New Balance Indoor Grand Prix

Last Saturday night, Don and I got tickets to go watch the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix track & field meet.

I was so so excited for this, because I knew that there would be some big names that I recognized.  When we finally got there and the elite races began, I was overwhelmed with the realization that this meet was stacked.  There were so many elite athletes there...from WR holders, to Olympic Medalists, to NCAA Champions, to AR holders, etc. etc.

I was starstruck!

For my fellow runner teammates out there, most of you ran with some of these women, so you probably aren't starstruck.  I even ran in a couple of meets with Jenny Simpson (Barringer was her maiden name back in the day) during my BYU days.  I actually googled some results of when we were at the same meet (Yeah, I was never actually in the same heat as her...just the same meet...). The results are quite entertaining:

2008 Pre-Nationals, Terra Haute, Indiana:

1st Place, White Race - Jennifer Barringer, 19:48 6k
36th Place, Open Race - Carolyn Quebe, 22:25 6k

I'm only 2 and a half minutes behind!  Huzzah!

These days she's one of the fastest women in the world, so I still cried when she was 5 feet away from me.

Here is a short list of the some of the amazing runners we got to watch:

Ladies:

Morgan Uceny:  2012 Olympian 1,500 M
Mary Cain:  High School Prodigy.  Google her.
Emma Coburn:  2012 Olympian 3,000 M Steeple/AR in 3,000 M Steeple
Jenny Simpson:  2008 Olympian 3,000 M Steeple/2012 Olympian 1,500 M/2011 World Champion 1,500 M/Multiple AR
Sally Kipyego:  2012 Olympic Silver Medalist 10,000 M

Gents:

Matthew Centrowitz:  2012 Olympian 1,500 M
Nick Willis:  2008 Olympic Silver Medalist 1,500 M
Dejen Gebremeskel:  2012 Olympic Silver Medalist 5,000 M

Here are some of the pictures from the meet:

{Matthew Centrowitz}

{Morgan Uceny}

{Mary Cain, Morgan Uceny}

{Mary Cain, Morgan Uceny}

{Emma Coburn, Sally Kipyego}

{Sally Kipyego, Emma Coburn}

{Jenny Simpson}

{Jenny Simpson overtaking her pacer...it didn't take long for her to finally just go around her}

This was such an amazing experience for me.  I'm still thinking about it a week later!

Conclusion:  Running is good for my soul.