STATES 2011 @ Twin Brook

Screw it. This whole week I've been trying to come up with a classy (and cheesy) opener for my final in-season cross country post, but unfortunately, nothing of the type has presented itself. So, this is my blog post regarding my final high school cross country meet! I find it absurd how much we contribute to this lovely sport, while still managing to be, on average, the smartest group of athletes out there. My team was away for a full twelve hours for an average of 20 minutes of racing last weekend at States. I started out running with a pack of six or so girls, including the top four Cheverus runners. I felt very confidant in my performance during the race, and was a consistent 10th for most of it. If you are familiar with the course at Twin Brook, you can imagine the finish in the field, where the trail runs parallel to the cluster of trees and rocks where all the team's bags are congregated. The actual finish chute is on a slight downgrade upon passing the trees. Right around there is where I threw on my last finishing kick, and right about there was where a random spectator walked under the flagging and across the course in the direction of a girl that was on her hands and knees (it states clearly in the MPA rulebook that if anyone has contact with racers during said race that it is considered aid, and the racer will promptly be disqualified, so there were many people on the sidelines screaming "don't touch her!"). The lady was very much oblivious to the fact that racers were approaching her, and I ended up running into her. The action of tightening up my muscles in order to prepare for the crash and lessen the impact triggered something within the memory of my vastus medialis (I strained this quad muscle last year the week leading up to the State meet and was unable to run for a solid month), and started to feel something similar to that of my injury last year during my cool down. Not good. Also, I was a mere four seconds from qualifying for New Englands, so I'm very bummed that my season ended so abruptly. It sucks that I'll never know what the outcome could have been had that lady not been there. Although I was hobbling around a bit in my quad wrap during the week proceeding States, I have finally begun to run again. Justin Tracy (Jr.) ended up qualifying for New Englands by two-tenths of a second, so I'll be heading to Rhode Island with him and some others this coming weekend. As for this season's documentary, it should be posted sometime this coming weekend :D
KKNW, Addie