Provincials!

*Update: full results found at http://mhsaa.e-crew.ca/sites/carberrycollegiate28/2011_XC_Provincials_Results.pdf

Time to talk about another one of those "last" things. Cross Country. Although as opposed to many other things that will not be missed, I'm sad my final high school cross country season is over. Altogether I could not have asked for much more though. I'm super proud of my school for pulling together one of the largest and best teams we've ever had. After the usual two hour bus ride out to Spruce Woods we got to hang out and shiver for a while before the race started. It was quite a chilly day. I once again was told to warm up all the JV and Varsity girls and make sure they were familiarized with the course. Lucky for us, the varsity girls got to go last. Just kidding, I hate going last. I don't get to see everyone else come in because I have to warm up and stuff while they race. Oh well, I got to say hi and catch up with many friends from various circles both before and after the race. One of the things I love about high school cross country is knowing so many people. It's a great community and at provincials everyone is there. Anyways, standing on the start line it was still rather chilly but not as bad as it could have been. There was a bit of jostling around for a good position but it worked out all right by the time the gun went off. Actually it was more of a cannon or something, including a sound so loud you jumped and smoke all over the place. It was one of those races where everybody sprints at the beginning. Kind of crazy, because everyone knows you have to get in a good position by the time you get to the other end of the field where it narrows to a path. Somehow by then everyone else disappeared and I could see exactly five girls in front of me. This made me happy because it was a great place to be and I was surprised that it had worked out well. I spent most of the race in sixth and was hoping either I could hold on to it or catch the girl in front of me. The hills were constant but I tried to keep up the intensity because I knew everyone else was hurting just as much, or more. I kept reminding myself that this was my strength. I definitely wouldn't have been this far up in the race a year ago, all that training has really paid off. For about the last kilometer the girl ahead, the girl behind, and me all kept passing each other. It was back and forth and could have been anyone's race for 5th, 6th, 7th. Unfortunetely it wasn't mine, as I had used up everything and had not much of a finishing kick. But I think I have to be pretty happy with a 7th overall finish. Time was about 11:53 for 3km. Compare that with a last year's placing of 28 and time of 12:53. That's right, a whole minute off on the same course. So yes, I was happy. Also when they seperate it I was 3rd for AAA schools and got a medal for that, as well as my girls team that also placed 3rd for AAA schools. It was nice to walk away with some hardware! Our school's other teams also got some medals. I found myself cheering for many friends both from school and other during the award's ceremony. And good job also to the people that weren't called up for medals, everyone had solid races! I'm not going to start naming other people's finishing placing because it would be too difficult to include everyone in such a big race, but just wanted to give a big congrats and I will post a link to the full results as soon as it is available. You can count on me analyzing all those results to death of course, because that's just what I do! Anyways it was a great cross country season in many ways! It was great to have so much support, so thanks, you know who you are. Solid "last" season.