Big Sky Conference

For our most recent meet, I got to return to the Mothership and race in Utah again.  There are not even words to express how excited I was.  My family and Jacob's both got to come to this race, along with several high school friends who live in the area.  Since it was hosted by Southern Utah, which is about six hours away from where I live, I didn't have a chance to see all of my friends and family, but it was definitely great to see those who were able to make it.
The race was Saturday morning and we got in late Thursday evening, so we had all of Friday to relax after the course preview.  Naturally, for me "relaxing" meant "sitting in the hotel room and watching Spongebob".  I don't think I've quite learned how to adult properly yet.  The evening before the race, I got the opportunity to go out to dinner with Jacob's family, which totally made my day.
Saturday morning, we arrived at the course to find my older sister (who also competes on a NCAA D1 level) already there and telling the animated story of how she was attacked by a dog on the run over.  Before long, Papa John was stretching me out and I was headed over to the starting line.

I yawn when I get nervous...

 The excitement of the race definitely got to me a little.  For about the first 600 meters, I was in second place.  We came through the first mile at 5:40, and I sensed pretty quickly that something was not quite right.  This course was very hilly.  There was never really a point where it leveled out; You were either going up or down the whole time.  For whatever reason, my legs did not handle it nearly as well as they handled the rolling hills back in Bozeman on our 1k loop.  By about halfway through the race, I was completely locked up from hips down, and no amount of bargaining could make my legs move faster.  I finished my first conference meet in 23rd, which for me could not have been more disappointing.

Fortunately, I have some great teammates and friends who made it clear that one bad race is not the end of the world.  Since this is just my freshman season, I have at least three more years to improve on that finish.  I am beyond grateful for the support I have here at Montana State, and the coaches and trainers who are actually willing to listen to their athletes.  I spoke to the athletic trainers after the race, and they believe that part of my problem may have been due to an inflamed sciatic nerve, so I have been doing some stretching and exercises to hopefully help remedy that before region this weekend.