Team Spirit

Being on a team has taught me many things.  Before I joined cross country I had never really been a part of a team atmosphere.  Yes, when I did dance there were other people in the class, but that's different.  We only met a couple times a week and didn't compete or have the same bond.  I don't know, it's difficult to explain.  Joining a team made me nervous though.  I had a desire to be accepted, make friends, and belong, but what if those things didn't happen?

In the summertime it was different.  Although we did train as a team, it didn't really feel like we were all a team yet.  The older girls would run together and the freshman would run together.  That's just how it was.  It took awhile for me to connect with the other girls.  I had become friends with some of the older girls, but not the majority of them.  When we went away to camp I became closer with a few of them, but I still felt kinda isolated.

Eventually, I was able to keep up with them on easy days and I became friends with them.  I learned so much from being a part of the team, things that I could not have learned any other way.  At the end of the day, we were a family.  Each on of us was there to support the other people, regardless of who they were or what they needed.

One way that we were all solidified together as a team was through our buddies.  Each underclassman was assigned an upperclassman buddy on the team.  This helped to bridge the gaps between the different ages and grades.  My buddy was Haley, a junior who was also on the Varsity team.  Haley and I quickly became friends.  She always knew what to say to me when I was feeling down or didn't have the best race or workout.  I could comfort her when things weren't going well, too.  She was my person on the team that I knew would always be there for me.

Julia, me, and Lauren.  Aren't we a happy bunch?  Photo Courtesy of: Savannah N.

That's Right, I'm Buff

It's over.  I don't mean life, I am not that dramatic of a person.  I mean the cross country season.  The State championship race was several weeks ago in October and we all took a week off after that race.  All of the team had become so close over the last three months, it'll be weird not seeing everybody every day.  Luckily for me, there are post-season meets!  Woo, let winter training begin...

When the Varsity girls were literally squad goals.  Photo Courtesy of: Me :)

Anyway, I made so many wonderful memories with the cross country team this season that I get all happy inside just thinking about them.  Sometimes I will be with the team and I'll think of something that someone did and I just start smiling.  Don't worry, not in a creepy way.

Woo Region

Well, I had my last race today.  The season went by extremely fast and I have made a lot of new friends, found something I am passionate about, and I have had a lot of fun.

Me and Haley before our last race. Photo Courtesy of: Claire Breiholz

Today we were back at Cottonwood.  This course I have mentioned multiple times if you've been paying attention.  I took the previous race off for reasons I have also previously mentioned, so this was my first race since Bob Firman.  The last race that the team went to was our very own Park City Invite.  All the girls rocked it at this race.  The people I run with in workouts and at practice ran two minutes faster than the previous race and some girls cut off even more time.  It was awesome...but I was scared because I did not know if I could run that fast and I didn't want to be behind that many people.

Boise, Here We Come! (Part One)

I had one main goal for my first cross country season.  That goal was to race at Bob Firman in Boise, Idaho.  Every year, the coaches take the top fourteen runners from the girls team to this race.  All the girls look forward to it because we get to take a Le Bus, stay in a hotel, and basically have a lot of fun.  It was a no-brainer that I would want to go.

After my first race, this goal seamed feasible.  However, as I mentioned before, my calf got a little messed up throughout the season so I had some not so good races.  Luckily, the coaches also look at the whole season, not just the last race when picking the teams.  We had two races before Boise, Cottonwood and Murray.  Yes, the Cottonwood race is the race where I barfed, but also happened to run a PR.  The Murray race was difficult and I ran my second slowest time of the season at it.  After the Murray race I started to freak out and cry because I wanted to go to Boise THAT BAD.  My teammates all assured me that I would still get to go, but what do they know.

Flyer for Bob Firman! 
Photo Courtesy of: RunnerSpace

Fast-forward to the next week.  One of the girls that I run with comes out of our coach's classroom and says, "Guess what guys, there is the list of who's going to Bob Firman on Steve's desk."

That's Just Grody

Embarrassing things happen to the best of us.  I learned this lesson the hard way at one of my cross country races recently.  However, I also learned that it is only as bad as you make it seem, so it's easiest to get over something that happened quickly because then no one makes a big deal of it.

A few weeks after school started, my cross country team had a race in Cottonwood.  This race is on the same course as the Region race which is at the end of season.  I was excited to get a look at the course and see how fast I could race because I had just taken time off for a calf injury.  The freshman and sophomore race for girls was first, so as soon as I got my shoes on I had to go warm up.  My calf felt better than it had the previous week, so I started to get more excited.  As we lined up for the start, there were not very many girls so I got even more pumped.  For you non-runners, it can be good and bad when there are a lot of people in a race.  I like it when there are less girls because I place better, and you don't get cut off as much.

Bang!

The gun goes off and the runners follow suit.  The course had rolling hills throughout so it wasn't long before me and my teammate (who was running beside me) crested the first hill.  I felt pretty good!  After the first mile I picked up speed and after the second mile I left my teammate.  I came up on another girl who was struggling and then there was this hella steep hill.  I climbed it at a decent pace and regained my speed on the flat stretch.  At this point I was all alone, no one was too close in front of me or behind me.

My sister running in California on a path much like some of our race courses.
Photo courtesy of: me

That's when I started to feel it.  A feeling runners know all too well.  The rising of something in your throat.