Road-Ugliness and Prevention Methods

I am not a person who travels remotely well, and as a student-athlete who has to travel 3+ hours up to seven or eight times in a season, this is fairly unfortunate.  I am road ugly (a term a friend once coined that describes the ability to make two hours in the car look like ten).  This was not always the case.  Once upon a time, I was simply a mildly creased young lady after a long drive in the car or a day at the airport.  Then I went to school in Montana where in order to get anywhere, the minimum drive is three hours and the only airports in the state only fly to a select few other airports so to fly to meets even as near as California required one to wake up at 3 a.m. and spend up to twelve hours on flights and layovers in connecting airports.  After one particularly turbulent flight (most flights into Montana are turbulent as the planes you most typically fly in on are prop planes meant for under fifty passengers that resemble the creations of the Wright brothers) when I woke up in the middle of a drop and was immediately convinced that the plane was going down and I was about to meet Jesus, something snapped.  It was like I was a gremlin and someone had given me a corn dog at 12:01 a.m.  I morphed from the simply unpleasant traveler I was before into a goblin with aching joints, swollen legs, and a tendency to tear up irrationally after more than five hours in a car.  Seriously, I once started crying on a bus because we drove past a gas station and I really had to pee.  There was a bathroom on that bus literally ten feet away from me.  Once on the trip to Texas for regionals, I only remembered to pack one of my compression calf sleeves.  We had a ten hour travel day with a layover in Denver, and by the time we reached our hotel, the leg that I chose to sacrifice to a sleeveless travel day had swelled comically to 25% larger than the other.  As a result of this recently discovered road-ugliness, I have come up with a long list of remedies that, when combined, manage to make the changes in personality and appearance slightly less aggressive and alarming. 

First of all, if you’re an anxious sweater like myself, you’re going to want makeup remover wipes and lots of them, and potentially some dry shampoo.  These will help transform you from a greasy monster to just a monster.   Also, if you wear contacts, I would recommend wearing your glasses until you get to your final destination so you can take frequent naps and not worry about having your eyes feel like someone switched your contact solution for gorilla glue.

Another key for me is to plan out your outfit for travel and make it a little fancy.  Not over the top fancy because you also have to be comfortable and have some way to sneak all of your compression underneath it, but by consciously choosing to not just wear sweatpants and your favorite tie-dyed cat t-shirt, you get a little mental boost.  It’s also nice when you’re getting stares from strangers and you have to wonder if it’s because you look like a walking dumpster fire instead of knowing with absolute certainty that it’s because you look like a walking dumpster fire. 

Food is also v important.  For me, the biggest challenge is always making an effort to pack healthy snacks in addition to the ones that you know and love.  In high school, my friend Alli always used to tell me that no road trip is complete without meat sticks and sugary snacks, and I guess that mentality stuck.  It’s all fun and games until you’re six hours into a bus ride having eaten nothing but those delightful elf cookies that Keebler makes and chocolate milk that is thick with two c’s starting to get a sugar migraine and that gross sticky feeling that refuses to go away.  It’s safest to pack these snacks in advance rather than telling yourself that you’ll buy them on the road because when you’re staring down a bag of Hostess powdered donuts, it’s much harder to say no and go for the pretzels and hummus instead than it would be if you just packed the dang hummus in the first place.  But do be sure to pack trash food also.  My freshman year, when I was truly a road-ugly rookie, there was one memorable trip to California in which I got a slight head cold before we left.  It wasn’t enough to take me off the travel roster, but it was enough to leave me congested and irritable the whole weekend.  I distinctly remember one of my ears getting blocked off on the flight out, and not returning to normal for almost a week, despite many attempts to clear it by my teammates, who poured hydrogen peroxide into it every few minutes all day.  One of my teammates, knowing how cranky travel made me and having a full understanding of my love of treats had the foresight to pack a bag of candy just for me, and after every tantrum-free hour, she would give me a piece.  It was almost like she was classically conditioning me to be well-behaved and I loved it.

