5 years. 448 barriers. 112 water jumps. 16 races. 2 nationals appearances. 1 Mountain West Conference Championship.

This is it. One last time to don the familiar blue, gold, and white of San Jose State. One last time to bread the bread in my collegiate track career, and I did just that. I left everything I had on that track and although I couldn’t get a qualification to the NCAA championships in Austin, I’m proud of the way that I ran the race.

Friday started out with an 8:30am shakeout just to get the blood flowing and my mind in the right place for the day. Immediately following was breakfast with the classic three pieces of peanut butter toast. Then, the long 12 hour wait until my race began. I was in the third heat of the last event of the night, which was slated to start at 9:00pm at Hornet Stadium in Sacramento. I watched a lot of food network and Guy Fieri to keep my mind occupied, but was constantly visualizing the race and what I thought I would need to do. I knew the race was going to be more like Stanford than the Mountain West race. There would be a lot more jostling, jockeying for position, and probably a few spike marks, and that’s mentally what I prepared for.

We left the hotel at 6:30pm, Bruce reminded me I was Born to Run in the Darkness on the Edge of town, and we headed out to the track. There, the coaches and I talked a lot of nonsense about funny races that we’d want to see in track and field to try to keep me from freaking out too much before my race. At 8:30pm I left for my warmup after a quick pep talk from Coach Wick to keep my mind focused on the right place and he remind me that I was the underdog in this race. I did the usual 20 minute warmup, drills, strides, and then went over to the tent to put on my spikes and hip numbers. They let us sit at the start line for an unusually long time while they did introductions, and then the race was finally ready to start.

The race got out quick. I started on the outside at the start and in the first 200 meters was running in lane 3. To get a better position I jumped to the front, but cooled the pace down a little, so I could have a better position going over the first few barriers. From there I stayed pretty tight on the front pack and never dropped into a position worse than 6th place in the entire race. There was a consistent pack in the front of between 6-7 of us for most of the race, so there was constant jostling and people moving all over the track to get the best jumps they could. Sometimes I had some pretty bad form on the hurdles to cover someone moving in front of me and ruining my steps, but that’s how the race goes. The first lap we rolled through at 67 and I got a little too much air on the water jump but didn’t lose any time recovering which was good. From there my goal was to maintain contact with the lead pack and never let them get away from me. A runner from Iowa took us through to lap 4 before a Cal runner took the lead. By the time we had run through the 1600 mark, I knew there would be no one making it on a time qualifier. We were running 71’s and 72’s because the wind had picked up down the back stretch. That meant that each time we hit the turn into the water jump, it was straight into the wind and made the race go slower than the previous two heats. With about 2 laps to go in the race I had closed the two/three stride gap on the front runners and the pack was starting to seriously bunch up with 8 runners. I knew that two of the runners had a better kick than I did, and have historically run better times than I have, so I made the decision to jump to the front and hope that I could hold on for 3rd place and get a qualifier. I took the pack down to 5 men quickly, dropped the lap pace from 71 seconds to 68 seconds, and held onto the lead for just shy of a lap. The runner from Stanford and BYU covered the move, which was fully expected, and passed me to take the bell lap along with the Iowa runner. Shortly after a Washington runner went by me. As we hit the backstretch, that wind hit me I was done. At this point I couldn’t feel my legs, my arms were carrying me along, and my hurdle form had gone to crap. I hit the water jump and was thinking to myself, “I don’t know how I’m going to get over this”, hopped on top of it, two footed the landed, and took off hoping no one could pass me down the homestretch. My legs were screaming over that last 100 meters and I’m not sure how I made it over that last hurdle and got to the finish line without falling.

I finished with a time of 8:48.71, good for 5th place in my heat, and 18th place in the West Region. It wasn’t a PR, or a school record, or a time that would take me to Nationals, but it was a race that proved I have what it takes to compete at a higher level and I’m no longer afraid to make moves I would never have dreamed of in the past. I know that there was nothing left in me after this race and I took the race in my hands to try to make the best outcome for myself. Everyone wants a fairytale ending, but that’s not the way that running works. I went out there and gave it my all. And when I’ll look back on this race I’ll won’t remember getting 5th place, but I’ll remember the announcer calling out my name about my bold move into 1st place trying to run San Jose State to the National Championships for the first time in over 30 years. I’m honored to have had the chance to train under Coach Wick, Coach Layten, Coach Sarver, Coach Petersmeyer, and Coach Reimer over these past 5 years. I’ve grown so much as a runner in my time as a SJSU and would be remiss without also mentioning my family, especially my parents, for supporting me throughout my tenure as a Spartan. My career has never been perfect, but pushed through it all and kept my eyes on what the future held for me.

“No retreat, baby, no surrender.” – Bruce Springsteen

To 5 years of never surrendering.

