This is past week, my team has competed at 3 different meets. We encountered many different weather conditions and traveled around to new places.
Scottsboro Invitational: The sun beamed off the small lake near the finish line and the cool air surrounded me as I looked at all of the teams we would be competing with. My team tried to get familiar with the course as we jogged along the twisting path. Our race time seemed to come very slowly, which was odd. Finally, the time had come for us to start our 3.1 mile adventure. The gun sounded and we were off. Even though my start felt very slow, it was right on the right pace. The second loop contained a few hills with thick gravel that gave me quite a challenge. My pace felt very slow this whole race, but as I hit the 3 mile mark and heard I was at 19 minutes, my eyes got brighter. I was very close to my PR. I rounded into the long finish and glanced at the clock as I crossed. It read 20:50 and had placed 9th. I had beaten my PR by nearly 6 seconds. Our girls team placed 3rd out of many teams, which I am most proud of. With our girls team time, we were 5th in 4A schools. Our team will continue to grow and put us at a more elite level as the season progresses.
Randolph Invitational: That following Tuesday, my team headed to the University of Huntsville to run one of the muddiest races of the entire season. We came into this race predicting to just have fun and enjoy a race. My race was the last one of the entire day and it was extremely muddy after all of the divisions had ran through it. The first creek was barely to my mid-shin but it made it difficult to run through with the thick mud. The biggest creek we had to run through had water past my stomach. I had no intension of running this course for a specific time. I had hoped for a faster time than last year (22:04) and tried my best to run what I hoped was a faster pace than that time. When I jumped into the big creek for the last time and emerged from the water, I looked ahead and saw the timer. I couldn’t believe my eyes. My original goal was to beat 22 minutes, I ran a 20:56. I placed 6th and was very proud of myself. For the first time, I smiled while crossing the finish line. I enjoyed the race and had so much left that I could have ran so much faster. I was only 6 seconds away from my PR. Although we didn’t have enough for a team, we all did fantastic and we all finished with smiles.
DoubleHead Dash: Rain was pouring and the dirt on the trails had turned into deep mud before we knew it. This was the first time we had competed at this race and we had no idea what to expect. The rain soaked our jackets as we jogged the course, but the mud was unavoidable. Since this course would be where our Sectionals would most likely be held, we made sure we knew where we would be going. The time until our race dwindled down and before I knew it we were all lined up at the start. I was very nervous for this race and I had no idea why. My legs were shaking and my heart was racing as the meet director went over course information and instructions. It freaked me out that my body was behaving so oddly, but that all went away once the race began. Mud was slung all over my legs as we crossed each puddle on the course. Right beside me, I realized I was running with girls who had ran 19 minute 5ks just last week. My splits were horrible, but I kept pushing throughout the race. The girls who had ran such amazing times the week before, weren’t even 20 meters ahead of me throughout the entire race. I knew that my time would be slow, but I also knew that anything was possible for the rest of the season. I finished 6th place with a time of 21:11. The mud was an unexpected struggle, but everyone ran great races. We were one girl short of having a full team, but two of my teammates went 1&2 in the girls race, which had us with 3 girls in the top 10. Our team will get stronger and I am excited to see what we can accomplish together.