Notes
Lamb-Kohawk meet and Coe. I've run this the last few years and really enjoy the course. It is also very convenient. The weather was perfect for this race. Cool temperature but the sun was out and there was hardly any wind. After last weeks race I was pretty confident I would be able to run at the front of this race. So I headed out a few meters behind the leaders for the first mile (5:10), and then I sat on a Grinnell runner for the next two miles (both were about 5:20). During those two miles I debated running off the front but thought it sounded like a long way to go on my own. I was feeling really comfortable though so I decided to wait until 3 miles and then go. Right after the 3 mile mark I made a move, and it may have been too big of a move. I felt some back tightness come in right away but was able to sort it out the next half mile and get into a groove for the rest of the race. I dropped Grinnell runner pretty quickly and could tell I was basically just running for time the last mile. I tried to stay after it but my legs were definitely burning and I just didn't have the same motivation as last week. So I finished strong in 26:07 which actually ties my college PR (not counting BV junior year), which I feel pretty good about based off of my recent training. I probably could have done a more even effort through that race and run sub 26 but I'm happy with my strategy. Corso was also timing the meet so it was nice to catch up with him for a little bit.
I was debating going to La Crosse to race next weekend but I'm not sure it would be worth the trip at this point. I'm feeling pretty tired training and I'm not sure I will be able to improve for a 3rd weekend in a row. I always like that course but I think I will wait and hopefully be back to peak training for it next year.
Overall, I'm really happy with this cross country season. I'm not close to my 2012 fitness but this might be my second best cross country season ever as a whole. I shocked myself with a solid time last week and was able to turn that into confidence this week. Racing is just a lot of fun.