You can't win 'em all

Saturday's race sucked, plain and simple. There's no point in sugar-coating it - I'm gonna call a spade a spade and tell it like it is: I ran terribly. I got buried at the start, was in 25th place at the mile, and kept going backward from there. The 21 minutes and 40 seconds it took me to cover the muddy, hilly 6 kilometers were pretty torturous. I ended up finishing in 50th place, well back from where I finished in 2011. Oof.

My face says it all - "Where's that damn finish line? Is this over yet?"

What happened? Hard to say. A lot of factors could have contributed to the bad race - a tweaked hamstring, working long hours, getting ready to move across the country... Maybe it's the combination of them all. But whatever the cause, it sure wasn't my mental state. I thought I was ready, I believed I was ready. It wasn't in the cards on Saturday, but I believe I'll be ready again down the road...

I was mad and sad for a little while, but I learned long ago that dwelling on a bad race doesn't do anyone any good - not you, not your teammates, not your support system of friends and family. You can't win 'em all; as sure as the sky is blue, there will be times when things don't go your way. So when it doesn't, you've got to learn to deal with it.

Not a happy camper...

An old, wise coach once counseled me that after a bummer of a race, you can be upset for the length of your cooldown, but once those 15-20 minutes have passed, it's time to pick yourself up and move on. There's a finite amount of time to dwell and to pout. S*** happens; take some time to be pissed, some time to reflect, and then look ahead.

So that's what I did. I shed a few tears, mourned the bad race, and then proceeded to have a hell of a good time in Kentucky!

First step in turning that frown upside down: eat some chocolate!

Step 2 - go to Hugh Jass Burgers (for a good laugh, say that one aloud!) and devour a 10 ounce burger. 

Step 3 - surround yourself with the best of friends and enjoy the moment!

Despite my poor individual performance, I was proud to rep NBSV and toe the line with these ladies. As a team, we finished 8th - not the overall result we'd hoped for, but it was our highest-ever placing at this meet and we were the top California team. We're down, but not out, and I'm confident we'll continue the upward trend in 2013.

And so like my team, I'm looking ahead to 2013 and the exciting opportunities it will bring, both in running and in life. But before that, I've got to move out of my apartment in San Francisco! Off to pack...!

Sisters in Sport Update and Club XC in Kentucky

As I shared in some previous posts, I have some big changes ahead (I'm moving to Ohio!) and so with limited time left in San Francisco, I set a goal to enjoy every run, even on days when I worked 10 hours or it's raining and thus near impossible to get my butt out the door... 

In the past month I've discovered that there's no better motivator than knowing that the end is near. With a finite number of SF running days left on the calendar, each run has become a gift. Rain or shine, early or late, even if I don't feel great, I've challenged myself to soak up every run and take in the scenery, because there aren't too many SF runs left... 

Pausing mid-run to capture the joyful moment

Great Highway, SF - making the most of final SF runs

Last long run in SF - across the Golden Gate Bridge into Marin and back

In the spirit of goal-setting, I used my Believe I Am training journal to help me think about what I want to accomplish in December:

I've been dealing with a tweaked hamstring (note to self: sitting in a desk chair for 8 hours is BAD for a runner's body!) so this month I've committed myself to HEALING. This means slightly modified training and hours spent on the massage table enduring grin-and-bear-it treatment sessions. Proper recovery and rehab take time, but I'm feeling much better than I did 2 weeks ago.

Also on December's list of to-do's is to RACE WELL AT CLUB XC! I'm currently in Lexington, Kentucky with my New Balance Silicon Valley teammates gearing up for the National Club Cross Country Championships. This event is one of my favorite races of the year - it's all about the team and competing hard together. While I'm chasing some individual goals, I'm really focused on racing my heart out for my teammates.

I've had some solid workouts leading up to this race and am excited to see what I can do tomorrow. The course is hilly, the grass uneven, and it's been raining all day - in other words, tomorrow's race will be true cross-country! I'm pumped to spike up, duke it out in the mud, and race joyfully!

In advance of tomorrow's race, I did an interview with Freeplay Magazine - check it out here. Thanks to the team at Freeplay for their great coverage of Northern California female athletes!

If you're looking for race updates, be sure check out Runnerspace for on-site meet coverage or follow @NBSiliconValley on Twitter for live race updates! The gun goes off at 12:45 pm EST - go NBSV!