Region and Season Recap

Before I get started with this post, I would like to apologize for the extended absence between posts.  I had a lot of angst about the end of my season and I was simply not in the mood to talk about it yet.  

Region this year was in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  The course was fairly similar to the NXN Southwest course, with the biggest differences being that it was a 6k instead and it never really leveled out-you were either going up or down a slope the entire time.  This was nice on the downhills, but the uphills were not a good time.  I wasn't really sure what to expect going into this race since the conference meet didn't go all that well, and I was still having a lot of ups and downs in workouts.  My left hamstring had been giving me a lot of trouble, and I was just hoping it wouldn't lock up again like it did in Cedar City.  

The race went out fast, and honestly most of it is a blur at this point.  I remember the first half going well, then that all-too familiar "Oh no" feeling settling in around mile two.  I ended up finishing 51st with a time that was about a minute slower than I ran at pre-nats.  Since it was my first year competing on a D1 level, I wasn't too broken up about the way I placed, although I was definitely a little disappointed.  I came in with some big goals this year, and I still intend to pursue them through track.  

Yesterday, after my first week back easy running following the one-week break I took after region, I thought it might be wise to talk to the trainers, since my left hamstring was still bothering me after the break.  I was told that I have a strained hamstring, and probably have since conference.  For a full recovery, it could take between 4-6 weeks.  It was good to find out exactly why I was having so much trouble at the last two meets, although it was incredibly frustrating as well.  

The team will be having our first indoor track competition this Saturday at our Blue-Gold intersquad meet.  It should be fun to see where everyone is at right now and lace up our track spikes again.  The nice thing about competing in track at the college level is that most of the distances will be the same as or slightly shorter than what I competed in high school.  Also, I won't have to worry about a hilly course for the next nine months or so.