Notes
Good first race. Obviously not happy with the time, but if you compare that all cross country season you'll never be happy. I had a terrible start of the line, while not unusual really hurt me in this race. I have gotten so used to 5k/ 10k track start lines and those are very friendly. It's easy to start at the back and then move to the position you want whenever the mood strikes. So in this race, the gun goes off and I'm in a terrible spot. I wasn't too concerned at first but then we got to the gravel road and I realized how narrow the course was going to be and I wasn't in the mood for crowd weaving and trying to sneak by groups. At about 800m in I could see Maddie about 2 layers of people in front of me and I just wanted to catch up to her so I could run with her. It took me basically the whole extremely narrow woods section to do so. I had forgotten how mentally tough it is to find gaps in groups and openings in courses to get around people. Then I was with Maddie and we got to a gravel up hill. For a while we took turns leading and pushing the pace. I saw Jaime and 2 Steven's girls up ahead and I could tell the one directly in front of me was slowing down and wanted to catch her. Once I finally passed her we entered a really windy, woods section with LOTS of roots and divets in the grass. The Steven's girl and I went back and forth for the rest of the run with her beating me out in the last 300m or so.
In summary, it wasn't my favorite course, the footing was so tough! I need to get better at going out faster because I doubt I'll "die" going out a little too fast in a 5k/6k and being in a good spot really would improve the rest of my race. Gotta work on the competitive spirit since I'm pretty bummed I just let that girl go, should have raced her more. Good first race! Had a lot left at the end, just due to how silly I ran the race. Looking forward to an awesome season :)