The original plan was for me to pace the mile and the 3K at our home season opener. But after a meeting with my coach, everything changed—I was actually racing the 3K. This was my collegiate indoor debut, and I was only on week five of proper mileage after missing the entire previous indoor season. The effort was definitely there, and this is the full story of what it was like to toe the line for a race I was never supposed to run.
Collegiate Indoor 3K Debut: The Night Before: Processing the News
One more sleep till race day. When I found out I was racing instead of pacing, it hit differently. As I explained in the video, “The original plan for this race was for me to pace the mile and the 3K. But then after a meeting with my coach I found out that I’m actually racing the 3K.” This was not just any race—it was my collegiate indoor opener. I had missed the entire previous indoor season, so this was the first time I would compete indoors for LSU. On top of that, I was only five weeks into proper training, making the 3K feel like double my realistic race distance on half the preparation.
Morning Shakeout and Killing Time
On days when we do not race until the evening, we have a morning shakeout—just a couple of easy miles and maybe a few strides to keep the legs loose. After that, the waiting game begins. I had class in about 30 minutes and was trying to block out my schedule so I could structure my days better going forward. The hardest part of race day at home is not the race itself; it is the hours of downtime where your mind has nothing to do but think.
Final Preparations: Letting Go of Expectations
With about three hours until the start, I found myself in an interesting mental space. “I have just not thought about the race like at all,” I admitted. All the hydration and nutrition work was already behind me. There was nothing left to do but get out there and put down a hard effort. I reminded myself of the reality: “It’s double my race distance on like half the training. So we’re really just going to see what I can do.” But even with low expectations, there was a quiet confidence building. “I think I might surprise myself with what kind of shape I’m in.”
Warmups and a Hamstring Scare
During warmups, I noticed some tightness in my hamstring—never what you want to feel right before a race. But I assessed it quickly and decided I would be fine as long as I was smart about it. The energy in the arena was building, and after watching the mile, it was time to go warm up for real. This is where it starts to feel real—the transition from spectator to competitor happens fast.
The Race: Finding My Legs in the 3K
The first 800 meters were chaotic. As I recounted, “For the first 800m or so, we were all over the place.” After subtracting the pacers, I came through in about fifth position and could feel the pace slowing. My coach was calling out splits from the sideline, but the hardest part was deciding whether to trust my fitness. “It was really hard to know if I should trust my fitness because I just, I had no clue what kind of fitness I was in.”
Eventually, I made my move and took over the lead pack. The surprising thing was that I did not even push the pace faster—we just kept clicking off consistent 35-second laps. That kind of metronomic consistency is what you hope for in a distance race, and it showed that even on limited training, the engine was still there.
The Takeaway: You Do Not Have to Be Ready to Compete
This race proved something important to me. You do not need to be in perfect shape to step on the line and give it everything. Sometimes the best racing comes from having nothing to lose and everything to prove. Walking into that 3K on five weeks of mileage, I had zero pressure on myself—and that freedom allowed me to run with instinct rather than overthinking every split. If you are coming back from time off or injury and wondering whether you are ready to race, the answer might just be: go find out.
Have you ever raced something you were not fully prepared for? Sometimes those are the performances that surprise you the most. Share your story below.
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