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Disney XC Mud Fest

October 8, 2011 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: Raining, chilly, windy, muddy and wet

Comments:
Starting the season, I had high expectations about my time at the Disney XC Classic. It is a fast, well groomed flat course and last year the weather conditions were perfect. Last year, my time was 20:53.

This race was my last opportunity to race the 5K distance for cross country. I don't know why, but for some reason I have never raced south of 20 minutes for cross country, while I know I have the ability to not only break 20 but break 19. I am in the greatest shape of my life, but we've only had three opportunities to run a 5K - Tampa, UF, and Disney. We've been training hard through these races in preparation for Conference and Regionals.

It was clear that the best place to get a fast time was going to be at Disney, but, come race day, things did not go as planned. I was not feeling well the day before/day of the race and the weather was rainy and windy, which made the course wet and muddy.

Coming into the race, I was prepared to put those things aside and compete with the top girls anyway. I know I can. I've worked hard for this. Tuesday's workout of 4 x 1 mile all under 6:00 with 2 min recoveries, just two days after running 13.5 miles with Taylor, showed that I'm more than capable of it.

I went out with the top group for the first 3/4 of a mile, right next to the top runner from UNC Pembroke, but steadily dropped back as the realities of my legs being heavy and my body not feeling well creeped up on me.

My first mile was 6:15 -- slow. K Whoa came up behind me and offered words of encouragement and said, "Come on, let's move up," but my legs were so heavy, so I let her go but kept her in sight. Before reaching the 2 mile, Taylor caught up, so I went with her and then got back in front of her. My cramps started hurting really bad and she caught back up to me with a mile to go and passed me.

I crossed the finish line in 20:23 and number 62 in a field of 269 women. However, I know only about 30 of those runners mattered. K Whoa was 20:01 and Taylor was 20:07. All three of us finished in front of the #2 runner from UNC Pembroke, but their top runner, who we all can run with, was 19:39 and 27th. Somewhere along the way, I lost sight of the competition. We should have all been top 30.

Looking back, I am a much better version of myself than I was last year. I ran 20:53 last year on a beautiful morning of under 70 degrees, when the course was dry and my legs were more rested. This year, with everything going against me, I still finished 30 seconds ahead of that time.

I know all of these long runs and hard workouts I've been doing are making me tired, but I know they're also making me stronger. This morning, Taylor and I woke up and, albeit reluctantly, ran 1:50:00 around Saint Augustine. In total, we ran 13.5 miles. I'm excited to see this work pay off in the next two races.