Ok this is my first blog, just trying it out. So without further ado. Here we go.

End of the Cross-Country Season for Me...

The IHSA State Meet was really hard for me. We started on the far outside of the field so we were already behind going into the first turn. Our first 800 was at 2:25, and we came across the mile at 4:58. In the 2nd mile, it is our time to make moves, but when my two teammates went I couldn't move, only passing a few people. Going down the back stretch of the triangle I was having a harder time breathing than usual, and at the 1.5 mark (7:30) I had a huge cramp in my upper right ab. I came across the 2 mile at 10:10. Thats a 2:40 800 or 5:20 pace. Behind the finish line area, one of my teammates came back to me struggling with a calf injury. My last mile was a dismal 5:29, putting me in 57th place (20 farther back from last year) and a time of 15:39. Our constant #5 runner passed me in the last 100 making him our #3, me our #4, and our usual 3rd runner #5. Needless to say we didn't have our best race. We had two all-staters, Ryan Rutherford (14:58) and Alex Parlette (15:07). It was painful to see all of the all-staters lined up, because I have beaten many of them. What was nearly as painful was to find out we tied for 3rd place. We really placed 4th but the IHSA decided to give us both medals. It was nice to take something home, but also, I think Aurora deserved the right to take it all home.

After state, my legs did not feel ok, they were pretty beaten up so I took the next week to just bike and swim. Then on Sunday I ran the Jingle Bell Run for Athritus at Heartland Community College. At the mile I was in 2nd behind Alex Parlette, who was out in 4:52. I was out in 4:55. We ended up going 1-2, keeping the U-High winning tradition alive. I was 16:56, and he was in the 16:40s.

My coach said that I had to take 2 weeks off of running to let my legs recover. The first week I couldn't do any cardio, and the 2nd I could bike and swim. We are in the 2nd week right now. I ran a local Turkey Trot yesterday, with my coaches permission. I couldn't race it, so I ran it just for fun. I finished in 19:39. I'll begin running again Monday.

Divison I Nationals

On Monday, my mom and I drove down to Terre Haute, Indiana to see Divison I Nationals. It was great to see races, then meet the people running in then. It was unheard-of windy so the stradagies were interesting to watch. Sam Chalanga won, Oklahoma State won as a team. After the race I was able to meet Meb, Chris Derrick, Sam Chalanga, and my friend Andrew Poore of Indiana. They're attitudes were great to see and incredibly inspiring, especially considering how my last weeks have been going.

That's about it. Until next time.