Stop by your local grocery store and pick up some Pedialyte as well.  I seriously get borderline religious about that stuff.  You really want to hammer hydration anyway, but the electrolytes it provides are kind of like a slap in the face for your kidneys to wake up and get to work.

Finally, compression is your best friend.  This is a basic that pretty much everyone preaches, but I can’t leave it out because without compression my entire body blows up like a balloon in a truly grotesque manner.  I would not be capable of functioning like a normal human being were it not for my calf sleeves and the Normatec.  My relationship with Normatec is incredibly unhealthy.  I am obsessed with it.  I think about it all the time, and I get upset when I don't get to see it every day.  I get jealous with other people get to spend time with it and I don't.  

So, as we welcome another cross country season, stay safe out there.  Don't make any accidental grabs for the hand of the person sitting next to you on the plane because you had a dream it was crashing or drop a breakfast burrito on your lap in the terminal (not that I've ever done either of those things).  Always make sure you pack both calf sleeves, and for the love of all things holy, never ever ever consume caffeine immediately before a flight.  Peace and god bless.    

Transfer How-To

Although I don't think athletes typically join a team with the intention of transferring, sometimes life comes at you fast and it's just something that has to happen.  It seems like all of the running websites out there have countless articles advising high school athletes on how to choose a school to attend, but there are very view to tell you about the transfer process.  Really, the only reason I decided to transfer was so I could get a first-hand account of how it works to post on this blog.  The lengths I go to for you guys.
The first and most obvious step is to really decide whether or not you want to transfer.  Once you talk to your coaches about it, you don't necessarily have to transfer, you can always just test the waters and decide if it's something you want to go through with or not, but it's best to at least be reasonably sure before talking to anyone because relations with team members and coaches definitely can get a little awkward once it comes out that you are looking at other schools, and if it's not something you actually want to do, there's not really any point to making things needlessly uncomfortable.
After you are sure you want to look into your options, you will need to get a release to contact from your coach and athletic program.  The NCAA has created a guide so you can look into the rules, regulations and other hoopla that come with transferring here, which I would definitely suggest you do before talking with a coach.  Most schools do not allow in-conference transfers, and there is a whole different set of rules for that kind of transfer.  Once you have your release to contact, you can have your coach send it to whatever schools you are interested in, or depending on how you are given your release, send it to them yourself.  For my transfer, my coach just sent me a blanket release addressed to any coach outside of the Big Sky and I was able to email it to any coach I wanted to.  In the case that your coach refuses to release you, your school is required to explain to you in writing how you can appeal for a release, and the appeal is presented to a group of people who are not involved with athletics to make the final decision.
Once you have a release, you are essentially right back where you were senior year.  You are allowed to email and call anyone that the release grants you permission to, and you receive five more official visits.  The biggest difference I found on these visits is that the second time around, you know which factors will actually matter the most to you, and you aren't as distracted by things like how big the football stadium is. For me, this time was all about how many frozen yogurt shops were either right on campus or within walking distance.
If you decide a different school is right for you, there are a few more steps to be taken.  Obviously, you'll need to apply for admissions and register for classes.  This step seems pretty clear, but I didn't remember to complete my registration for fall semester classes until about two weeks ago, so it's not obvious to everyone, I suppose.  You'll also sign a contract with your new school, although there is no official NLI the second time around.  Most of the final transfer process is given to you by your compliance director.  MSU had a very specific checklist that mine just printed off for me.  You'll need to have your records (both academic and medical) sent to your new school so your academic advisors and new athletic trainers can actually assist you properly, as well as check out with your previous training room staff so any injuries you sustained while at that school will actually be taken care of by that school.  Finally, you'll need to procure a second release from your coaches and athletic director, the one-time transfer exception release, which allows you to compete for your new school immediately, rather than sitting out a full year from competition. 
If you have no interest in transferring, sry.  Here's a little nugget of information so you learn something from this post anyway:  Cats' kidneys are so efficient that they can rehydrate by drinking saltwater.  #KnowledgeIsPower 

