PR-ness... (personal record, for you non-trackies)

First meet of the season today, and Jing is already learning that the corruption in the team under Ms. Z's captainship is getting just a little... unbearable.

Due to complex reasons earlier in the morning (i.e. walking into the subway station and realizing only then that she brought neither Metrocard nor money; weekend train delays, and more train delays; plus the snow was annoying because no sidewalks or ANYTHING has been cleared yet that early in the AM hours), Jing arrived at the Armory only in time to miss her supposed event, the 1000m. But that was okay, because it'd have been her first time running such a distance and she has no problem waiting until the end of the girls' half of the day to do a 4x800m. After some scheming, this was her relay team:

1. Ms. Z. herself, who already ran in the 1000m.
2. Some soph girl, who came straight from the 1500m about half an hour prior to the relay.
3. Another junior, who so happens to be friends with Ms. Z. but (genuinely, not fake-ly) friendlier to Jing, I guess due to common-Asian-ness. She also just ran the 1500m.
   
4. Jingu, running anchor because she's the only one who's still fresh.

So you could see what was basically in for us: three of us already ran, two of them still coughing and hacking from the usual after-race fit, and one Jing nervous as heck because everyone is counting on her being fast. (Ms. Z.: AND YOU, JING, I EXPECT YOU TO PR, BLAHBLAHBLAH--) And PR I did, even though our team as a whole came out expectedly bad. I was litterally bouncing up and down after I heard I'd beat my shameful freshman-year reccord by twelve seconds (from coach's timing). So the entire team was giving me congrats and whatnot, and well, I guess I was happy and satisfied that the season is starting out so nicely.

But what was outrageous was what happened while I was away in the bathroom, all bent-over-the-toilet and panting over my own after-race and trying to drow that vomity-feel. As soon as I came back I was told, by Ms. Z. herself, that she has been recalculating/splitting my time taken by an assistant of coach, and I PR-ed not by 12, but only 3 seconds; coach's time was declared inacurate.

Disappointed, I thought, well, that's okay; this is why we have until February to improve. But what's pissing me off my royal arse now is that when they posted up the times on the Yahoo Group thing just now, I see my time has gained yet AGAIN: now I have PR-ed by a mere one second, and the split says instead that Ms. Z.'s had been faster than "mine" by another mere second.

Now, children, what is wrong with this picture here? Ms. Z. is one of the people who know how badly Jing has always wanted to beat her freshie 800m time, since soph year was a horrible year and Jing didn't improve any. She is also one of the few who knows Jing's EXACT freshie-year record, because that had also been a 4x800m relay in which Jing beat her time by one second. It would have been a little too harsh to tell me to my face that, "Oops, you didn't PR afterall!", so instead I get this bullshit of playing around with one second in the times. Accuse me of being assumptious and somewhat bitter/resentful over Ms. Z.'s move in taking advantage of Mr. Cheng's incoming-sophomore-ness and making him her pet, but the last thing I saw before I ran down to the bathroom AND before I dressed and left the armory was her heavily involved in conversation with said coach's assistant and holding/comparing the notes upon which MY times/splits were taken. I doubt coach even knows about this; or even if he does, he is the type to admit his own mistakes when it comes to working a watch--regardless of whether he really did make those mistakes.

Yes, there is "deep feud" involved here; Ms. Z. has always sort of been Jing's long-term "rival" in this trackie business. We both joined Outdoor freshie year, yadda yadda yadda, but she has always been half a step ahead of me--in cross country as well as in the track events we both run. But I do not resent her for being better than me: in fact, she is sort of my pacer in that sense--I do better and challenge myself in a good way trying to keep up with her. We both (or at least I) know for a fact that it'd take another long while and even harder training for me to catch up to the same pace as her, even though I come to practice more and run my ass off harder. Even in the world outside track--god, she was even half a step ahead of me in getting a hold on Mr. Cheng, as I seemed to have said earlier.

So, Jing's analysis on Ms. Z.'s problem: common Stuy-nerd syndrome -- unable-ness to accept being beaten, fear of being caught up to, desire that those who started off below her STAY below her. Yes, through our years so far, I am her closest match and her biggest threat in terms of those. She has developed a general dislike of me (although obviously not open) and doesn't quite fancy the idea of me becoming captain one of these junior days. I guess she let out a sigh of relief when it became obvious that this past cross-country season had been a disaster for me, as I was out for pulling a muscle during the only meet I ran and thus have no times to show off to coach. Happy-happy jumpy-jumpy, she became captain for Indoor. Now, if I'm hoping to make it to captainship BEFORE senior year, my only good shot is to do well this season, Indoor. Of course, Ms. Z. also realizes this too well... I should not say more.

In case anyone is wondering why Jing cannot prove her 12-second PR through official PSAL timing, it's because since it's a 4x800m relay and the PSAL staff are lazy, they take only your entire team's total time and don't bother to do splits of individual runners. Whoo...