The last competition of our cross country season was coming up - the NCAA South Regional Championships.
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To briefly explain the competition system in America:
There are normal cross country races, invitationals, etc. - Everyone can compete anywhere they want.
The universities in the USA are divided into different "Conferences". At the end of the season, we have the Conference Championships. We had these last week in Charlotte. We competed against the teams that are in our conference (14 universities).
In addition, the USA is divided regionally into 9 groups. We are in the "South Region". After the Conference Champs, we have regionals. There we compete against the universities in the South Region (40 universities). At regionals, the top 2 teams in each region plus the top 4 in individual rankings can qualify, as long as you don't belong to a qualifying team. // this is my goal for next year :)).
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I was definitely looking forward to regionals. I was getting fitter and wanted to try new approaches again. Further, it should be a good course!!!
Wednesday 11/10/2021
Hallelujah - I was already feeling my nerves; from 3 am I was awake in bed ;). In the morning I did a little workout before heading on the long travel (10h) to Huntsville, Alabama. (bus - flight - van). On top of that one-hour time difference and we found our night's rest late :D. Luckily the trip went quite smoothly and without any problems :)
Thursday 11/11/2021
Rain was predicted for the day, so we left quite early for the course check. The rest of the day we could relax and do homework - I was happy about that because I was very exhausted from yesterday!
I was curious how the rain would affect the grass course.
In the evening, we ate dinner together again, and the day was already over :)
Friday 11/12/2021
Race day!! The start was already at 08:30 am- So my breakfast was on the plan accordingly early. A look at the weather app showed a cool 6 degrees. Ulala! The good thing; the rain stopped, and sunshine was predicted, plus less wind!
When we arrived at the race venue it was still foggy, the sun slowly came out, and the atmosphere was really beautiful. A dream. Autumn feeling.
Our warm-up program was a bit longer than usual. It took time to warm up.
The course, or rather the park in which the course is located, was created especially for cross country running - so crazy. I'm not a fan of pure grass courses, but this one was nice to run.
The starting straight alone was impressive - it went straight for almost 800m. The rest was mostly flat, a bit rolling hilly, but always wide. For me, a typical American cross country race.
The starting signal was given promptly at 08:30 am. There were almost 300 girls at the start, and the silence just before the start gave me goosebumps.
My start was good. My goal was to stay relaxed, not panic and find my footing - I succeeded. I quickly made my way to the side so I wouldn't get any claustrophobia :D.
Also quickly became clear that the grass is still wet and the course partly very muddy - I found it cool and rather positive :D.
KM 1, 2, yei - it's fun. Just the positive thoughts and roll with the field.
I don't know when it started for me, it happened rather unconsciously. My body was getting worse step by step. I didn't notice much of the race anymore. - I felt like I was in a trance. My coach called me sleepwalking. I don't remember how I got to the finish. Apparently, I just staggered to the finish, and our coach took care of me right away. She almost had to carry me off. No more functions, roughly speaking. After a while, I felt better; it was still no fun and kind of scary.
I can't explain the lapse yet, but I think the previous days play a big role in it.
Every competition can't always be top. I'm just sad not to have helped the team as much as I would have liked!
Congratulations to my girls. You have still finished the season great.
After another long day, I was in bed at 11 pm in my small dorm room.
Now the focus is on recovery and getting healthy again! I have a little off-season coming up before I start preparing for the indoor season.
But before that, I have some fun events planned for December. :)
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