Be Above It

The theme of this post is something of a divergence from my usual posts about running, but it is a lesson that has been driven home to me by the experiences I have had and the people I have met as a result of running, so I figured it was at least a little relevant on this blog.
"People are going to hate you."  These words were some of the first I heard upon arriving back in Utah after my failed two-year experiment with Montana State, and they made an appearance a few short weeks later from an individual who began our short weekend trip as a stranger, and strangely one of the first lessons I learned just minutes after my finish at nationals.  Regardless of whether you are fast or slow, weak or strong, foolish or intellectual.  Whether they know every word of your story, or none of it at all.  People will hate you because of the things they've heard about you, true or not.  They will hate you for not fulfilling expectations they placed on you without your knowledge, or for pursuing the dreams that fill your waking hours with reckless abandon.  They will hate you for loving too much or not enough or for choosing the wrong person to care for.  They will hate you for your successes because they don't see the efforts that went into them, and they will hate you for your failures because they don't see the devastation that comes with them.
But...this is not on you.  The beautiful thing in all of this hate is that nothing dictates that you must shoulder the burden of accepting responsibility for it.  Of course, one should always strive to be able to recognize when they are in the wrong and make amends, but so long as you are living a life that you can be proud of, a good life, then let go of others' views on you.  Be unashamedly who you are.  Don't cower at the thought that your boldness might cause someone to dislike you.  Don't turn down a chance at happiness because it isn't down the path another might have chosen you.  After one of no doubt many outbursts from me via Snapchat about heaven only knows what, team drama or the patriarchy or someone's sassy attitude or what have you, my friend Aidan offered some simple advice:  Be above it.  You can choose to spend your life suffocating under the knowledge that people exist in this world who do not care for you, or you can try to realize that their opinions of you do not degrade the truth of what you are.  

Rome

Upon reflecting on the title of this post, I realize that it is a little misleading.  I did not go to Rome at any point.  If we're being honest, I've never left the country.  I am a very poor college student and I would probably have to sell an organ to go on a summer trip to Rome.  So, you all deserve an explanation.  At the beginning of my first indoor collegiate season, the track team got a text from our head coach requesting that we turn in our "One Word" to him so he could make sure it was included on the team poster for the year.  I had no idea what "one word" meant, so one of the older girls explained it to me.  Essentially, it is an affirmation, a representation of the ideal that will carry you through the negative temperatures and long weeks of winter training to the end of that 5k in May, through all of the moments when you would much rather spend your winter break drinking cocoa and holding paws with your cat by the fire than slogging through miles in the snow and the last two miles of a 10k.  Throughout the indoor and outdoor seasons at post-meet team meetings, a few members would share their word and the meaning behind it each week.  For the last two years, my words were "fearless" and "rise". 
So, what does this have to do with summer training, Rome, or anything really?  This summer, when I came home from Bozeman and nationals and my first time reaching the All-American status that was my biggest goal going into college, I wasn't at all sure where to go next.  I knew for sure that I wanted to hit higher mileage again because I thrive on that stuff, but aside from that, I was a little lost.  What are you supposed to do differently as an All-American?  Do you have to run every training run at a certain pace now?  Is there a bylaw that states you have to become a paleo vegan gluten-free athlete after you run a certain time in the 10k?  And most importantly, how would I continue improving and moving forward from this moment?  I figured initially I would just train like I did last summer-lots of effort-based easy runs, doubles, and upped miles.  The problem was, I didn't remember exactly how much effort went into an easy run and I wasn't sure where to find the balance between too easy and hammering every run, so I erred on the side of hammering every run for the first few weeks until my new coaching staff sent out some emails reminding our team that this summer was about building a strong, stable base and rediscovering a joy for running, not about beating our bodies into submission.  Thus I discovered my one word for this year:  Rome.  Because I am a cliché millennial troll, the meaning behind the one word is pretty obvious.  Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was any athletic success I have ever experienced.  It's okay to take it one day or one run at a time and calm down a little.  There's no pressure to "win" every single easy run you go on, whether it is against yourself or the other locals who happen to use Strava (@ the insanely fit older ladies in PC, good grief those guys are titans).  You can take your running career seriously and chase higher mileage and greater fitness, and still enjoy the process and not be a thief of joy who restricts every aspect of their life and crushes every run whether they like it or not.

