Obviously today is September 11th. It is mentally challenging day to our Country. I know a lot of bloggers like to talk about where they were and how they felt. Although I did know a few people who were lost, and my father knows even more, I want to keep slightly on a more upbeat track.
Hmm. Well cross country race number 2 I done in the books. It’s hard to say it wasn’t my best because it was a PR in Cross country…however, I had to race it slightly injured. Judging from my road races, I should be a bit faster. I say slightly injured because well I don’t have a serious injury-just some nagging pain.
Moving on, the race was actually held at the school I’m interning at-making it super convenient. I literally just had to walk about a mile to meet my team.
Moving on, I warmed up with my coach and I wasn’t feeling that great (cutting miles doesn’t work for me…without regards to injury) and so taking a plummet in miles for injury healage,-I knew my race was not going to feel great.
When we lined up in our respected boxes…it started pouring rain. Honesty it was forecasted all day and the wind was showing that it would…so when it starting pouring at the start…I wasn’t shocked or surprised.
The first 1m, I was in third place. Keeping up with some girls that will be nationally recognized this year (because they are so fast). But alas, that pace was entirely too fast for me. Though my first mile was a 6:05, the race conditions (ie pouring rain and super windy) made that pace really hard. Plus cross country races.that makes that super hard to begin with. Long story short, I needed to slow down.
Mile two was a essentially circling a large field which I run in a lot. By this point it was a large mud pit and I honestly looked for every excuse to mentally check out of this part of the race. I ended up getting passed by a large pack of females somewhere in this time too. It was mentally hard for me to handle. With the wind, no spectators and being passed it was my least favorite part of the race. (mile 2 was a 6:25 mile)
With mile 3, I just held on for dear life. There were a few rolling hills and I was dying. I knew I was almost done and I felt like death. I just kept convincing myself I was almost done..for the entire mile. (It worked somewhat).
I finished the race in 19:47. I was outkicked in the final stretch by someone…which pretty much stinks because I got 11th…and top 10 got shirts. Oh well, I’m not any more injured then starting the race and my coach thinks he has solved the problem (now to just do said things and hope that my heel feels better!).
Question for you:
- 1. Do you like exercising in the rain?
I don’t mind it now. In the winter (or 40 degrees) it stinks. Freezing rain is MUCH different then warm rain.
- 2. Have you ever ran injured?
Let’s not play games here, I know everyone that runs has run at least one run where they have felt some niggling pain. I would love to take a week or two off but sadly, that isn’t really going to happen.
ugh that weather does not sound like ideal at all. being boxed in makes it that much harder. Great job despite all of that!
I hate being boxed in! I’m so claustrophobic!
I don’t mind running in the rain. Actually, it’s kind of fun when it’s a light rain :). But, we don’t get really cold rain too often here, especially not this time of year. Gotta love the South! Congrats on your race time but sorry you didn’t get a shirt, you still did a great job. Good luck with treating the injury too.
I’m not planning to talk about 9-11 on my blog today. It is a defining event for my generation and I’ll remember it, but I just don’t feel like I need to blog about it.
I’m sorry to hear that your niggle is still bothering you. I am glad to hear that your coach might have the answer to it though. I have to admit there is often times I have run with some sort of niggle as runners we learn to deal with it and hope that it will go away soon. Normally after a couple of days if its still there then I start getting worried about. Normally my niggles are from a tight IT band, always my left one. After RnR when I had a blister on my foot that never healed from the week before the medical people at work told me I might have to take 3 weeks off to let it heal. I looked at them and said, “um this is not an option I can’t just take three weeks off from running.
I have to admit I do like running in the rain but I like it to start raining while I am running. I am not a big fan of starting out in the rain.
I am running a XC race this weekend and I am pretty excited about that a group of us are throwing a team together and running at William and Mary this weekend. It should be fun and I am excited to break out my hardly ever used XC spikes.
Yeah that is my problem too, I’ve had this for about a week and that is when we knew it was somewhat serious. I’m getting a deep tissue massage so I’m hoping that works wonders!
Good luck this weekend. I like XC races because my spikes never get a good workout except for 5 races a year!
I avoid exercising in the rain like it’s the plague…the only thing I used to like was swimming in the rain (but not storms of course). I am glad that racing didn’t make the heel any worse, but I wish it would just go away for you!
I hate running in the rain, but I ALWAYS make myself do it for exactly that reason. I feel like if I give in and skip a run in the rain, I’ll use that as an excuse to skip running every time it’s raining. And if I ever had to race in the rain, that would be a problem.
Thankfully I’ve never been seriously injured, but right when I was first upping my mileage (I ran like ~15 miles a week for about two years before finally joining my school’s track team) I had pain in my knee. It was the most frustrating thing to only be able to run 1-2 miles during practice. I can’t imagine being forced to forgo it entirely!
Bah. I’m glad to hear your knee isn’t hurting now! Knee problems are seriously the worst!
I don’t know…I think a lot of 9/11 acknowledgements are a bit arbitrary on a lot of blogs. It often comes down to ‘9/11 was really sad…now here is a pic of my OATMEAL!’ 9/11 is going to be forever etched into my mind and I’m not even American. I think it’s the kind of deep rooted sadness and shock that transcends words. Sorrow for 9/11 goes without saying for me.
What an amazing performance from you, injured or otherwise. I loathe running in the rain but that’s because it’s always cold rain in the UK, usually accompanied by driving winds so you can barely see where you’re going. On the odd occasion we’ve had warm rain it hasn’t been so bad – that’s quite cathartic.
Well, I ran with a double pelvic stress fracture (a 10K) and also a half marathon when they were barely healed, so I can’t very well nag anyone else about running with an injury. I find it hard to believe that the sensible police have never, ever taken a risk with their running. Runners tend to have at least a 10% insanity rating in their brains – we’re all a bit (or very) irrational when it comes to our sport. Obviously it’s better not to turn it into some kind of self-destructive art form though 😛
xxx
Great job girl! I’m sorry that you got outkicked.. That is the worst feeling. But you still did amazing despite a slight injury and the horrible weather conditions! The men’s rugby team was playing a game in that same storm – and it got canceled! I was outside in it and it was ridiculous.
1. Running in the rain (or snow) is just fine by me! I can always do what I need to do to get warmer, but running in the heat when I can’t cool down is what kills me. Looks like I’m going to get my chance to run in some Colorado rain tomorrow…finally.
2. I had an IT band issue that sidelined me for two months at the beginning of the year. Even if I had wanted to run on it, there was no way. It was like someone shoving an icepick into my knee. I’m less than 4 weeks out from Chicago, and even though it has given me a twinge every now and then, all the exercises, stretching, and that #(*@#%*# foam roller have kept me healthy…knock on wood!
Hope you stay healthy and keep kickin’ it.
I LOVE running in the rain and tough conditions as I know all of my competitors have to also and it’s always the strongest that don’t give up…
Hope your ‘thingy’ gets better… 🙂
LOVE running in the rain!!! And yes – have run injured, knowing full well I shouldn’t.
Regardless of how you feel you did, just know that you are an incredible runner and an inspiration 🙂
Up until 3 weeks ago I had never ran in the rain. I was excited but it wasn’t anything special haha. I can only imagine what running in ice cold rain would be like…
Hope that pesky pain disappears soon!