A quick update

I haven't written a blog post for a while, and that is because I don't have many interesting stories to tell you. As I wrote in my last blog, I have to 'sit out' this cross country season so that I can run for UP next year. Luckily, this doesn't mean I can't train with my team or can't race at all. I am still allowed to enter races, I just can't run them in the white & purple of my school. Although it is sad to see my teammates getting in better and better shape as they are gearing up for Regionals this weekend & to see them racing against the best of the country while I am just logging miles and getting ready for indoors, I really enjoyed the two smaller XC-races I participated in.
2 weeks ago, I raced the Beaver Classic, a small 6km race. I drove up with some of the freshmen guys, who are also redshirting, so that was a lot of fun. The only unfortunate thing was that because of traffic, we arrived a mere 30 min before the race, which meant I had to do an 'emergency-warm-up' in order to end up on the starting line at least somewhat ready to go... I am happy I always do a short 20min shake-out in the morning before my races, because that meant I was at least a little ready! I was determined to win it, but I may have started out a little too enthusiastically and had to settle for second.
Yesterday I got 6th at another 6km-race in Pier Park, in a field with a few very fast women. Pier Park is a park only 2,5 miles away from UP, so it was a 'home meet.' It almost felt like I was racing in The Netherlands, since I went there by bike (instead of plane/car), it was rainy & cold (instead of 30 degrees C), the course was tough with mud and hills (instead of the flat golf courses we usually run on here), and I ran in the jersey of my Dutch club team. Nick came over to watch which was great because it felt a little lonely out there, and during the race I noticed that some of my teammates had come as well! The race itself was average. Since I was sick the week before, I didn't expect much and just wanted to go out there and be tough, and that's what I did. Because of the aftereffects of the cold, my breathing was off and I was breathing hard right from the beginning. I am sure that next time, without these breathing issues, I can do much better.
In 2 weeks I am doing one more XC-race in Fernhill Park, another local park where we often go for workouts. The plan is to really get a good, fast race in there and to beat some of the women that beat me today!

But first it is time to cheer on my team in Seattle!