Race Day: Saturday Edition

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This post is a follow-up to the post about how a small/home/weeknight race day goes. 

Races of any kind, big or small, get me hype, but Saturday races are exciting on a whole different level.  Cross country is one of those things that you just can't understand without having the experience, but I'll try to give you an inside look.

This was our first Saturday meet of the season.  It's not the biggest, but it's a fun one!  I love the course, too, at Jackson Park in Western North Carolina.

Start lines are intense.  That's my least favorite part.  It is a stampede.  It's actually rather scary, especially for those who have never run in a race of this size before, as is the case for our freshmen at this race each year.  Unless you're a speed demon like Jessica (who fell flat on her face when the gun went off), if you don't get a good start, you get stuck in with so many people way too close together, all heading for the same place!  I didn't even know this until this season, but my mom never watches the start.  Never.  It scares her, too, and she's not even running!

It gets dead silent as the starter gives instructions then tells us to take our marks.  His arm goes up.  BANG.

That gunshot is an intense noise. 

As I am not a sprinter, starts are tough for me.  I need to get out faster to get good position, but it's tough when my legs don't want to go that fast!  This race was especially bad in that.  I started the race in the back!  However, over the first half mile or so, I caught up, just focusing on passing people bit by bit.  I was surprised at how quickly I caught up to the two leaders.  Then I even passed them!  I knew that was God taking me up front so fast because if you had seen my start and all the people I had to work through, this was not an easy task.  Anna Vess, the defending NC state champion was right on my heels until mile 2 where I left her.  I was so thankful to have her there pushing me through the whole thing!

This course is two loops, and this is us coming up the "horseshoe hill" the first time.  Every hill on this course has a name like that, including "hill hill," "seizure hill," and "heart attack hill," etc.

Anna and I were really pushing each other for the first 2 miles of the race.  It always adds tension within myself when I have someone right with me, but it can be a good thing if I use it to push myself faster.  That's what happened!  I was so thankful to have her there to keep me going.

  

Like with my starts, I don't have that much speed going down the finish either.  I can push a little faster, but it's not a sprint like some girls can.  Everyone always has things they can improve on, and that's something I'm trying to work on!

I was super surprised as I crossed the line of just the second race of the season with a time only 10 seconds off my PR, despite that horrendous start!  I was so thankful that God carried me through that.

Not that I feel like I need recognition, but cross country meets do give awards to the top finishers and teams!
How does a team win in cross country? is a typical question.  The lowest score wins.  Whatever place a person gets is how many points they "score" for their team, runners 1-5 to finish.  (At least 5 people are required to have a full team)  For example, in this race, I placed first, so I counted 1 point.  Just making this up, but if the next 4 on my team were 8th, 11th, 14th, and 20th, we would have 54 points.

Scriptures containing "stumble" have come up a lot this season, as I often stumble during races!  It's scary, since if you fall, you just might get trampled!  Or lose your position and throw off your pace.  These are a couple verses that I really like to go with the life and running metaphor. 
"For You, Lord, have delivered me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living...what shall I return to the Lord for all His goodness to me?"  Psalm 116:8-9, 12
Life now seems more fulfilling than ever; God has filled me with joy and keeps me safe; even when I stumble in my races or mess up in life, He never lets me totally fall; I have hope that no matter what happens here on earth, I have heaven to look forward to!  All this is so wonderful, I just want to make use of the blessings.  With a day like this when I started out feeling bad, got an awful start, yet still almost PRd, it leaves me asking "How can I thank God enough!?"

I try to use who I am and what I do to point to the One who made me as such.
Instagram caption:  Although I may be first, I am second.
I might get first in races sometimes, but I wouldn't be able to have this life without God.  I, as a child of God, am to put God first in my life, followed by others.  (Matthew 22:36-39, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’")
(For more "I Am Second" testimonies, there is an actual thing-for lack of better terms.)

This is Katie, and she is a hard worker!  She may not be the fastest, but she will push herself.  That's the beauty of the sport.  We have such admiration for those who work hard.
I also love that she bought two boxes of pumpkin spice granola bars for the snack bars thinking of me and my love for pumpkin!

I like to switch things up sometimes, but we usually end up going to one of the same few places after races, those being Chick-fil-a, Salsarita's, or Chili's almost every time.  The past couple years after this race, we went in Chick-fil-a!  (Although 2 years ago, we made a special trip to Tupelo Honey Cafe because I was dying to try it, and the Asheville location wasn't too far.)  My mom even got a treat by going here this time, too, because she got free samples of the frosted lemonade from the sample stand!

Races are also great opportunities to have fun and meet new people!  We helped out some guys get some social media attention with their cardboard friend, Super Trent.  Check him out on instagram!

