It will also be interesting to see how my mentality affects my results. Last year, I attended this race with the intention of qualifying for nationals. This year, as I am hoping to qualify for the Footlocker nationals, and my regional race is on the same day as the Nike nationals, I am just going to the Southwest meet as a tune-up for Footlocker. Normally, I would think that this might make my race slower than normal, but this season, I've observed that I seem to do better when I go into a race relaxed, expecting it to be nothing more than fun. For example, at the Highland invitational, I was not expecting to do particularly well, merely to get a feel for cross country again. So, instead of worrying about it for weeks on end, I had fun with my friends the days leading up to the race, did a hike/run up Mount Timpanogos two days before, and brought a spatula for luck the day of the race. And for some reason, I ended up winning. It was pretty neat. To contrast, I was incredibly strung up before the Bob Firman invitational. I wanted desperately to place well, and I knew that many big names would be there. I worried constantly about how I would do, about what my team was doing the night before, and about whether I was really up for the challenge. Though I didn't have a terrible race, I finished it feeling completely worn out and disappointed with how I had done. I am hoping that I can stay relaxed and excited for these races, rather than worrying about things that are out of my control at this point. You can't control which other runners will be there (well, unless you hire someone to kidnap them, but unfortunately, I don't have the budget for that), what the weather will be like, or how big the hills are. You can, however, trust in your training and double knot your shoes before you start. Definitely double knot the shoes.
Monday, November 17, 2014
NXR Southwest
This weekend, I have the opportunity to race with some of the fastest high school girls in the country at the Nike Cross Southwest Regionals. My team will be flying out to Arizona on Friday morning, and racing on Saturday. This race is one of my personal favorites. I had the amazing experience of qualifying for the Nike Cross Nationals by placing in the top five at this race last year, and I must say, it was a singular treat. It'll be interesting to see how the course is this year. The location was changed from the golf course it's been held at for the last few years to a sports complex. Last year, it was incredibly rainy, so by the time the elite races were held, the course was completely torn up. It was essentially a mud run. So I can understand why the people who own the golf course would not want to invite us back.
It will also be interesting to see how my mentality affects my results. Last year, I attended this race with the intention of qualifying for nationals. This year, as I am hoping to qualify for the Footlocker nationals, and my regional race is on the same day as the Nike nationals, I am just going to the Southwest meet as a tune-up for Footlocker. Normally, I would think that this might make my race slower than normal, but this season, I've observed that I seem to do better when I go into a race relaxed, expecting it to be nothing more than fun. For example, at the Highland invitational, I was not expecting to do particularly well, merely to get a feel for cross country again. So, instead of worrying about it for weeks on end, I had fun with my friends the days leading up to the race, did a hike/run up Mount Timpanogos two days before, and brought a spatula for luck the day of the race. And for some reason, I ended up winning. It was pretty neat. To contrast, I was incredibly strung up before the Bob Firman invitational. I wanted desperately to place well, and I knew that many big names would be there. I worried constantly about how I would do, about what my team was doing the night before, and about whether I was really up for the challenge. Though I didn't have a terrible race, I finished it feeling completely worn out and disappointed with how I had done. I am hoping that I can stay relaxed and excited for these races, rather than worrying about things that are out of my control at this point. You can't control which other runners will be there (well, unless you hire someone to kidnap them, but unfortunately, I don't have the budget for that), what the weather will be like, or how big the hills are. You can, however, trust in your training and double knot your shoes before you start. Definitely double knot the shoes.
It will also be interesting to see how my mentality affects my results. Last year, I attended this race with the intention of qualifying for nationals. This year, as I am hoping to qualify for the Footlocker nationals, and my regional race is on the same day as the Nike nationals, I am just going to the Southwest meet as a tune-up for Footlocker. Normally, I would think that this might make my race slower than normal, but this season, I've observed that I seem to do better when I go into a race relaxed, expecting it to be nothing more than fun. For example, at the Highland invitational, I was not expecting to do particularly well, merely to get a feel for cross country again. So, instead of worrying about it for weeks on end, I had fun with my friends the days leading up to the race, did a hike/run up Mount Timpanogos two days before, and brought a spatula for luck the day of the race. And for some reason, I ended up winning. It was pretty neat. To contrast, I was incredibly strung up before the Bob Firman invitational. I wanted desperately to place well, and I knew that many big names would be there. I worried constantly about how I would do, about what my team was doing the night before, and about whether I was really up for the challenge. Though I didn't have a terrible race, I finished it feeling completely worn out and disappointed with how I had done. I am hoping that I can stay relaxed and excited for these races, rather than worrying about things that are out of my control at this point. You can't control which other runners will be there (well, unless you hire someone to kidnap them, but unfortunately, I don't have the budget for that), what the weather will be like, or how big the hills are. You can, however, trust in your training and double knot your shoes before you start. Definitely double knot the shoes.
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