Today was the USATF Pacific NW Cross Country Championships
in Lower Woodland Park, Seattle. After yesterday’s downpours and unruly winds,
today we were treated with the perfect fall day: 50 degrees and sunny. The
course was 3 times 2Km loops for a total distance of 6Km. I met my GBRC
teammates and we warmed up on the course while Tad’s race was underway.
Deciding what kind of shoes to wear for this course was tricky because there were multiple
road crossings, but yesterday’s rain made the packed dirt slick, especially
around the turns. I decided to go with spikeless spikes, but in hindsight should
have opted for small spikes because I was experiencing slippage on some parts
of the course.
 |
| The downhill start. |
The start was at the top of a hill so everyone went out
pretty quickly. The start of cross country races always makes me recall the
intensity of the starts of college NCAA Division 1 meets, and the many good
times I had with my WVU teammates. (The Mountaineers just placed second in the
Big 12 Conference meet this weekend!) Luckily, I love all of my new team
members and I know there are many fun times ahead.
 |
| Me and Courtney working our way through the field. |
I was consistent with my mile splits (5:58,6:00,6:01…), but
constantly moved through the pack. The course was challenging, either a gradual
uphill or fast downhill. I worked my way
up to an overall 8th place finish. Our team placed second to Club
Northwest, but we will definitely be giving them a race come the National
Championships in December. We received $50 for our efforts and rather than
getting $7 each, we are putting the
profits into some special celebrating that will take place after Nationals in
Bend, Oregon.
Full results can be found at http://www.pntf.org/ and all of Tad's pictures can be found here.
 |
| Post-race smiles. |
