Conference & Regionals mark the end of the season

I was able to end my cross-country season with two great races, both in California. My conference-race of two weeks ago made me very happy, not only because I achieved my goal of finishing in the top-10 (I was 8th, last year 21st), but mostly because this was the very first time that I was able to bounce back from feeling tired. I have to admit that taking three days off in the middle of the season is a little unconventional, but I am sure that if I would have kept training, I would not have ran as well as I did. After the days off, my legs all of a sudden felt good again, and I had a series of good workouts that gave me confidence going into this race. During the race, my legs felt so strong, and racing was so fun! I had told my teammates that I was going to go out aggressively and then just hang on for dear life and fight for a top-10 position, and that is what I did. We went out very, very fast (5.13 for the first mile) but I did not really feel it. I was able to pass a couple girls on the end, which was really motivating. As a team, we finished second. We had hoped to finally get the Conference-title but faced a very strong BYU.

Last weekend I had a completely different race, as I stood on the line with 250 other girls. I had prepared for a fast start, because you do not want to have to pass 100 girls in your race. I was a little scared, because I had been sick over the weekend and had spent all Monday in bed. Yes, being sick 4 days before the most important race of the season, great timing! I did not get too worried about it though, and was just hoping that I would feel better on time. Luckily, I did. Just like in the Conference-race, I felt strong and could move up during the race, finishing 34rd (Which I have to admit, does not sound too impressive, but it was a great improvement compared to last year). Unfortunately, we did not make it to Nationals as a team, which means my season is over. It is unbelievably hard to make it to Nationals, but we really believed we could make it this year, and it is sad that once again, we did not qualify. Maybe I just have to get good enough to make it as an individual next year…

I am taking a week off, which I am not very excited about at all. Although it is nice to not have to worry about sleep and recovery and running for a bit, after 3 days of doing nothing at all, I already cannot wait to go out for a run again. It is beautiful weather in Portland at the moment: cold, but dry and sunny. The best way to enjoy that is with a run! Oh well, it gives me some time to reflect, and make a plan for the track season. I want to run a very fast 3000m indoors, which is an intermediate goal towards a great 5000m outdoors. The big goal is to qualify for the European Championships <23 that takes place this summer. Exciting things are ahead of me!

A recap of the Regionals-race here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJj2B1Z5mgM&feature=youtu.be