I tried to run a road 10k and my shoes came untied in the first 800m then my old PC coaches dropped me like a bad habit

With that deeper nonsense out of the way, here's a little bit of what I've been doing with my summer.  As I have for the last three summers, I've been cleaning windows in Park City this year to save money for the school year.  This Friday is actually my last day and I'm hecka excited to have two weeks before camp to hang out and maybe even get around to doing some of my rehab.  I've been slacking severely and justifying by saying that climbing up and down ladders at work is kind of like doing step-ups.  It's not the same thing at all, and someone needs to stage an intervention to make me do weights and core and rehab.  When I haven't been working, I've been running.  I upped my mileage again this year, and am currently happily residing at 80 miles a week.  I say "happily", but it's only fair to share the disclosure that for the first three weeks I was at upped mileage, I was a squinty, cranky basement hag who woke up only long enough to eat, run, and work.  It was a little unpleasant to behold, but I adapted and now I'm back to the simply hangry individual that I was before.  I spent a few weekends running with the SUU kiddos down in Cedar, and can now safely say that while there is something odd and beautiful about running down abandoned roads at one in the morning, I definitely prefer to do my long runs before eleven pm.  And that I really should stick with running because I am garbage at beach volleyball, despite giving it 110%.

My sister and I ran a half and neither one of us wore pants.  It was the best.

My new coaches don't have the team running any workouts until we all get together for camp on the 21st, which has been pretty nice, and they also encouraged us not to race too much, so I've only run a few road races and I have done anything all-out since nationals.  This definitely seems to be a solid strategy, because rather than coming into August already sick to death of tempo runs and mile repeats, I am positively chomping at the bit for some good solid workouts.  I am so overeager to race again, which is a nice change from being petrified to race as I was going into the indoor season. 
ALSO I am over-the-top excited about Utah State.  Guys.  I got added to the GroupMe for the women's distance team at the beginning of the summer which was, of course, a tremendous honor, and I already love my team way too much.  I had the opportunity this last weekend to have a few of my teammates up to the homestead and go for a run in Park City (on one of the trails BTC runs, which I think/hope basically maybe makes me the next Colleen Quigley?  Except I never modeled and I can't run the steeplechase even a little and I'm a little bit in love with her?), and it was, in a word, litty.  I'm way too stoked about the people I will be working with, the meets we will be going to, the gear, the training room, the cute little cows logos we have, so many dang things.  I'm looking forward to this cross country season so much it's borderline obscene.  Great things to come, but in the meantime, I'll try to be patient, continue growing my love for the sport, and enjoy the process.  Also, I'm on the prowl for good running/sports psych/related books, so if you have any recommendations, please slide them into my DMs.