-Craig

This race is one that has been five years in the making. Since my freshman year I’ve been waiting to be able to compete at the conference championships and this race was my one and only opportunity at it as a Spartan.

We left San Jose early on Friday morning, but not until I had the classic three pieces of peanut butter toast. The drive to Fresno only took about two and a half hours and we stopped for lunch when we arrived. My race was scheduled for 8:10pm, so I had a lot of time in the hotel to visualize the race and get ready for the race to come. I spent this time just trying to keep my nerves down and not get too excited that far out from the race. Coach Sarver picked me, and the women’s steeplechasers from the hotel at 6:00pm and we headed over to the track. On the way over Bruce Springsteen reminded me that as always, I was Born to Run in the Darkness on the Edge of Town. An hour before my race I went over to the hipping tent for my numbers, went for a warmup, did my drills, and spiked up. Let me tell you, I was nervous for this race, but I knew exactly what needed for happen if I wanted to win it and my plan was to take control of the race early on and never let it go.

The gun went off and I jumped straight to the front of the race and took the first lap through at 68. I wanted to establish early into the race that I wasn’t going to take it out slow and kick. I was going to lead from the front and if someone was going to beat me, it was going to be hard for them to do that. Going into the second lap, a Wyoming runner took over lead duties and we went though at 70 seconds. The following lap, he slowed the pace down too much for my liking, and with four laps remaining in the race I made my move to reclaim the lead. I noticed on the previous lap that the Wyoming runner was stuttering on most of his barrier jumps and swinging out of lane one to make his jumps, and I took advantage of this. I passed in front of him and took away the ability for him to keep swinging wide, and that caused him to think even more about the barrier he had to jump. My move had the desired intention and he couldn’t cover the move. From there I took the lead and never looked back. I wasn’t thinking about the times I had to hit, or how much I had in the race, I kept thinking about how close the other guys were to me. I pretended that there was someone right on my back and I kept pushing the pace down. I like to think I’ve figured out how to run the last two laps of a steeplechase better than most people, and I knew that if I had the lead going into the last two laps that I could hang onto it, or at make the last lap hell for anyone trying to get around me. The very last lap was a bit rough at times. I was going really quick and that made it harder to gauge where I needed to jump for the barriers. I had a few ugly jumps, and my last water jump was more “I need to get over this without falling” than trying to push off, and the very last barrier was the same mentality. I cleared the last barrier and knew that I had executed my plan to perfection.

I won my first ever college race and became the first ever male Spartan to win a Mountain West conference championship in any event. With a time of 8:48.02, I was very close to my PR and since I was doing most of the work alone I’m confident I can lower that time when regionals rolls around in two weeks. The race itself was surreal and I am so happy that everything worked out and I was to execute a perfect race strategy. Big shoutout to my parents for making the drive up to Fresno to come see my race and for coming to so many of my races over my entire career as a Spartan. It’s been a long ride to get here and I’m excited to see what I can do at the West Regional Meet in Sacramento on May 24th. Be back soon!

It’s been two years since I first ran the 5k, here at the Cardinal Classic, and since then I’ve only run it two more times (San Francisco and Macabbiah). Coming into this weekend, I knew that I could run a good time, but with the lack of experience in the race I wasn’t quite sure how it would all play out. Coach Wick told me what I needed to do in the race, so I just focused on that.

The race was scheduled for 7:30pm, which was nice because it’s been fairly warm in San Jose this past week. I got lucky that passover didn’t start until the night, so I was able to get my three pieces of peanut butter toast in for breakfast. But I brought the matzah with me to the race for after. The rest of the morning I distracted myself with some homework and got a light 10 minute shakeout in just to keep my legs loose. Coach Sarver picked me and the other 5k runners up from the dorms at 4:30pm and we headed over to Stanford. On the way over Bruce reminded me, as always, about what I’m born to do.

The benefit of running the 5k this week was that I’m not the only one on the team who runs this event. I had Jose to run with as well, and we were supposed to be hitting similar times, so it would work well for us. We did the usual 20 minute warmup, drills, and strides and then they took us out to the track to get the race started.

We had a rabbit in our heat who was going through 8 laps and running 67’s from the front. My goal for this race was to be running 67/68’s for the entire race, so it was exactly what we needed. But that’s not how it turned out for me. There were about 25 guys in the  race, which strung out pretty quickly, but it was a little bit bunched up at the beginning. Around 400 meters into the race, I hit the guys feet in front of me, stumbled and recovered, then got clipped, twice,  by the runner behind me, and stumbled into lane 6 to recover and try not to fall. Unfortunately I fell off of the pack that I needed to go with and I was chasing people that fell off that lead pack for the rest of the race. It would have been easy to just fall off and count myself out of the race, but I knew I could still run a good time so I shifted into just trying to run consistent laps and go for a PR. I was running consistently 68-69 seconds per lap, and most of them just looking at the people in front of me and trying to pass them. Once I went around someone I never saw them again, which was a good feeling, but I was doing so much more work being in no-mans-land. It would have been much easier to hang onto the pack with their rabbit and go through at the times I needed to. All I remember in the middle of the race was getting to 3000m and thinking to myself, “Man if this was the steeplechase, I would have been done by now.” In reality I just need to run a few more 5k’s to really get a hang of how to race it, but that’s not in the cards for this season. Towards the end of the race, I again was focusing on not counting myself out and trying to pick it up and close well. With one lap to go, I saw 13:15 on the clock, and so I was determined to run below 14:20. I closed with a 63 second lap and ran 14:18.27. Which is a 15 second PR for me in the 15.

