Aisling Cuffe's MileSplit.us Journal #8
Hello everyone! I am writing this on my last night at home, before I catch my early flight to sunny San Diego, en route to the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships! I am very excited for my trip. This is the time of year that I look forward to the most (ever since I started running, anyway). This is by far my favorite race of the year. I can’t wait to meet all of the competitors, and get to know them more throughout the course of the weekend. I can already picture what I will be doing tomorrow! I will get off the plane, and pause to take in the warm sunshine that I haven’t seen in about 2 months. I will ride the Foot Locker bus to the Del Coronado, and check in to get all of the gear and Uniforms and what not… I can’t wait to see the uniforms! I have a feeling I know what color they will be, but I can’t be 100% sure until I actually get to hold them in my hands. After that, I will meet my roommate, and we will get ready for the group run in the afternoon. I realize that I am just rambling on and on about something that hasn’t even happened yet, but I really can’t wait. It’s going to be hard go to bed tonight!
The past 2 weeks have been relatively normal. Starting December 1, the weather began to deteriorate. This past week, the average high for the day has been in the mid 30s. It has even flurried on and off the past few days, but no snow has stuck to the ground. The typical running attire has gone from normal tights, short sleeve, and long sleeve to heavier tights, underarmor, long sleeves, leg warmers, sweatshirt, hat, ear warmers (worn as more of a nose/face warmer), and gloves, in the space of 2 weeks. I like to think of this time of year as weight/resistance training. By adopting this mentality, I am made feel like there is actually a purpose to running miles and miles with 20 pounds of extra clothing. As much as I love my resistance training, I am definitely looking forward to San Diego.
Last week, Flotrack came to my high school to video tape my workout. I had been nervous leading up to practice, as I wanted everything to go right. I was doing a normal cross country workout, except the rain started to fall about 2 hours before practice. Cross Country generally implies grass, and rain and grass implies mud. Not good for a workout where I wanted to hit all of my splits perfectly! But the workout went well anyway. My teammates didn’t mind being pulled from their regular indoor track practice to run a cross country style one. And I definitely didn’t mind having company. My one coach, Coach Feuer, ran practice all alone because my other coach, Coach Creeden, didn’t want to be on camera. Coach Feuer looked like a natural speaker on the camera, and he did a fine job! At the very end of practice, I forced Coach Creeden to say something on camera. Sadly, he came away with the victory this time, as his clip wasn’t used… but I will get him on camera some day!
This past week, my community has really been supporting my final go at cross country. On Sunday, I was given the opportunity to light the town Christmas tree, in front of all of the spectators! That was certainly an experience I will never forget. Everyone has been asking how to watch the race on line for Saturday, and have been sending me away with the best of wishes. I was even chosen as the person of the day on the morning announcements today. All of my teachers have been nice, and have (for the most part) given me a weekend free of homework, so that I can go and enjoy myself at Foot Locker. I still can’t believe that the season is almost over. My senior year cross country season has been one to remember, and I am really going to miss it. There are a lot of seniors out there, and I know they probably feel similar to me in knowing that Foot Locker is kind of like the bookend of a high school cross country career. I am looking to race my best at Foot Locker, in order to end my season on a high note. I can’t wait for a great, competitive race. I really love the Balboa park course, so by getting to race on it one last time, I hope to end my season with a race worthy of the rest of my season. This is probably a goal of everyone else heading into the race as well. So for everyone competing this weekend, shoot for your best race ever, and remember to have fun! Foot Locker will be a great experience.
My friends and brother and sister standing with me in front of the Cornwall Town Christmas tree after I lit it on Sunday (I am the one with my hand in the air).
