This was my last hurrah. I knew that after my sophomore year 6th placing in track, my failure on all levels my junior year, and then a good senior cross country season...it was time to step it up and fuck some shit up! 

I had started to pick up a new strategy my cross season but I still wasn't that confident with it. Every since I had started running I was the kid who would sick back, not pushing myself and then out kicking who ever was 50 meters ahead of me with one lap to go. But I had started to run a few races where I would lead and and still lead and then out kick who ever was 50 meters behind me. During cross country I was not 100% confident with my this new strategy, but track season was a new chapter in my running life. It was go time, from the first meet to the last meet. 

NEW CHAPTER: Not Holding Back 

GRIZZLY BEAR OPEN

I was upset when I heard that our team might not go to the Grizzly Bear Open in McMinville. Coaches were getting upset because the meet had so many teams and that the competition was not as good. But I convinced my coach to go and I was very very happy. The reason why I had loved this meet was because ever since my freshman year the 3000m was ran at night under the lights, and to me... that was the best feeling in the world. Freshman year I got lapped by a number a guys who ran 10:34. Sophomore I won the race which was the my first win and a 31 second PR from last year. Junior year I won the race with 9:10 which was a good time for the first meet of the year. But senior year was a different story. 

The Grizzly Bear Open was a meet for all-comers to come and run, jump, and throw their way to the first mark of the year. However, I had a different goal. Looking at the meet program from freshman the 3000 meet record was 8:57.9 and everyone thought that it would never get beaten. That was all about to change. 

6 Hours earlier I had a ran 4:30 mile and the win, just going easy and conserving as much as I could for the 3000. It was 8:00 and my three friends and I were warming up, which involved us jogging around local neighborhoods at night not knowing exactly where we were at the time. After 15 minutes of struggling to find the school again we stumble into the gym of the school and stretch and go to the bathroom for a while. We were all having a good time; laughing, telling jokes, gossiping. Normal high school stuff. 

After getting warm and emptying our bladders we got to the tent where we checked in and I saw that I was not gong to have the competition and getting the record was going to be tough with no one to run with. But I was ready! This is what the off season and the early track workouts led up to. 

The gun went off and I jump to the lead and the rest was history. The crowd was not paying that much attention the race and they were all getting their stuff together to leave but I gave them something to sit and watch. The first mile I had blown away the field, starting to lap the slower guys in the group and people started watching. 

I was not paying attention to my splits I knew to get the record it was going to involve me getting out and running hard all the way around. Not knowing where I was at with a lap to go I was hauling ass! Coming around the final turn I saw the clock and I knew that I could get it. I was  moving all out at this point and my teammates were lining up along the side cheering me on. I crossed the line and I saw 8:57 but I did not know exactly what my time was so I was not sure if I had gotten the record. But nonetheless, running sub 9 the meet was good. And I was happy. 

As my other distance runners put together a 4X400 relay I hear the results from the 3000 meters and the announcer said, "With a new meet record, Dave Marks with a time of 8:57.4" At that point I bowed my head and smiled and that was that. It was now time for a 400. 

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