Kilcona race (big hill)

First of all: to be honest I was looking forward to writing this blog post. Well as long as the news on the race was good.... nah I'm kidding I would write about it anyways. But it feels like it's been a while, especially since I did the double-header last week. I couldn't quite justify writing about non-race-related things though, as exciting as my daily life may be. I'm sure the whole world was just dying to know how my hill workout was on Friday, or my coaching session on Saturday, or how I got sick and spent the rest of my long weekend doing nothing but trying not to be sick.
Anyways I was also just looking forward to the race today. I know that seems weird to non-runners and yes, there is a point in almost every race where I think, 'why the heck am I doing this?' Probably the weirdest thing was that it was really the hills on this course I was looking forward to. I have done so much more hill training this year and I feel that it's becoming a strength of mine. So arriving at Kilcona I headed out for a warmup on my own, it didn't seem like anyone else was interested. I've learned that a warmup is essential for me though. The rest of the group was crowded around maps of the course. I kind of ignored that and told my coaches I had run last year and pretty much knew where I was going, especially since I had done my warmup on part of the course. I didn't even realize we were being marshalled onto the start line and found myself pushing between people a bit to get a spot next to Catherine. It was another of those starts where there isn't much time before we're off. They said something about the girls running up the big hill twice this year. I thought, 'Well duh that's what we did last year. Once at the beginning and once at the end, with a lap in between.' I felt strong on the first hill and kept pace with Catherine until about halfway through the lap. She started taking a wrong turn and I shouted out the correst way we had to go. Then she started pulling away from me and I tried to not let her get too far away. Even though I was again trying not to look back I noticed there was a significant gap between us and the next girl. As we turned the corner right before the big hill I heard someone cheering for me, yelling, "Go Janessa, last hill, push till the end!" I was happy to be almost done. But as I got to the top of the hill Catherine ran past the finish chute and people were saying one more lap. I thought, 'Oh crap, I seriously have to do that again?!' Oops I guess I should always make sure I know the course! The next lap was not as fun, I really just focused on trying to keep up my pace and maintain second place. That would probably be the point when I questioned why I was doing this. I tried to tell myself that longer distances and hills were my thing, and that other people would be enjoying this even less than me. It turned out that after the second lap we didn't actually have to go up the hill a third time. Go figure. Apparently everyone else knew this though. I was really glad to finally be done and have another solid second place finish. My school had a great showing today, with full teams at each level. Including Varisty Girls which was awesome! Next race will be the championships, at Bird's Hill once again in two weeks from now.