My cross country season opened and closed at the Canadian
Cross Country National Championships in Vancouver, BC. Due to the big move
across country I wasn’t able to plan a complete season this year and so
specific training leading up to this race was minimal. Regardless, it was fun
to jump into this race, especially because three of my ex-Mountaineer teammates
were on the line with me. All Canadians, Stephanie Aldea, Kate Harrison and
Jessica O’Connell all showed up to vie for a spot on the team to represent
their country at the world championship in Poland. The clouds opened up and we
were treated to quintessential cross country weather: mid-40’s and sunny skies.
The course, however, was 75% mud pit due to the rain storms that came through
at the beginning of the week.
 |
| Kate Harrison |
 |
| Steph Aldea |
 |
| Jess O'Connell |
All three had spectacular races with Kate finishing in 2nd, Jess 13th and Steph 14th. I finished the 7k course in 25:58, good for 36th place. The cool thing was I was just a couple heads behind ultra-running phenom, Ellie Greenwood, who just won and broke the JFK 50 miler record last weekend. I had the opportunity to speak to her at the finish line; she was as nice as could be and I was exciting to take a picture with her.
 |
| Wishing everyone would slow down! |
 |
| Ellie and me at the finish line |
My feet and legs are definitely feeling the spikes this morning as I prepare to do my long run. We are heading to Deception Pass State Park to prepare for my final race of the year, the Deception Pass 25k on December 8th. I'm confident that this race won't go out in 5:20-pace so I will be feeling much more in my element.
 |
| Me and Steph celebrating at Boundary Bay Brewery |
No comments:
Post a Comment