Disappointment

We are constantly preparing for everything we do: school, personal lives, running, work, a musical solo, the list goes on. They say that practice makes perfect. While it definitely does make whatever we're doing easier, it definitely does not guarantee that everything goes right, according to plan or even produces an acceptable result. In light of these defeats, it is so important to consider what went wrong and what went right.

Last week, my club team and I went to the NIRCA Cross Country National Championships. The biggest cross country race of the year for club sports with over 1000 runners total and plenty of quality runners. In the weeks leading up to the race, I fell into a habit of running strong early in the week, only to be overwhelmed by school, work and trying to maintain a group of close friends during the end of the week. My long runs turned into non-existent runs, and my Thursday speed workouts turned into nap time. Looking back, I was thoroughly under prepared for Nationals. Perhaps the only thing that remotely helped me was the rowing class, I had started going to on Fridays.

During the actual race itself, I started strong and felt that I was very consistent pulling through the 5k mark in just over 18 minutes (I'm by no means fast, but I do like to think of myself as not slow). However, the last 3k resulted in a screeching halt as I got progressively slower, eventually walking, feeling sick to the stomach, with cramped abdominal muscles. For the first time in over a year and a half, I walked during a race. While, I ended up running a personal best in the 8k, I can positively say that it was a terrible race for me.

This entire season (summer and fall) has been a a rocky one for me. I set a personal record in both the 5k (early during my marathon training) and a personal record in the 8k. At the same time, I have been plagued by injury (late pull-out of the Columbus) and disappointing races. However, just like in life, the only thing you can do from the highs and lows is to take the lesson out of the journey and try not to make the same mistake again.

Originally posted here.