The Sundays after races are always fun and relaxing.  I'll do some stuff to loosen up and get my blood flowing, but I spend most of the afternoon catching up on schoolwork, preparing myself for the upcoming week, and looking at race results and pictures online.

Again, as I didn't feel good before the race, it was not my strength that carried me through to a fast time, but God's. 
Jackson Park is also a pretty place, and now anyone who sees this post on Swarm will get a glimpse of the Lord!

Milesplit's twitter always posts tons of updates and articles, and this one advertised the results from our race!  They even had great videos!

This guy is the Morristown/East TN sports writer, and I must say, he is on the ball! 

It was also exciting to see myself and the team making a statement in another state!

The week's header photo for Tennessee Milesplit!

Another thing I do after race days is make collages and post pictures of course!

 

Every race is different, but they all have some things in common.  This is just a little bit of cross country.  I suggest you go see a big race for yourself sometime!  It really is exciting, but you'll never know until you've done it yourself.

(Outdoor) Track is in Session

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This track season, I must say, was more successful for our team than last year!  We had so much dedication and opportunities to get together and have a lot of fun!  Here's some highlights as we got things started this season.

After our first meet, which was a Tuesday home meet, we did a fun run the next day for practice, ending at TCBY!  A great big thanks to Mrs. Bowen for the idea and helping us work everything out so we could do this!  I can't wait for another opportunity to do a destination run with my gang again this summer!

Here we are during our first Saturday meet!  These were the girls on the two 4x800 teams we had.  As you can see, we like to do a "good" picture and a "goofy" one.

For a week or so, this was the side banner on the Tennessee Milesplit website, advertising one of the biggest meets around here, the Tri-Cities Track Classic at Science Hill, aka my favorite track!  I was so excited to see myself on there because that was a total surprise!  Adam, of course, was the boy they chose, because he dominates almost eveything around here.

Yet another picture with two versions.  We are the distance crew, and this is what we do. 

**Photo credits on all 3 of these:  GBo.

The start of track season is kinda rough, because it never really gets warm until the very end!  And I am not a cold weather person at all!  I tried to make the most of these practices by having fun with my outfit.  Color coorination is my thing.  I was also super excited to wear this hat!

Parties and A Problem

Here is the problem:  my phone memory.  I have deleted and deleted pictures and music, which is what my settings tell me are taking up the most room, and I have no unnecessary apps taking up space.  I have way fewer pictures and song than I used to, yet it keeps telling me this with less memory taken up each time, so I don't know where it goes!  This is a major problem because I take pictures all the time!  Strange enough, if you didn't notice, I took a picture of it telling me that I had no room to take a picture.  I can screenshot and save pictures from the web and messages all I want, which still uses memory...I don't understand...obviously neither does my phone. 

Here's one party I'm preparing for!  On June 22nd, the Tuesday after we get back from our team cross country camp in Gatlinburg, the whole girls team is invited to my house to chow down on a buffet then have Bible Study together!  This morning before our run, we did some planning and discussing who is going to bring what.  We're already excited about it.

Here's another party!  Dad's birthday was yesterday, and we went out to the lake when he came home from work so that he could ski.  I skied, too, but I let him go first so he could be the first one on the water.  He went up and down the Boulevard once, I skied and made two runs through, then he went again.  He needed a break between!  He says he can't go like he used to, but I think he's still got it.

There he is, getting in his birthday ski!

It was a beautiful day out yesterday, hot and sunny.  There was some wind, but it didn't mess the water up too much.  Nights are always the most fun times to ski!

Weekend #1

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Finally lake time!  I've never had a summer that we weren't out to the lake by mid-May (at least that I can remember).  We were just so busy, and the weather not quite right for a long lake summer.  Cherokee is having a rough time filling up.  Finally though, on the first weekend of June, we put the boat in!  I have grown up on the lake, and every year I end up meeting more and more people.  Two of the girls at the top (Magan on the far left and Erika next to her) have been some of my life's longest friends.  We have spent most summer weekends and much more when we were younger together!  Sadly, Erika just graduated, so I won't get to go to school with her anymore!

One of the most faithful, inspiring women I know, Chanda Parker, is getting married!  She is so beautiful, and so many girls look up to her and her joyful spirit.  I also admire how she can make people smile and laugh so easily.  She even happened to be my leader at my first year of

Motown Madness and my middle school basketball coach for a year.  It has been a blessing to know her and now see her getting married!  This couple is a great example of a godly relationship, and we all love seeing how happy they are.

That Sunday, a couple of the girls' Sunday School classes got together in the youth building café to throw her a bridal shower, complete with finger foods, punch, gifts, and pictures!