Taking the Next Step

I know I promised that once I had completed my final season with MSU and was officially a Utah State athlete, I would share the complete story behind my transfer back to the Mothership.  This was not a decision that was made easily or taken lightly.  I have many friends at Montana State that I value a great deal, and am going to miss more than I can say.  It was my intention when I signed my NLI to complete my full five years of eligibility here, but sometimes things come up that you can never predict and you have to adapt accordingly.  Rather than address the reasons why I chose to transfer and dwell on the negativity, I would just like to clear up some misconceptions and rumors that are most definitely NOT why I chose to transfer.  If you feel as though this is not enough and would like to know all the nitty gritty details that led up to my leaving Bozeman, feel free to reach out and contact me in a person message.
I didn't choose to leave as a result of any disagreement I had with the coaches.  The individuals I worked with were understanding about my need to move on, and supported me through my final season of competition, even after I informed them of my decision to transfer, nor did I choose to leave because I thought I was superior to the individuals I worked and trained with in any way.  I adore the teammates I had at MSU, and consider them all to be admirable and hardworking women that I was privileged to be around.  I didn't make the decision to leave because of the size of the program, or due to any one injury or setback I experienced while there.  The decision I made came after serious consideration and a great deal of time and experiences in Bozeman.
I am eternally grateful to the friends and teammates at MSU who made the experience I had there a more enjoyable one.  Many of you supported me through this decision, even though it wasn't one that you wished for me, and I cannot state enough how helpful that was.  Those of you who stood by me, even after it became clear that I would be leaving this program, made my last semester with you much better than I ever could have hoped for.
Sometimes, even if it's terrifying, you just have to close your eyes and take the next step forward.

Hayward Magic

Well, I'm currently in the Eugene airport for the next three hours because our connecting flight got cancelled, so I suppose I have no reason to not whip out a quick writeup on the weekend.
One scarcely hears Hayward field mentioned without the word "magic" entering the sentence somewhere.  Having never previously raced there, going into nationals, I was very excited to see if it lived up to the legends.  And folks, it certainly did.
I arrived in Eugene on Tuesday evening with Dale and Lyle, already probably far too hyped up about the whole atmosphere of being here.  The usual travel-ugly troll that takes my place on the first day of travel meets had yet to rear its head, and I was thrilled to even be here.  We had our first opportunity to practice on the track and get out on Pre's Trails.  If you ever have the chance to run those trails, I would definitely recommend it, but I would also recommend bringing a map.  Lyle was my trail guide, and if we're all being honest with each other here, for someone who has been to Eugene for his own trips to nationals and the Olympic Trials so many times, I am not at all convinced he knew where he was going.  Sorry coach, there were just a few moments when you sporadically dipped off and said, "This looks like it goes somewhere!" that I genuinely believed we would never find our way out of the forest.  I was prepared for my fate of living amongst the wolves.  Despite at one point ending up on the wrong side of the fence of a gated community, we did eventually make our way back to Hayward and it was probably the best I've ever felt on a post-flight shakeout.  (It may have made a slight difference that I actually remembered to pack both of my compression sleeves this time.  In Texas, I forgot one of them and ended up with one leg that was comically larger than the other after the flights).
The vast majority of Wednesday after my morning shakeout was spent watching Harry Potter and New Girl in my hotel room, which is the standard pre-race routine.  We did have the chance to watch the men's first day of distance events, and I got to see one of my high school teammates qualify for the finals in the 1500m.  Love you @ Ben.  I also got the news that my friend Courtney and her dad Mark would be making the trip out to watch finals, and that four of my high school teammates were driving out from Park City to watch, so the pressure to perform was on for sure.  Disaster struck Wednesday evening when the store was out of every flavor of Pedialyte other than grape, but I soldiered on and powered through the bottle anyway.

I wish I could accurately capture all of the sensations of Thursday evening.  There was an overwhelming sense of support from my teammates, friends, and coaches, both here and at home.  There was obviously a great deal of excitement to be competing at this legendary track with such a talented field of athletes.  There was immense gratitude to those who helped get me this far.  But more than anything, there was a strange sense of calm.  The meet schedule was behind by about fifteen minutes, so after we were called to the marshaling area, we were released back to the warm-up field for a few more minutes, and I remember looking out past all of the girls who were about to go through this twenty-five lap battle alongside me, seeing the mountains in the distance, and just thinking how happy I was to be here.
The race itself was incredible to experience.  Typically in a 10k, I let myself stay calm and ride the pack for the first 5k.  In this race, I was much more alert and aware of the little changes taking place in the pack, not wanting to lose focus and be caught unaware when people started to break off.  The pace was faster than I have ever maintained over 10k before, but Lyle and I had already discussed this a bit.  Since my fastest race at Mt Sac was so strategic and the first half went out so slowly, we both believed that I had yet to show my true potential in this event.  We came through the first mile, and as I always do four laps into a 10k, I took a deep breath and told myself that I was just fine, I was comfortable and I was still in this race.  Each time a group broke off, I attempted to go with them.  The main pack dropped me, so for the last eight laps, I was in a no-man's land.  I couldn't believe where I was.  I came into this race hoping more than anything to become an All-American, but after the struggles I experienced with my running career over the last two years, I was not anticipating that I would place as well as I did.  I ended up wrapping up my career at MSU with a fourth place finish at nationals and a forty-seven second personal best from my previous at Mt Sac.

