AM: three to Arctic Circle. Ran in front of the guys on the way there. Played some line running game. Felt way good. PM: three at Sugarhouse. Something weird was going on with my knee and I couldn't run normally for the first half mile-ish. And everytime we went up a hill, my legs just died. That got me kinda worried for the race- I was just kinda hoping the course wouldn't be too hilly. Yeah.. Turns out that was a joke. RACE: So.. When we got there and started warming up, the JV girls were racing and half of them were walking. Then some guy told us the course, and showed us there were three huge hills we'd have to run up.. Yay. But I was kinda excited. I told myself after Murray that at Herriman if my legs got tired again, I'd just push through it, and I was feeling confident. After some great pre-race cheers, we started the race.. I got out pretty well again, and Stoner and I were right together for the first loop. The first uphill felt fine and we passed a bunch of girls. Then the gimongous downhill, which was pretty intense. Then there was a little hill, and my legs died again, and Stoner took off. But I pushed it still and stayed in my position for a while. Then some Lehi girls passed me and I was like 'what the heck am I doing?' and forced myself to pass them. After the huge downhill again, we got to up the mutha cussa, which was everything I dreamed it would be and much more. I felt like I was walking the thing. I honestly thought for a second that I was going to stop. Then I passed Coach and he told me I needed to go right then. I didn't actually feel like moving much at that particular moment though, so I didn't.. Until we got to the last downhill, which got me going again and I actually made it up the last hill pretty fast, putting a 12 second gap in between me and the girl behind me. So I was pretty happy with the race. I didn't give up, even though my legs tightened up like crazy on every hill. And our team did totally amazing too. So happy with our girls and how hard they've all worked. Awesome trip and awesome race, even though it was the craziest, hardest course EVER. |