My 2nd Olympic B Standard

On May 19th, I travelled to Tempe, Arizona for the Tempe High Performance Track and Field Meet. I had been in Arizona previously this year in March and the temperatures were pretty warm (mid-high 30's). When I walked out of the airport I was stunned. The heat was something I haven't experienced in a long time. It was dry heat, no humidity. Living here in Windsor I'm accustomed to lots of humidity, sweating the second you walk out of your house. Needless to say, I knew I needed to get lots of water and Gatorade into me if I was going to be running.
The day of the race, Monday, May 28 it was a record high temperatures for that time of year in Arizona; 105 degrees (or 40.5 degrees Celsius), it was like turning your oven on and standing in front of it. It was HOT.
Race time came around 7:40pm, and unfortunately it wasn't cooling off. It was still 105 degrees. Luckily, I stayed inside all day and I was sure to hydrate. During my warm-up I couldn't keep my mouth and throat moist enough. As with the last 2 races I had in the heat, I was struggling through my warm-up. I was feeling the effects of the heat but knew that I couldn't base how I felt in my warm-up on my performance.
We were fortunate enough to have a rabbit take us though 500m. We got out in 58 seconds through the first 400, I was sitting in 3rd, a girl from the USA in 2nd, and the rabbit leading the pack. With 300m to go the rabbit dropped out and I knew I needed to get going a little quicker. The goal was to get to 600m in 1:29 sec. and we were right on. At that point I had passed the girl from the USA and was in 1st. I just concentrated on staying relaxed and moving my arms to get to the finish line. I crossed the line and the time came up as 2:01.24. My 2nd B Standard!
I didn't come into this race chasing any type of time or standard, I just wanted to get into a quick race. Now with two B standards under my belt, I need be in the top 3 at Nationals of those with B Standard. However, if someone runs A standard on/or before Nationals, then I need to run A Standard as well and finish in the top 3. With only about a month left, I really need to concentrate on my training and staying healthy.
As well, in other news; just before my race in Tempe, my coach got an email wondering if I would like to race at the Prefontaine Track Classic in Eugene, Oregon. This is a Diamond League event and I'm very excited about it. The Diamond League is a series of races around the world where the top athletes go to perform. Last year when I got to rabbit the 5000m at the Diamond League in Stockholm, SWE I was just so excited to be out there as a rabbit. And now to think I get to run my own event. This race will take place on Friday, June 1st in the evening so stay posted for some results!