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.