XC RACE REPORT: THE REAL THING

"There is a moment in every race. A moment where you can either quit, fold, or say to yourself "I can do this." ~Gatorade Ad

I have always wondered what it would be like to accomplish what I did today. I have thought about how it would happen, where it would happen, and when it would happen. I have thought about what it would feel like when I finally did it. What I now know is this, the real thing is way better than anything my imagination could come up with.

When I wake up on race days, I evalute how my legs feel before I even get out of bed. They happened to feel good on this particular Thursday. And when I saw that scattered showers were in the forcast, they felt even better. It seemed like everyone was helping me get ready to run fast at my meet however. We had tortellini at lunch as it continued to be a lovely day of rain and clouds outside. They played my songs on the radio and Fabian Cancellara flew to the world time trial championships win. Even as the sun came out outside, it remained cool. All these events just accumulated to my feeling of 'I can do this'.

Today's meet was on our home course. The course that I have ran so many practices and meets at. The course that holds so many memories. But I wanted to add another memory. I wanted to break 16. I came close two weeks ago but I wanted the full accomplishment this time. Last week, I almost didn't want to break 16 because I wanted it to happen here. At home. It would mean so much more if I could finally break 16 and have it happen at my home course. Not because of who would be there, it's not like more people really come and watch us. I just wanted it to happen on my course.

I arrived at 4:15 for our 5:20 race. The JV/fresh soph race was combined, making our start time earlier. We were also allowed to run 10 on varsity, because only 8 teams were at the meet. This meant JS could have another chance to run varsity, even though she was our 8th fastest. This was such a weird coincidence that we agreed it was meant to be.

We ran the first part of the course as our warmup, doing a combination of walking and running. My legs were feeling pretty good, but I wasn't sure if that was just the adrenaline. More importantly, I was looking forward to the race. Positive feelings affect my running more than you might think. It was during our warmup however, that we noticed something was missing. Something important. Portapotties. There is only a couple of things that are needed for an xc meet: a field/golf course/park, white spray painted lines, a golf cart/atv/other vehicle to lead the runners, and portapotties. This meant that all the runners would have to use two different park bathrooms. One of them had only a half wall separating the toilets that faced the door, and the other had actually stalls but without the doors. Obviously, more male designed bathrooms.

Once we had gone on our bathroom adventure, we returned to camp and began stretching. I was stretching my calves against a tree when my coach came up to me to give me my number. He told me he had a surprise for me and pulled out the number one. I was going to wear number one. This was so incredibly cool. AK got thto wear 7, the second best number. I figured I had better honor my number in some way though because it might just give me an extra bit of luck.

It was sunny and kind of warm as we stood on the starting line. We were in an outside box (again) and I was on the edge. One of my teammates offered to trade with me so I wouldn't have to cut in as much, but I declined her offer. Number one should start at the beginning of the line afterall. And so the race began.

My coach had told us to start out a little slower so I wasn't concerned about being towards the front in the beginning. The girl that I ran with before was way ahead of me but I was just moving up slowly. We can all run the first mile afterall but it's the last 1.5 where you have to hang on. In spite of this, I ran my first 800 in 2:57. I then held myself back a little as we ran through the crowds along the trees. As we ran the first two loops, I did not fall. This was especially good because people were lined up on both sides to watch. Even though there were fewer teams here, it seemed like there was even more people. There was even a guy with some sort of drum or bell that was very loud but wasn't very appreciated. We left him behind however when we crossed the bridge and ran up the hill in the TdF style crowd. Throughout the first mile though, I just kept repeating to myself, sixteen, sixteen.

My first mile was done in about 6:10. I didn't start out that much slower but my legs still felt good. I was determined to make the second mile better than it had been two weeks ago. I was going to remember my goal every step. Sixteen, sixteen. Or rather, under sixteen.

The second mile was ran near the girl I have been running with. Instead of being content to run behind her, I focused on moving up past her. I was doing this when I passed a group of girls from another school. They were cheering for someone else when one of them noticed my number. Because there were no other people around, besides those racing around me, I could clearly hear them as they yelled "Look she's number one. Oh cool, she's number one. Go number one! Gooo number one!" I don't know who these people were or what school they were from, but I greatly appreciated their cheering. It made me feel just a little bit more special and helped me run even faster.

