Cross Country Season has begun officially for me, and I have raced twice now...both in very different racing conditions. Our first race was at TLU for our invitational meet on September 8th where we ran a 5K against colleges in the San Antonio area; however, we hadn't had rain in a while in Seguin, so the ground was very dry which allowed it to turn to sand after running on it for a few days. By the time the meet rolled around on Saturday morning and the warm-up runs from various teams had been completed the course looked like black sand. As the gun went off we all ran into the strong winds which blew the sand into our eyes, so for the majority of the run I ran blindly and slipping on the hills where no footing could be found in the shifting ground. This race was a wake up call to me mentally and physically; I hadn't run a cross country race in nearly two years so my main goal was to finish the race. I didn't run it competitively like I normally run races...it certainly wasn't a race that I am proud of, but races like that generally motivate me to run better in the future.
The next race we ran was on September 14th, and it was the UTSA invitational. The race conditions for this meet were completely different from the first; there had been lots of rain and the temperature had dropped considerably. The meet was held at the gun range in San Antonio while they were having a skeet shooting tournament. The course was extremely muddy and had the longest finish I think I have run in years. Many people lost their spikes in the shoe sucking mud. Despite the tough racing conditions I ran much better. I love races that are filled with mud and rolling hills because even though they are tiring, painful, and tricky to run the challenges they present to me keep my mind off of the pain as I am more focused on the obstacles. Also, I got my competitive mindset back in this race thanks to the Concordia coach who seems to enjoy insulting me and all of the TLU runners...I do not know if he understands that insulting me while I'm running just pisses me off and makes me run faster. I always run so much better when angry, and I love to prove other coaches wrong. Whenever they tell their girls "she is dying" or "she has no kick" it just motivates me to show them how I am really feeling which generally means actually killing myself and kicking it in to beat their girls. Anyways, I hope he continues to cheer this way throughout the season and at Conference because it will really help me run to my full potential. I ended up running a much better time in this race and took off about a minute and forty seconds from my time the previous week!!
This past week has been "Hell Week" and for those of you who do not know what this means...well it is a week when we do not have a meet that weekend so we are able to train hard for two full weeks with limited recovery runs. This is also the week when the comment "I wish I could just chop off my (insert body part in pain)" frequently from cross country runners. For me, I think I would just like to remove from my hips down because my legs are just dead, but especially my left shin...This is also the week where you begin a regular dosage of Aleve to take the edge off the soreness. But I have made it through Hell Week in mostly one piece and I am really getting excited for the rest of the season, and Disney in two weeks!!!
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