Supreeth Mannava tries the steeplechase
Supreeth Mannava just before splashing into the water pit during the 2000 m steeplechase at Roosevelt. Photo by Matt Parker.
Fourteen Rose City athletes competed in the third Portland Track Summer Series meet this week. We’re sharing their stories. Today, Supreeth Mannava reflects on his experience racing the tough double of 2000 m steeplechase and 1500 m run.
I've been in a bit of a funk when it comes to running training lately and I thought showing up to meets and just soaking up the experience will be a good remedy to that. Also, watching the steeple last year, I definitely knew I'd want to give it a go if it came back this summer.
It was difficult to set a seed time/goal for the 2k steeplechase, but I guess that's kind of the point. In keeping with the spirit of the day, I decided to send it with the 36" barriers after warming up and realizing I could clear those hurdles. The steeple is unique in that you can't fixate on splits (or at least I couldn’t), so it was really just about getting to the next barrier and executing the jump. The photographer by the water pit said "nice jump" to me on lap 3 or 4 and that really buoyed me knowing that I was doing something right. Ended up running 7:58.86, crushing my arbitrary goal of 8:00 that I set with 30" barriers in mind, so I can confidently say that the steeple was a success!
The 1500 m was pretty tough from the start. I was hoping to run around my mile pace from Rose City Mile but that proved to be naive. I got around 300 m in 61 seconds and my hamstrings were letting me know that they were at their limit. I knew I could step off at any time, but I'm honestly really proud of myself for just sticking with it and getting a result. Even though I ran a slower total time than I did in the mile a few weeks ago, I got something out of it.
Ended the night by doing the 200 m leg of the sprint medley relay with Meagan, Bradley, and Talia, and it just added to the joy of the night. It's really nice to know that even when I'm at a relatively low point in my relationship with running, showing up with an open mind and sharing in the joy of racing with teammates made for a pretty special evening.