy come Outdoor...

Best: Yale Women's performance today was outstanding. They placed 6th overall with just a :36 spread, and had the best result of any other Ivy-league team. Other teams in the conference were Cornell (7th), Dartmouth (8th), Brown (12th), and Harvard (14th). Definitely shaping up to be a national-caliber team. Great job, girls.

Men's Gold Race Results
Women's Gold Race Results