So, today was our first big meet of the season! I was so excited and nervous that entire day, but it didn't help much because it was the first day of school. I didn't get much of a chance to hidrate that day, which I think wasn't smart. We did all sorts of stretches and warm ups before we ran. Fifteen minutes before it started, we did about a .8 mile warm up. I was wearing my flats when we did the warm up. I got really nervous when we were beginning to line up because I had no idea how to sprint at the beginning. The girls were awesome by encouraging me and telling what to and not to do. We started out after the gunshot and I felt as if I couldn't go very fast because there were so many people, but the gun went off a second time and I looked back and everybody behind me was stopping, but somebody yelled to keep going and I was so confused. It was a false start because somebody fell and we walked back to the start line. That got my nerves out so much and I was very far back and I was kind of happy that it was a false start.
When we started out again, I think I was further up than last time. Many girls were shoving and every time I touched somebody I said 'sorry' because I felt so bad and didn't want to shove anybody. After that first sprint I couldn't pass anybody because it was so crowded, but they were going too slow! At one point it was half road and half grass and once I got on the road it was hard to get back onto the grass. A little after that it was a straight run and I passed what felt like 25 people because I went further to the side on the path. Then, we went down the hill and I just let my legs go which I was going a little too fast to turn, but I made it. I heard so many people yelling my name, but I didn't recognize them because there must have been another Claire running the race. There is a little hill that's really steep after that and I just booked it up because I felt so good. After that was mile one which was a little under 6:30. For me that was pretty fast. The rest of it wasn't as specific, but my next mile I passed quite a few people and it was about 6:45, I think. I could see a bunch of girls on my team were around me, but we were going back and forth with being next to eachother. That last mile was really tough. A little after I passed the two mile point, I tried to swallow, but I could'nt! There was a little dry spot in the back of my throat that kind of burned. That last time we went around the lake it was really tough and a bunch of people passed me. When we crossed the bridge and went around that last bend, I could'nt sprint! I tried to, but it didn't work out very well, and the last stetch a couple people passed me.
While we were in line all the girls in our team were hugging eachother and that is one reason I love our team. I was so tired. There wasn't any water and I was freaking out because that was all I wanted was water. Finally, we all walked back to our hang out area where we had water and I was feeling much better. I was really happy with my race, but Conner was telling me I needed to think about what I had done wrong and I think I really needed to highdrate. I was still happy and I felt good about it.
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