I have already started receiving a lot of questions about what changed over the last year-I went from running a 17:05 5k to running two 16:29 5ks in a row.  I made a lot of changes from this time last spring.  The first change was in my training and my mindset towards it.  When I didn't even qualify for regionals last year, I came to the realization that if I wanted to meet my goal of signing a contract after college, I would have to make some changes.  At the end of last spring, I was running fifty miles a week.  This spring, I maintained seventy miles a week consistently, and intend to get up to eighty this summer.  I started taking each run more seriously, and really hammering long runs.  I changed my mindset a great deal to the point that almost every run, rather than just thinking it's just another run, I see it as one more step that can either take me forward towards my goal of becoming an Olympian or backwards away from the fitness I need.  It's all what you choose to make it. 

Another change was in the way I approach my races.  In the past, I have struggled a great deal with my anxiety, especially before races.  I have to make a conscious effort to calm down, but I have finally started to reach a place of calm, peace, and self-assurance when I run.  This race was oddly the most calm I have ever been because I felt I had truly earned the right to be there with my miles of trials and unseen efforts over the last two years.  This performance may seem to some to have come out of nowhere, but it is a moment that I have been working for over many years and trials. 
Every race, I write three words and phrases where I can look to them when my body starts to hurt and tries to encourage my mind to give up.  The first is "calm", finding its place on the back of my hand where it is just a turn of the wrist away, for obvious reasons.  The second things seem to be going south, my silly brain likes to buy a one-way ticket to panic town.  It's always nice to have a quiet reminder that things will be okay no matter what.  The second is, "Not a pretender", marching its way down the side of my index finger where it can point me forward should I ever question whether or not I deserve to be there.  The miles, workouts, and heart that I have put into this sport have transformed me into someone who has earned the right to compete, and doubting that midway through a race has never helped anyone.  The final word is "Tough", always marked on my left wrist where I can see it throughout the race.  Distance races take a tremendous amount of mental effort, and each time I run one, I remind myself that I am tougher than I even know.  After all, if I can finish a medium long run under seven minute pace just an hour after finishing a truly thicc Chipotle burrito, heaven only knows what I'm really capable of. 
So, now that I've competed at my first national meet, I am hungry to come back and continue advancing.  Right now, I am planning on taking the weekend off to reset and allow the shin splints that currently feel like angry badgers have been gnawing my tibias to calm down a bit, then I'm hoping to swan dive back into a sixty-five mile week, building up by five a week until I hit that sweet spot at eighty.  I will also be training back in Park City this summer, so no doubt my lungs are going to hate me more than just about anything for the first two weeks.  Thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated.
   

