If you would have asked me 10 years ago, at the last XC race of my collegiate career as a Bucknell Bison, if I’d still be wearing orange bunhuggers in sub-30 degree temperatures running on grass fields in 5 ounce shoes with metal spikes on my feet, I would have said “where do I sign up?”
I traveled with Central Park Track Club New Balance to the USATF Club National Cross Country Championships last weekend to Spokane, Washington. The national meet has brought me to places I never would have otherwise traveled. I’ve visited Charlotte, Bend, Seattle, San Francisco, and Lexington (twice). You’d think a race in a small city in the Pacific Northwest would have had lower participation, but it saw the likes of the top professional and sub-elite runners from Brooks Hansons, the Bower man Track Club, and Idaho Distance Project to name a few.
It was my 7th(!) National XC Club Championship, and it was also the flattest and windiest. I had a run-intensive (swimming and cycling each just once a week) 10 week buildup to the race to get used to 5:30-5:40 pace again after six months of running 6:30-6:40 half ironman pace. The race was 6K, which is just over 20 minutes of hard running.
The next oldest woman on our team was more than five years my junior, making me self-designated “team mom.” I took the title seriously, however, and made little goodie bags for my teammates and Coach Devon!
We stayed in a huge house in the woods and woke up to thick frost on the ground on race morning. The forecast called for 25 degrees and 0 – yes, zero! – mile per hour winds! I contemplated all morning whether I’d wear long tights or bun huggers, but I was very warm in tights so I went with buns (and vaseline!).
Brianna, Manon, and I were instructed to run together and take the first mile out I 5:35-5:40. We charged off the start line and across the open field, the hollow sound of our footsteps echoing as we ran on dry ground. With some congestion and turns, I was 3-4 seconds back from Brianna at the first mile mark in 5:41.
At the end of my second mile, I caught up to Brianna and pointed to the empty spot right next to me, the universal running gesture to “run right here next to me.” My second mile was a 5:38, which I attribute to maintaining pace with less congestion on the course. I could feel Brianna a few steps behind me and kept pushing to maintain pace.
Mile 3 was a 5:50, but I was too busy trying to get a clean breath amongst the snot and drool leaking out my nose and mouth to look at my watch. My face was frozen, which made it impossible to tell if I was wiping anything away at all. All I focused on was maintaining my pace and accelerating after every turn.
The entire last .75 (.85 with the turns!) miles was only a little faster than the third mile. With 80 yards to go, I whipped around the final turn and into the final straightaway. I usually keep a calm, relaxed face that makes me look borderline apathetic, but not then. I asked for more from my legs, and my face showed it. Brianna passed me with just 20 yards to go, but I was already sprinting. My only goal was to keep my feet under me until I crossed the finish line.
I crossed the finish line in 21:47, for 5:47 average pace. However, with the turns that added some extra distance, my average pace was 5:42, which is a 6K pace PR!
I’m thrilled I was able to get into run-specific shape and do it with a fun group of girls who push my to be my best. We put in many mile repeats on Tuesday nights on the track, tempo workouts in Central Park, and sacrifice work (and for some, studying!) to meet up and sweat together on the weekend. Triathlon can be a solitary endeavor, but Cross Country isn’t – at least not for CPTC! As I always say, Triathlon has stolen my body and my mind, but Cross Country will always have my heart.