I ran back over the bridge and was past the crowds when I could hear my coach yelling from a distance. He wasn't yelling advice, just my name and telling my I was doing a great job. Just something like "Come on, come on, you're doing great. Atta kid". This, combined with the fact that I was going to everything I could to beat 16, made me pass the girl that I had been running with. I have ran behind her, next to her, and slightly ahead of her, but this time, I just left her behind. I concentrated on the group that was about ten or fifteen seconds ahead of me. I had to get under sixteen minutes.

I ran up a short steep corner hill and a long, flat, slightly downhill part before I reached the two mile mark. At 12:59. I don't think I have ever reached that point so fast before. But that's not what I was thinking. I was thinking about how I would have to run my last 800 about as fast as my first 800 to beat sixteen. This seemed almost impossible. I wasn't sure if I could do it. But then I thought to myself, I'm already two miles in and I'm going to have to do it sometime. And I wanted it. I wanted to beat sixteen so badly. So I was going to do everything possible to make it to the line in under sixteen minutes. I was going to do everything I could.

I took off after the two mile marker. I didn't think about how long I had to go, or how fast I had to go. I just thought about breaking sixteen. I was sprinting with all I had left when the girl I had been running with during the rest of the race caught up to me. We were about 600m before the line and sprinting with everthing we had. But it was then I realized that we weren't really racing each other. I actually didn't really care if she beat me, as long as I beat the clock. And because this was the 16:00.07 girl, I have to say that she might've felt the same way.

I was slightly ahead of her when we entered the finishing loop. Some guy cheered for me and then told me that I was in 8th place. As I heard the cheering for the winners, I realized that I was going to have my first top ten finish in a varsity cross country race. But I really didn't care about that. I cared about my time. Sixteen, sixteen.

I entered the finishing straight with one lone girl ahead of me. I did not think about beating her when I passed her. I thought about the clock. And how much I wanted it. So when my legs screamed at me to stop and my tired body told me to slow down, I just told myself that it was only for a little bit longer. And I reminded myself what this meant to me, how long I had worked towards breaking that barrier. When my dad shouted out "15:29, you have to go faster" or something like that, I went faster. I wasn't sure where the people were behind me. I wasn't sure if I would make it. But I gave everything. Absolutely everything. And I crossed the finish line to see those beautiful numbers on my watch. 15:54. As in fifteen minutes. As in, I had just broken sixteen minutes. I looked down at my watch a couple of seconds later to make sure that I hadn't seen it wrong. I didn't want it to be really close to sixteen, where my official time could be different and over sixteen. But when I looked down at my watch again, it said 15:57. I had done it. I broke sixteen.

I had a huge smile on my face as I marched through the chute and tore the tag of my number one. I wanted to scream and shout and tell everyone what I had just done. Instead, I kept on smiling. The winner of the race, whose name is spoken with admiration on our team, congratulated me. I stayed and congratulated my own teammates as they came out of the chute. I told JS about what I had just done and she gave me a high five. My coach came over to me and told me that I looked strong, relaxed, and in control during my race. He then asked what my time was and I told him it was under sixteen minutes. And then I walked back to camp with a smile on my face.

"I think I did it" was what I said to my parents when I walked towards them. They knew what I had been trying to do. My teammates all congratulated me afterwards. I then changed into my shoes and went with AK to do my cooldown. We only ran and walked about a mile. My legs felt like they could keep going though and I was going pretty fast. I was so excited, I wanted to keep on running.

There was popsicles waiting for us at camp when we got back. I waited to have one until my coach came over to me and told me my official time. 15:55. Fifteen minutes and fifty five seconds. A lot of fives but no sixes. I had officially broken sixteen minutes. And in the process of doing so, I took 7th place overall and received a ribbon. My team had taken fourth, finally beating the rich, parochial kids with the nice cars (as my coach called them) from down the street.

I wanted to break sixteen minutes. I wanted it so much, that I ran the last 800 faster than the first 800. When I looked down at my watch, to see 15:54, it was worth it. And that is why I run those long miles in the summer and winter. For that feeling. That feeling of accomplishment, achievement, and happiness. Knowing that I did it. Knowing that I had finally broke sixteen.