Recovery

Today was the BYU Autumn Classic. When we got there we set up our spot and went to go cheer for our freshmen and sophomore boys in their race. I also went and talked to my cousins. When it was time to warm up for my race, I ran around cheering for the freshmen and sophomore girls, good job ladies! When the JV boys started I cheered for them for a while and when they were almost done I went to the line and claimed box 20 for our team. Avvy, Maggie, Delaney, and I said our prayer and cheer and did some strides at the line, then I told my cousin "May the force be with you" and we started. I got out fast, but not too fast. By the time we got up to the baseball field, people's start-of-the-race adrenaline had calmed down, so I moved up to 1st/2nd. I ran with a girl from wherever and I let her do all the work. I probably had the biggest smile on my face, because in the freshman sophomore race I had noticed the girl who had outkicked me last year had been smiling the whole race, so I felt like I should smile. It really helped because I wasn't in that much pain, and the girl running with me was doing all the work and I was just using up her energy for her. We gapped away from the chase pack, and at about a mile and a half is when she started to crash, so I started to push harder and challenge myself. I kept gaining distance on her and the others were catching up to her, and on my 2nd lap on the track I heard Emily tell me that Ogden was starting to move, so I pushed really hard my last mile and used my arms to get up the little hills. When I entered the track for the 3rd time, I was able to see how far back the pack was. I had about a 20 second lead on the girl in 2nd, but I wasn't going to take it easy just because I was far ahead. I kicked it at the 300, and in the last 100 as I was lapping someone else she started to sprint with me but then realized that I was finishing and she wasn't. When I crossed the line I was really happy, I had smiled the whole race and it helped me get through it without crashing. I puked in the chute, but I'm getting used to the puking after every race thing, so yeah. We stood there for about 20 minutes waiting for the last girl to finish because the BYU people don't do awards until everyone in that race is done. I had my glory moment today, and even though they had the podium out but didn't use it, it was still one of the greatest moments of my life. I ran around cheering for the seniors for a cool down, and then we hopped on the bus and went home. I feel great right now, I'm happy with my race and I'm going to keep working hard for the rest of the season.