Notes
All American. I got out well with Nutmeg to an interesting lead. I felt good enough though and was hoping sub 21 was possible so I didn't question the pace much. The downhill was kind of hard on me and in retrospect I wish I would have taken it a little easier. We crossed the mile in 5:12 which seemed fine but then Rebel took over the pace and it just seemed a hair faster than I could comfortably do. I struggled to stay with Rebel and the Hamline runner on the river loop and finally had to let them go in fear of not finishing the race if I kept digging myself into a hole. Most of my problem seemed to be my back. I'm not sure if that is from lack of cardio or just not enough running. I still got through the 2 mile in ~10:35 and shortly after the top pack of 4 Luther guys rolled up on me. I tried to hop on them for a bit but it just wasn't happening at this point. Blisters came in early again this year and I'm not sure why. My new spikes with socks didn't give me any problems last cross country season. The blisters hurt through the prairie and I was ready to just start sliding back through the field. Then Swagger and another Hamline guy came up on me and I got my competitiveness back. It was hard the rest of the way (as a race should be), but I'm glad I was able to start fighting here instead of throwing in the towel. I was pretty sure if I could just get to the hill I could some energy to finish so I worked with Swagger to chase the Luther pack. On the climb Swagger and I both attacked it pretty well and on the downhill I stopped noticing him beside. I kept picking it up through the end and finished right behind the Luther guys (clearly using much more energy than them). 6th place and 21:12 isn't too bad considering my training but I'm honestly a little disappointed in it. I really thought based on my other two races I could run under 21 minutes but cross country is a bit of a different animal. I still feel like I have better fitness than I showed on this day but that is what more races are for. I didn't have any foot pain so hopefully I can continue to get healthier and be ready for track.