Time for an Update

Game face! Start of the race

Hey fellow bloggers and readers! First of all, I want to say sorry for the negligence on my behalf to post as often as I should be. I have been extremely busy between training, racing, essays, and exams! I promise to post more often, even if it is just a small post here and there.

I didn't update everyone on my race at the Pomona Pitzer Invitational on October 2nd so I will recap. I placed 26th individually out of 171 girls and as a team, we got 9th place out of 12 teams. I ran a 23:29 and was satisfied with my performance because it is my season pr thus far. From the minute I woke up that day, I knew that I felt great and was ready to run fast. I felt strong and definitely feel like I am ready to challenge myself to go sub 23 in the next couple of races. The most challenging part of the race was the first mile because it narrowed quickly and with so many girls, it turned nasty with girls trying to push and shove to get a good position. I got boxed in for the first mile so it was a little slower than I would have liked, but I made up ground during the middle miles. I was disappointed by my finish, as I got passed up within the last few seconds by at least 3 girls. I know that I need to work on my final kick and since the race, I have really been focusing on keeping a positive attitude during our speed workouts and strides. Overall, I was satisfied, although I know that I still have a lot of work to do before the end of the season.

We have our first SCIAC Multi-Dual this weekend which I am looking forward to because it gives me the opportunity to see how I stack up against other runners in my conferences, in addition to giving the team a good look at where we are currently and where we want to be by the end of the season. I am hesitant going into the race though because I have been a medical disaster these past couple of weeks. I set a new personal record last week and made it to urgent care twice for different reasons. My first visit was last Wednesday for a smashed thumb. On Tuesday night, my teammate Michael and I were making a trip to Target when I slammed my thumb completely in his car door. I thought my thumb was broken because it was throbbing all Tuesday night, which resulted in my 1 hour of sleep which I can tell you is not fun to run off of the next morning! My mom took me to urgent care the next day and luckily, it is not broken, just badly bruised. The second trip to urgent care was last Friday due to abdominal issues and pain in my left side. I had to have an ultrasound and blood tests done over the weekend and will get a few more tests done this Friday, although they think part of my pain might be a kidney or bladder infection. I hope that I can tough out the pain this weekend; I might not run a pr this weekend but I can guarantee that I will give it everything I have!

Thank you all for being patient with me! I promise to blog more often.