The Club Cross Country National Championship race is an
intersection of ambitions, fitness levels, affiliations, and ages. The first two times I competed at Club XC, I
ran for professional teams, who saw the race as a good indicator of fitness
during our base season, as well as an opportunity to win a bit of money and a
chance to qualify to represent the United States at the Bupa Cross Country race
in Edenborough, Scotland.
This year I raced with Club Northwest, a much larger running
club with a wide range of members. While
runners had to qualify to make the Club NW squad that traveled to the race,
most of the members on the open men’s and women’s team hold full-time
jobs. They run and workout intensely,
but competing is not their first priority.
In addition, the club fielded a 40-49 year old men’s and women’s masters
teams and a 50-59 year old men’s and women’s teams. Having teammates again was the best part of
the trip. I was surrounded by friendly
faces at the airport, getting food, and on the starting line. I enjoyed getting to know some of the
master’s runners and hearing from runners who are fast and competitive past the
age of 40.
When we got to San Francisco Friday morning, we went
straight from the airport to the cross country course to learn the route and
shakeout our legs. The course was unique
in that it was a full 6k loop. In just
about every cross country race, participants have to do multiple loops of 2k or
3k. Unfortunately, the course also had
some rough sections with bad footing. Along
one rocky section, I sprained my ankle.
I turn my ankle fairly often after years of soccer have worn out my
ankle ligaments, but for some reason this time was worse than usual. By the time I finished the pre-meet run, my
ankle and calf were significantly swollen.
The next day I decided to race because, although my ankle
and calf felt sore, I didn’t feel any pain.
I didn’t feel quite in full form during the race, but I managed to run a
solid race, finishing 21st in 20:35.
Most importantly, I didn’t do any further damage to my injury. However, I was still pretty frustrated with
my race. In 2012, I had finished 7th
in 20:36 and in 2013, even with a torn labrum, I finished 18th in
22:33 on a very difficult course. I know
a sprained ankle will impact running efficiency, even if I didn’t feel anything
beyond soreness in the race. The good
news is our team finished 3rd in the women’s race, an impressive
accomplishment for a non-professional club.
Despite my frustrations with this one race, I know this is
just part of the process of my build up to be in my best fitness until
July. My coaches, Rick and Megan
Elliott, have been so smart in gradually building up my mileage and
workouts. I’m usually more fit around
the time of Club XC, but so far this year, I’ve only been doing one workout a
week. This year, I will have to be more
patient to see the results of my hard work, but I will have a much better
chance of being in prime shape at Olympic Trials.