Hello! :) It sure has been a while since I've written on here! But I'm happy to say I'm finally back to being in-season and competing -- track season has officially arrived - my FINAL track season as a Green Knight collegiate athlete!
I came back to start up the indoor track season on the 16th of January, a little later than the rest of my teammates due to a horrible cold I just happened to acquire on our family trip down to FLORIDA! That's right, I got a cold down in Florida. It was between 45 and 55 degrees the whole time we were down there - I think one of the coldest streaks Florida has ever had, and we picked that week to be down there on vacation. Oh well! We still managed to have fun - I was still able to run without any ice and snow which was incredibly nice - and luckily we had all looked at the forecast prior to going down so we packed sweatshirts and jeans instead of shorts and t-shirts!
So anyways, now it's officially indoor track season! I ran my first race - a 5K - this past Friday at Indiana University in Bloomington. While I was looking to run a provisional Nationals qualifying time of 17:42 or lower (really aiming for about a 17:25), I think my lingering cold prevented me from doing so as I had a lot of breathing issues throughout the race. I ended up running a 17:44. It was very disappointing but I know I will have another chance on February 13th when we travel to Iowa State (they have a 300 meter track vs. the normal 200 m!), so with a couple more weeks worth of workouts under my belt in addition to getting more rest, I think my cold will be completely gone and my speed will be improved and that should help me run the time I know I'm capable of running!
The one very positive thing about traveling the 7+ hours to Bloomington, Indiana was that my teammate, sophomore Emily Schudrowitz, qualified individually for Nationals for the first time by running a 2:15.59 in the 800 meters! It was very exciting and I am so proud of her. We hope to get a DMR (Distance Medley Relay) together to try and qualify for Nationals. With her fast 800 and my pretty fast mile, we just need to fill in who's going to run the 400 and the 1200 and we should be able to qualify. I believe we're running that for the first time this weekend when we travel to Stevens Point, so we'll see how it goes!
Our team has fallen under the injury bug a bit in the early part of this season. I think for many non-distance folks no matter how hard you train in the fall it's just simply not the same when you actually start the real season. I think it hits a lot of people, and specifically, people's bodies, by surprise. It's now less than 5 weeks till our Midwest Conference Indoor Track Championship meet so we're hoping to get healed up pretty quickly and be ready to roll come February 26th! The dominant team in our conference, Monmouth College, seems to be a bit down this year so it's definitely an opportunity for us to do BIG things! The Green Knights under Coach Augustine have always performed at our best when it really matters, so I don't have any doubt we can get it done and finally win the MWC! I know with quite a bit of certainty that no other team in our Conference gets up at 6 am for practice twice a week! We work hard and I think our hard work is really going to pay off at the end of February.
Classes have officially started up here so that means I'm busier than ever. I have to admit I was actually pretty happy classes started up because when we were here for track without class there's A LOT of free time - and at times, TOO much free time. Now, I'd be fine to just go to class and not have to study, but that's not exactly how college works ;) It's weird to only have 2 semesters left of undergrad ever here at SNC. I guess time really does fly by when you're having fun! I've found myself thinking about my future a lot lately. I think as of now, though, I just need to see where running takes me. I sure would love to run post-collegiately, but again, I just need to wait and see what opportunities present themselves. Hopefully I can continue to build on the success I've been blessed to have achieved these past 3 years in the next year or so and then everything will work itself out. That's my hope, anyways!
It's time to go get ready for the day. Hill workout this afternoon in 20 degree weather! Gotta love it! Probably the last day we'll get outside for quite a few days as the 4 day weather forecast shows highs of 15, 10, 12, and 15 - and that's without the wind chill! After having about a week of 30+ degree temps, I think Wisconsin winter is truly back! Oh joy!
Till next time, Happy Running!
--Jenny :)
"The only place where success comes before work is the dictionary."
-Vince Lombardi, the great coach of the Green Bay Packers and one of the greatest coaches of all time. Love this quote!
