On Friday I checked out of school to leave for an overnight cross-country meet in Charlotte, NC. It was a trip for top 25 and I'm number 26 so I was lucky when one girl was not able to go, therefor allowing me to take her place. I was really nervous because this was a varsity meet and the girls on my team all ran a pace at about 2 minute pace faster than me. When we ran the course the day before the race I was having a bit of a tough time after all the girls had assured me that it was really an easy course. The next day (Saturday) we ran at 12:15 pm. EVERYBODY was expecting to get their personal record, including me, but I expected to get a 22:45 at best. The ground we ran on was extremely dry and gravelly and the weather was over 80 degrees. We went out and I was passing all these really good girls on my team and I was getting afraid that I would not be able to keep it up.
My first mile was a 6:48 pace and the night before coach told me my first mile should be a 7:30. Of course I slowed down but not drastically, actually I kept it in relatively the low 7's (minutes) I wound up getting a 21:38 (that's a guess) 22:20. Only 3 girls on my team improved on their times and I came in 4th 12th (for my team) in the open race.
So I will now be in the top 20 (varsity) for this season and I am extremely ecstatic about it! And as for the girl who's place I took, I ran faster than she has and I think I may have just accidentally pushed her out of the top 20...
