The Mississippi College Season Opener (Track Meet)

Hello everyone!

It has been a very long time since I have written anything. I apologize. My pitiful excuse is that I have been pretty busy for the past three weeks. I also could not pick a topic that I wanted to blog about. In this post, I hope to gain back your trust as a somewhat faithful blogger. 

Track practices started three weeks ago, and our small team has been putting the axe to the grind since then. We had our first track meet yesterday, March 2nd, and God blessed us with great performances.

In order to fully describe how the meet went, I must describe the day before the meet.

Friday

I had a test in my 9:00am class. It was pretty fun, but I was ready to be done with school. Spring Break is 6 days away, and motivating myself to go to class is a challenge. Anyway, the track team planned to leave at 2:30pm to go to the hotel near the track that we would race at the next day. I decided to spend some of the hours prior doing homework that needed to be completed. It was a struggle, and I prayed to God for the mental strength to stay remotely focused. Thankfully, I did what I needed to do, and at 2:30 I was on the girls' van headed to Clinton, MS. It was a joy to be free of any scholastic responsibility for two days. 

As the evening progressed, I went through the mental preparation needed to get ready for my race: the 5k.

Side Note: My mental preparation consisted of feelings of excitement, denial, nervousness and terror.

We ate dinner at Applebee's and then we watched TV in our dorm rooms. I actually went to sleep that night, and had a good night's rest. I don't usually rest well the night before a race because I'm too busy thinking about the race. 

The Pre-Race Hype

Excited and happy to race!

I woke up on Saturday morning pretty hyped about racing. My race would start at 11:00am, so I got out of bed at 8:30am to go make myself eat breakfast. Afterwards, I went back up to the room that two of my teammates and I were staying in. I read my Bible, listened to some worship music, and facetimed my parents. I was reminded that my main desire is to glorify the Father in running my best. I was reminded that I had been preparing for this race for a very long time. God reminded me that I love racing. It is a pleasure. 

My goal splits for the race

So, after my pre-race hype, I was ready to race. I couldn't wait. The team vans finally pulled out of the hotel parking lot at around 9:46am to go to Mississippi College's track facility. 

The Race

There were a lot of things that happened before the race, but I will spare you most of the details (because that would make for very long post). We got to the facility and the team set up camp. I wandered around and thought deep thoughts. I then put my racing flats and my assigned race stickers on. I walked over to the starting line and talked to some of the other competitors. They all looked faster than I was, and I

almost lost heart. Then, my teammates came over and wished me the best. It was a beautiful reminder that God was in control and He would still give me the strength to do my best (which was all I could do). 

I lined up on the starting line alongside 18 other women, and the starter fired the

gun. We all shot off, attempting to settle into a satisfactory position. It would be a long race--12.5 laps to be exact. 

The starting line

I settled into about 7th/8th place for the first few laps. I tried to run behind other runners to block some of the wind. 

Side Note: To be honest, I was at least 2 inches taller than everyone in the race, so attempting to run behind others to block the wind was not the brightest idea.

After the first four laps, my legs felt heavy, and I prayed and asked God to take the heaviness away. He did not, but He did give me the mental strength not to quit the race just because I felt uncomfortable. 

I did not know what place I was in after 7 or 8 laps of the race. Some of my closer competitors and I began to lap other runners and I was confused as to whether they were ahead of me or behind me.

I was extremely thankful for the encouragement of my grandparents and teammates throughout the race. I do not think I could have successfully made it through the last four laps of the race without them. To be honest, the race went by surprisingly fast, I ran my last lap with the realization that I could run a personal best. I mentally gritted my teeth (because physically gritting my teeth requires a lot of energy) and pushed myself through the final 400, 300, 200, and 100 meters. I crossed the line in fifth place with a time of 19:20.22! I was both exhausted and elated. Coach was happy, too. Praise the LORD!

Afterwards, I got to see all of my grandparents who came to the race and I cooled down with some of the runners from my race. 

My Teammates

Since my event was completely done at around 11:30 in the morning, I got the opportunity to watch my teammates perform, and they did amazing. I love seeing my teammates run.I was super-excited for all of them. I am very thankful that they performed well! It was a great day!

Thanks for reading my blog! Stay tuned! Comment below on something that you want me to blog about between track meets!