Texas and Turtlegate

I've been getting hassled lately for being a negligent blogger and not updating frequently enough, so I apologize for that. In my defense, I think a piece of me died over finals week and it's taken me this long to completely recover from the trauma of taking my physiological psychology, anatomy, and physics final exams all on the same afternoon. I drank so much Dr. Pepper that day I think the caffeine may have actually stopped my heart at one point and I was just staying alive out of spite for whoever decided to make higher education a thing.
First and foremost, I just want to let you guys know that hammocking is the best. Holy cats. I don't know how I made it twenty years without ever trying it. (Okay, I guess I technically tried it before now, but it was one of those weird ropey hammocks that looks like a net designed to trap people like me who don't have a lot of street smarts or coordination. It took me ten minutes to get out of, and I was traumatized). When I found out that my season would be extended another two weeks after Texas, I decided to make a point of getting outside more to keep on top of my mental health and avoid morphing into a bedroom-dwelling Netflix goblin. The natural first step after that was to get a hammock and commit to visiting Bozeman Beach with some teammates. Also to go driving and look for bears because I still haven't seen one since moving to Montana, and I desperately want to before I move back to the motherland. As I write this, I am on my third hour of sitting in this hammock, and I have no intentions of leaving ever. It is my home now. 

Since I last posted, life has gotten pretty wild. Both the Big Sky championships and the NCAA west prelims took place, and despite the fact that I was missing the piece of myself that died during finals week, they both went surprisingly well. The week of Big Sky kicked off as any good week does with a sixteen hour bus ride. I am not the type of person who typically travels well. At one point on the trip out to Sacramento, we drove past a gas station and I actually started tearing up because I thought we weren't going to stop for several more hours. Fortunately, my teammates and trainers realize how terrible I am with travel, so they made the trip much easier to get through than I thought it would be. Also, we had a Harry Potter marathon on the bus so I guess you could say I was living my best life. Madi, Diego and I got the opportunity to do our final workout on the host track after dark on Tuesday, and Madi and I tried Run Gum for the first time, which may have been a mistake. Our energy levels are already several times higher than most, so the added caffeine no doubt made us delightful to be with. 
My first event was the 10k on Friday night. Most of us running it were also entered in the 5k Saturday afternoon, so it was much more strategic than fast. I honestly don't remember most of the race beyond turning to my coaches every lap to see if they wanted me to start making moves yet or nah, and one of my teammates yelling solid advice like, "Move your legs!" and "Always chew your food before you swallow!" I ended up taking my first conference win in the 10k, which still feels a little unreal. After several months of frustration and feeling like my training wasn't paying off, it was incredible to have a weekend like that, and I'm beyond grateful to the coaches and teammates who supported me through it all. The 5k was the following afternoon. I was chasing a school record, which would be 16:29, but came just short of that with a win and a conference meet record. It was the most fun I've had racing in a couple years, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to represent MSU there one last time.
Two weeks after Big Sky, several teammates and I got the chance to compete at west preliminaries in Austin, Texas. If you've never been to Austin, just imagine you're in a large sauna with a lot of barbecue and the most incredibly polite people on earth. The food and people there were both great, but the running made me consider switching to shot put. Also, I can never go back because I humiliated myself, my ancestors, my team and my country. We went on a shakeout the day before competition and found an on-campus turtle pond. Naturally, because I always have to be into everything, I had an all-consuming need to touch a turtle, so I poked one on the shell. Then touching was no longer enough and I couldn't leave until I had picked one up. The turtle I accosted definitely did not want to be picked up. It was trying to latch onto the concrete with its little turtle claws, but I wanted it to love me, so I insisted on holding it anyway. After successfully getting it off the ground and Lion King-ing it up into the air, I felt a single turtle claw reach out and gently graze the back of my hand. Folks, I was not ready for or expecting that, so naturally I screamed like a monster and hurled the turtle like a discus. Fortunately it landed safely in the pond, but I don't think I have ever embarrassed my coach that much. He immediately said we had to get out of there. I'm 90% sure an elderly Asian man captured the whole incident on his phone, and I just pray that video never sees the light of day. 
Between the turtles and the bottle of Pedialyte I consumed pre-race, there was some kind of magic in Texas because despite the fact that it was 85 degrees and one million percent humidity at the time of the 10k, I managed to place eighth and qualify for nationals in Eugene. It was probably the happiest and sweatiest moment of my life. Mostly because I'm stoked to try Voodoo Donuts in Oregon, but also because running is cool I guess. If anybody has good dessert recommendations around Eugene, hit me up for real.