Updates!

Today starts another extra-long break from school!

We are only scheduled to be out Friday and Monday for President's Day and teacher work day, but last night, Tuesday, they called off today because of this "snow storm" that is coming.  It has just now started flurrying, but we'll see how it goes!

The first weekend in February, my aunt and uncle from Richmond, VA came to visit.  I love getting to spend time with them because they are just so funny!   My cousin is on the far left in this picture; we had a larger family lunch one Sunday afternoon.

That Sunday night, my church had it's Super Bowl Party!  This is my friend Britt and, in the back, Landry, who helps a lot with all the music and projector slides at youth!

Abby Hicks is one of my best church friends!  I've known her since preschool, and we even have the same birthday!

Monday, I got to run with one of the twins; unfortunately, the other is on the DL.  She will be back soon, though!

I was so excited last week to get an instagram notification from @youthrunner.  They do a weekly #yrcontest where they choose a winning picture from all who have used the hashtag.  One of my team pictures was chosen as a weekly winner!

  Youth Runner is a magazine that covers all kinds of running events for all ages!

"The old has gone; the new has come!" 2 Cor 5:17

"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has gone; the new has come!"

  2 Corinthians 5:17

Although I'm not big on changing a whole bunch just for New Years (because any moment is a God-given opportunity to change), I thought this would be a great verse for the new year!  When you accept Christ into your heart, He makes you completely new.

This has been the best Christmas break I have ever had, and New Years also lived up to the standard!  On December 31st, I got to do something I have been wanting to do for over a year; I had a pancake party!  I texted 3 of my best running friends the day before to ask if they wanted to go for a run then have pancakes, so they headed over!  (Katlyn was getting over a cold, so she didn't run, but she met us for breakfast.)  Chantal, Cherie (who live within walking distance), and I ran down the highway towards town and back for around 7.6 miles.

Here we all are in our new shoes!  (and black tights.  We didn't even plan that.)

Mine are on the left, Chantal on top, Cherie right, Katlyn bottom.  Part of my shoe actually glows in the dark, but I haven't gotten to try it out yet.

My new griddle!  This is one of my Christmas gifts.  I made us each 2 big pancakes.  Chantal, Cherie, and I had Recees Pieces pancakes topped with peanut butter (I also had honey and sugar free syrup), and Katlyn chose York Pieces pancakes.  I love this griddle, because it is big, fast, and easy to clean.

Here we are about to dig in!

I am so blessed to have these girls.  Every time we get together, we have so many laughs, encouragement, and uplifting feelings!  These are girls that I can trust, and we can help each other grow in our faith.  When I'm with them, I have no worries or bad feelings about what I'm doing.  It is so important to have friends like this in your life to help keep you on track!

At my house, it has become "tradition" in a way over the past few years that when the cross country girls meet for food at my house (for example, my birthday), in our pictures for making memories, we always do a silly one with food in our mouths!

On New Years Eve, my friends the Wolfenbargers always invite us to party with them.  The party is either at their house or another house in their neighborhood, the Paxton's (which is where it was this year).  Daniel Paxton, the man of that house, is one funny man!  This is one of my long-time best friends, Noah.

This game, The Game of Things, is what we spent most of our time between our late eating "dinnerish" and desserts and the ball drop doing.  It is similar to Apples to Apples in that their is a reader who announces the category, then the everyone submits a corresponding response.  However, this game gets funnier, because the responses aren't already provided, but you write in your own!  We got many laughs out of this for sure!

After being up until around 1:30 the night before, on New Years Day I slept until 11:00, when Sophie came in and wanted to cuddle (more for her satisfaction than mine, obviously from all her purrrring).  Once I finally got up and did some core workouts, Dad and I went to the park for a run.  Dad doesn't usually like to run there because of the uneven surface and falling and ankle-spraining hazard, so it is a special occasion when he goes with me, even though he unfortunately can't keep up anymore since I have been in high school.

It was a gorgeous, sunny day, and not too cold either, especially in the sun!  I got in a nice, long run, while Dad's was a bit shorter.  It was fun getting back out to the park since I have been out of the habit since cross country ended.

By the time I got home, stretched, and ready to eat "breakfast," it was after 2:00!  I had some pumpkin and cream cheese-topped waffles and an apple then got to work.  I am still celebrating Christmas, so I watched Christmas Vacation while I worked on putting everything onto my new 2014 calendar!  

Since last year, I have gotten the Peanuts "Love is..." calendar.  This is another one of my Christmas presents!  It has a sweet saying and picture for each month, and it also comes with stickers to correspond with various events throughout the year.  This is the January picture!