Overall the race wasn’t what I wanted it to be, but I made the best of an unfortunate situation. I’m still happy that I was able to get a personal best in the race and my time places me 9th on the All-Time Top-10 list for SJSU! Jose also ran a great race, running at 14:06 and placing 4th on the All-Time Top-10 list. I’ll be back to the steeplechase and going for the school record in two and a half weeks at the Mountain West Conference Championships. The conference has some solid competition, so I’m very excited to see what I can do. Be back soon!

It’s been a solid season this winter. I’m thrilled to finally be a part of the team representing San Jose State Men’s Track & Field at the Mountain West Indoor Championships for the very first time, and at our first championship meet in over 30 years. I wasn’t sure that this week was going to go the way I wanted though. After my last race at the Bronco Challenge, I came back to San Jose and started having Achilles pains. I spent an entire week in the pool and on the elliptical keeping my fitness up with the hope I would be better before the conference meet. Earlier this week I was able to start running again and on Wednesday, I tested it with a short two mile tempo at race effort. I never planned on missing conference once I started running this week, I just wasn’t sure how it was going to end up.

We left on Thursday for Albuquerque after a brief stopover in Los Angeles. After we arrived, I got in a short treadmill run to acclimate myself and see how my Achilles was holding up. Like in Boise, I was running the 3000m race. The race was scheduled for Saturday at 1:40pm, so I got a shakeout in on Friday morning, and spent the day supporting the rest of the Spartans competing.

This morning, I woke up to get my little shakeout run in, and then went to get breakfast. The hotel had run out of bread by the time that I had gotten there, but that was okay because I always bring the bread. I made my usual three pieces of peanut butter toast, ate with the team, and then went to my room to get my bag ready for the race. We left the hotel around 11am and headed over to the track. On the way over, I listened to Bruce remind me that no matter how many obstacles I have to go through, I was born to run. We did the usual 20 minute warmup, I did some drills, put on my headband, and was ready to race.

There were about 20 people in my heat, which again is a lot of people to fit on an indoor track. I got lucky this time and wasn’t up on the curve and also wasn’t boxed in at the start. I didn’t have the best start, but I still got out considerably well. I didn’t have to deal with the people coming off the turn at the merge, so that was nice. I held onto the front pack while I let the race settle a bit, but got out a little bit quicker than I had planned. Edgar was up in the very front pacing through the mile at 4:35 pace, and he did a perfect job. He pulled enough people up there with him that would die off later in the race, but put me through the mile right where I needed to be. I never fell too far off of the lead pack, and always had two or three guys around me to work with. I got spiked a few times on the turns when guys would swing a little wide, and I got close to taking them down. I rolled through the mile around 4:32/4:33 and was sitting in the top 10, and I knew I was running exactly the type of race I needed to be running. I just worked on moving up and working with the people around me as the race went on. With four laps, 800m, I knew it was time to start working. I started making my moves around the people that were dying off, and continued to move up. Going into the last two laps, I knew it was really time to work. My last two laps were 32 and 30 seconds respectively. I was running in fourth place going into the last lap and was a second away from first place at the end of the race.

I finished fourth in my heat, and twelfth overall in the two heat finals, with a time of 8:31. And since we were running at five thousand feet of elevation, there is a 13 second time conversation. That means my time today equates to a 3000m race at sea level with a time of 8:18. And if you recall the race in Boise of 8:28, that’s a 10 second PR, and an even faster school record! I can say that it’s truly been such a humbling experience getting to represent the history that SJSU’s Track program carries with it, and I can’t wait to see what I can do in the steeplechase and 5000m races this spring. I’ll close this indoor season with a Springsteen quote that’s been playing in my head all season.

“If you think it’s your time, then step to the line, and bring on your wrecking ball”

See you on the line

-Craig

It seems like it’s been much longer than three weeks since my last rase. Since then, schools started, I’ve been sick twice, and I’ve had some crazy good long runs in between. But everything was looking good for my first shot at the 3000m and I was ready for business. This week we traveled to Boise, Idaho for The Bronco Challenge. Most of the distance squad was also running the 3000m with me, so it was very similar to the setup we had in Albuquerque, but without the altitude.

