Good race!! Not all of our team raced today, we were missing like 2 of our top 5 and then some others. With that being said, of those who did race, I finished first on our team today! That was a amazing feeling, even though I knew that Anya was not feeling up to par and ran a minute slower than usual, and that 2 others were missing...it still felt really nice to come through that line first. Time-wise, I was about the same (3 seconds slower) than last weekend, which was on a much flatter course and faster surface. I feel like I ran faster today though, and more consistently. I didn't feel like there was a time when I consciously decided to back it off a little bit like in a lot of races, although I know that will happen somewhat naturally.
Anyways, so the race started super fast for the first half mile or so basically downhill, as expected. I lost my teammates for a minute there but then I found them and we packed up again. We came through together at the mile around 6:10, then sort of ended up switching off back and forth taking the lead and trying to pull away. At the 2 mile we all came through within a few seconds of eachother still, me being like 12:55 I think. Or was it :45? Not sure. Then I pulled ahead a little and we all stretched out over the last mile. Right before the finish there is this big hill, 2-300 meters I'd say, coming out straight into the chute. I tried my best to kick up that hill and I passed a few girls, then got 1 or 2 more in the chute. When I got close and saw my time on the race clock, I was a little disappointed because I thought I was going a lot faster than that, like maybe just over 20 or even high 19's. All of the upperclassmen told me it is a decieving course but I didn't really know what that meant at the time. That helped my kick though because I didn't want any more seconds to go by than what already had. Mell finished right behind me, which I was really proud of her for, because she has been injured for like 2 years and this is only her 2nd race back! She killed it.
Overall I am happy with my efforts but still disappointed that I am not yet back into the 19's. I still think I need to work more on the little things like my diet, stretching habitually after practice, and also my sleeping habits, especially on the weekends when I am not really being kept up by anything neccessary like schoolwork. I feel like those things could go a long way.
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