Blog #4: Same place, a different weekend

By Brenna Cohoon

I feel like our season had truly started to roll after Saturday’s race at Detweiller Park.  In the past, I always felt like cross country had started for real once we competed at the First to the Finish Invitational.  Just a week later than in prior years racing at the Peoria Notre Dame Richard Spring Invitational served the same purpose.

Don’t get me wrong, my first two races and countless workouts this fall have been incredibly important parts of my season. 

I just get chills every time our bus pulls up to Detweiller, being reminded of the history that has already been made there, as well as what is waiting to be made.  My goals for the end of the season get reinforced by simply seeing the back triangle flagged off or the finish chute ready for action.

It’s a special place to say the least. Even after some pretty steady rainfall, the course was still in great condition. We really lucked out with the weather during race time, which was fairly ideal for this time of year: overcast, moderate temperatures, but a little humid.

I got a good feeling for the trajectory of the entire day after watching my teammates’ phenomenal performances in the first race of the day.  PRs were run and medals were earned.  The most exciting part of their race, though, was how well each girl moved up, improving upon their places in the last half of the race.

Shortly after the conclusion of the Frosh/Soph race came the Varsity race.  I took some deep breaths to shake out the butterflies in my stomach. 

This was the most nervous I had felt in a while.

It may have been the fact that I was about to race against some of the best runners in the state and one of the best teams from California.  It could have been due to my high expectations of myself.  Whatever the cause, I knew that I just needed to channel that energy into even more excitement so I could let the adrenaline take over.

The first two miles of the race seemed a bit uncharacteristic of my preferred strategy.  I always try my best to have a solid start, make moves in the second mile, and let my legs carry me as fast as I can go in the last mile.  Things just weren’t clicking right away, though.

Honestly, I think it was due to the fact that I didn’t start smiling right away.  I didn’t immediately establish that connection with my brain that I love to run and truly enjoy the pain it brings.  I raced a bit too tense and didn’t trust my own process.

Things changed in that last mile.

I smiled.  I focused on running with strong form.  I kept my eyes up, trying to pass as many girls as possible.

My 10th place finish in 17:30 was not exactly what I wanted.  I was hoping to absolutely blow things out of the water, but last Saturday just didn’t end up being that day.  I have accepted the fact that my race didn’t live up to my expectations, and that was all because of the games I was playing in my head.  I have learned more about myself as a runner and feel more aware of how I can improve in the future.

While reflecting on my race, I kept in mind something that was told to us on Friday.  One of our former coaches visited us before our practice that day to offer some valuable advice and a refreshing perspective.  Taking a more psychological look at the sport, she told us that if only one thing about our race doesn’t go as we planned, we are quick to disregard the positive things that happened in that same race.

I was too critical of my results before acknowledging the fact that I reframed my mindset to become much more positive in that final mile.  I should be proud of myself for that!

In terms of the team race, I was proud beyond belief.  I had two teammates, Erin Reidy and Sophia McNerney finish only a few seconds behind me.  Kennedy Warden and Alex Spang rounded out the scoring, only seven seconds apart from each other.  Becca Diddia and Kelsey Casella also ran great races that resulted in season-best times.  Together, we scored only 95 points to win the meet against some amazing teams.

I took a step in the right direction last weekend and believe that my team as a whole did the same.  Once again, I am pleased, but not satisfied with that performance.

In light of continued improvement, our top 10 is focusing on what lies ahead in Arizona this upcoming Friday.  We cannot wait to greet the challenge that the Nike Desert Twilight Invitational will present to us.  It is a unique opportunity that I hope will provide us with some awesome experiences for the remainder of this season and beyond!

Photo Credit: (c) 2019 Catherine Cohoon