The morning started out with a 8:30 shakeout in the snow and slush, followed by the classic 3 pieces of peanut butter toast and Bruce telling me where dreams are found and lost. The race wasn’t scheduled until 4:10pm today, so we had most of the day to watch the other races and freak out a little bit.

My plan for the race was to roll through the first mile at 4:30 and then shoot for a sub 8:30 finishing time. Having never run the 3k indoors, I really didn’t know if this was a good plan, but I was going to stick to it.

There were 26 people in the race. There’s only 6 lanes on and indoor track, and 26 is hard enough to fit on a 9 lane outdoor track. So it was tight on the waterfall start. I got out well and settled into about 4th and all of us came on the outside waterfall, so it was a smooth merge for us upfront. Two guys took off early on in the race, and there was a pacer running right with me going 4:30 through the mile. He hopped off after a few laps, which left me leading the chase pack and Jose right behind me. The guy in first had pulled away and I was closing in on the Utah athlete he dropped. I rolled through the mile right around 4:30-31. Jose passed me after the turn and started to separate from me a little bit and passed the Utah athlete as well. As I got to the Utah athlete he surged and intentionally moved into my lane to prevent me from passing him. He did this for another two laps until I just surged ahead of him. With about 800 meters to go, I had caught back up to Jose and started to make my move with 3 laps to go. I passed Jose just after the turn and just kept working the last 500 meters. I knew it would be tight to get under 8:30, but as long as I keep pushing I knew I could get it.

I finished in second place, first collegiate, with a time of 8:28 and new San Jose State school record in the 3000m. It’s been a long 5 years to get to run an indoor season, but the hard work and good training has finally started to pay off. It’s clear to see that I brought the bread today!

It’s been a short season but the last race of indoor is in about a week and a half back in Albuquerque for the Mountain West Conference Championships. I’ll either be running the mile of the 3k, with hopes of a new PR in either event. I’ll be back soon!

This is a very exciting blog post for me. After five cross country season and four outdoor track season at San Jose State, the Men’s Track & Field team has been reinstated! This is the first time since 1988 that San Jose State has an official men’s team competing in track and field. It also marks the first time that I’ve had to opportunity to race an indoor track season. It’s a shorter break from the end of cross country season to the start of the outdoor track season, but I’ve always liked a bit of a challenge and today’s race was definitely that.

Indoor track is a bit different from outdoor track and not just in location. The track is a 200 meter track with banked turns (similar to those found on a cycling track) in comparison to a 400 meter flat outdoor track. It presents a new set of technique and running style that I haven’t experienced before, but I enjoyed my season opener if it was nothing else but practicing my technique.

This meet all the distance runners, except Evaristo, were entered to run the 1 mile race. In my race was Jose, Edgar, Charlie, two UCLA runners, and a few runners from New Mexico. My plan was to take the race out running somewhere between 63-64 seconds per lap. The race went out exactly how I needed it to go, with the first 400m at 63 seconds. There was a nice string of about 5 of us in the lead pack, with a rabbit about 10 meters ahead of us. The rabbit would pull us through 800 meters before he stepped off the track. I passed through 800 at 2:07, again exactly where I needed to be. The turns took me a few laps to get the hang of and I was hovering more towards the outside of lane one so I didn’t clip anyone that was on the inside of me. After I got more comfortable with the pack, I ran the turns tighter and had a better feel for the track. My ankles got clipped a few times by a runner behind me and I was lucky not to have fallen earlier in the race. That luck didn’t hold on forever though. Just after we passed through the 1200 meter mark, a runner behind me kicked me a few times before deciding to jump to the outside lane and try to pass me on the curve. He got in front of me and moved back inside, I got tangled up with him in the process, and I went down. I learned that indoor tracks are not as soft as their outdoor counterparts can be and they also make a much louder noise when you fall on them because they’re wood underneath. Because it was on the curve, I ended up rolling down the track into the sand pit before I could get back up. I was down for maybe 2 seconds, but in that time the lead pack had put pulled away too much and I couldn’t get back with them. I got up and gave it all I had left, and didn’t have much of a kick because I spent so much energy after the fall. I ended up finishing in 8th place with a time of 4:20.9 (Which converts to a 4:14 mile at sea level).

Overall I’m pleased with the effort I gave, happy that the fall didn’t hurt me anymore than a few scrapes and bruises, and I’ll take it as a learning experience to do better in my next indoor competition. The combination of it being an early season race, the altitude in Albuquerque, and falling mid-race made this a very difficult race, but I think that as the season progresses, I’ll only have better races to come. More than anything I’m so excited that Men’s Track and Field is back at San Jose State and it’s so exciting to be a part of this fantastic team! The men’s team will be traveling to Idaho for the Bronco Challenge on February 9th.