Alex Nichols is a senior at Brunswick HS, he is the defending Class A indoor state champion in the 400m. Nichols has a personal best of 49.91 in the 400m & 22.69 in the 200m. Follow along this winter as Alex goes for a repeat.
Well this has certainly been a weird couple weeks. I was starting to think we had escaped from winter without too much snow. Joke’s on me, my workout yesterday consisted of shoveling my way out of my house.
Since my last blog we’ve had one meet, and it was a big one. The combined meet with EL, MTA, and Cony was the first really big meet I had had all season so I tried some new stuff. First of all, I got rid of my blocks. It appears I’m faster without them, for whatever reason. The second thing I tried was going out fast in the 400. My first lap was somewhere between 23.6 and 24 flat. It worked out a lot better than I thought it would, I ended up running about 50 flat, although, surprise surprise, I felt like I was going to die. The 200 was equally fast, and I broke 23 for the first time indoors. I also leaned too far at the end, lost my balance, and windmilled into the pole vault mats. The official running pole vault was not amused.
Then comes KVACs. Or not. I sprained my ankle pretty badly a week before the meet was supposed to happen. It was about twice the size of my other ankle and looked like a very poorly drawn rainbow had shattered all over my foot. Luckily with the cancelation of KVACs, I have 2 weeks to rest up a bit before States.
Which brings me to States. I told myself in 8th grade that I would set the State record in the 400m. That was back when I ran a 62. I have now cut more than 12 seconds off of my 8th grade time, and I’m set up as well as I could have hoped for. The state record is 50.3, and the Maine all-time best is 49.93. My best this year is 50.14, but as you may or may not know, you have to set the state record AT states. It’s a one-shot thing and I’m about as nervous as is physically possible. It’s been a long 4 years, and it might be my last indoor 400 of high school. I suppose the only thing I can do is hope that my ankle is fine by then, and know that I would like to go out of indoor track with a bang.
Good luck to everyone at States, let’s set some records.
-Alex Nichols
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