So we get to the meet and its 45 and sunny. A lot of my girls were like freezing but I actually thought it felt fantastic, like just uncomfortable enough to where I could tell it would be perfect after a warm up. I feel like I run well in the cold, must be a mountain thing. We warmed up maybe 13 or 14 minutes and then did all our pre-race stuff. I kept looking for my dad who was on his way from back home, but I never saw him before the race started.
The gun went off and all the teams went out fairly fast, but I was more focused on sticking around Anya and Alissa for the first mile at least. I heard coach Bomar yell that they came through the mile at about 5:50, and me at 5:55. That was awesome to hear because I wasn't that tired, but that was the fastest first mile I've ever had. Next closest was on this course last year, during the race where my PR was set, with a 5:58. So I knew I was on track to beat it. I finally saw my dad near the mile marker too. I caught up to Anya on the hill about 400 meters later, but she took off again on the downhill afterwards. I feel like if there was any point in the race that I took it a little bit easier, it was breifly during this next part, maybe 1.5 in. Mell passed me, which actually made me kind of happy because I was glad to know she was seriously racing this and doing well. She's been on the comeback from an injury and sometimes races are discouraging for her I think. Some negative thoughts accumulated in my head knowing I still had a mile and a half to go but I quickly pushed them out and reminded myself that "it takes a bit more." That was kind of my mental saying throughout the race. I came through the 2 mile at 12:28, which was also awesome to hear because it wasn't that long ago that 12:28 was as fast as I could run 2 miles period, and here I am with another mile to go! Chandler and I went back and forth a little bit for this mile, which was a blessing because even though we were too tired to talk, there was definitely unspoken encouragement to one another when we were near. We worked together up the final hill, marking about 400m to go, and then I left her. I passed a girl from Mercer and one other and just kicked as best I could. Finished with a 19:31, 11 seconds faster than my 19:42 previous PR.
I definitely think I ran as well as I could have, which is a great feeling. I had no more gas left when I came through the finish. I was so excited because I know so many of my teammates were near me, and therefore must have been under 20 too. Turns out our top 6 were sub-20, which is awesome seeing as Alissa was our only consisten sub-20-er this season! She went 18:54. We still didn't place well as a team, but I was very happy about our improvement regardless. I just feel so blessed to have such a wonderful and close family to call my team, and also that my dad was able to come down 4 hours to watch me.
Now we get a week off, and then its time for track!! Indoor season time!
| 