The Greater the Storm, the Brighter the Rainbow: 30 Days of Thankfulness: Day 2

Today I am thankful for the talent in running that God has blessed me with, as well as my amazing coaches and team. They ran in the AMC Conference Championships and THEY ROCKED IT! The boys came in first place overall and they all ran so well! I am so proud of them and I am so excited for them to be going on to Nationals in Vancouver, Washington!! GO COUGARS! :) The girls also ran incredibly! I am so darn proud of my team. And congratulations to Julia Montgomery for making it to Nationals as an individual! Next year, the team will be with her, for sure!

Although this season did not go as well as I planned, I am thankful for all of the improvement and success I have achieved in such a short amount of time. At the very beginning of the season, I wondered what my future would look like as I watched my knee swell to double it's normal size and lose all mobility. I hobbled around on crutches for a week, but I am thankful that was only how long it was- even if it seemed like forever with one thing wrong after another. I was nervous trying to come back and train, but I put my heart and soul into my summer training and every run after I got off crutches. I was so scared that I was starting from ground zero, but, thankfully, I had a good enough base from all of my summer training to come back very strong- stronger than I've ever been.

My first race back was such an incredible experience for me. I didn't really have a race plan other than to go out fast and stay fast and see who I could hang with. I ran with some girls from UCM and ended up coming in 5th place overall with an 18:53!!! A personal best by over a minute! And 2 minutes faster than I had run at that very same course last year when I was with Stephens!! Coming through the finish shoot was such a surreal experience; seeing 18 minutes on the clock was just unbelievable to me. 2 weeks later we ran at Forest Park in St. Louis. I wasn't feeling super great, but I still ran really well! I ran a 19:03 and placed 3rd! I ran in 2nd the whole race, but unfortunately, got out-kicked in the end. I am still so very proud of that time and race.

Today I was able to time trial the course before the races. It was one of the hardest courses I have ever run, but I pushed through it and ran a 19:34!! MO Milesplit projects that it is about 30 seconds slower than the average course, and the time I ran in my time trial alone would have placed me 3rd overall in the race! Even though it's disappointing to not be headed to the Nationals race in Vancouver, I know that ever year from here on out I will continue to get stronger and better and next year I'm going to work my hardest so I can maybe even win Conference and be All-American!

I am so thankful that God blessed me with so much talent and so many people in my life encouraging me, and I run for the glory of God every day. My coach is the greatest coach I could ever wish for, and I'm so thankful that God brought him and me to CC and that he has taken me from being an average runner to being a great runner! I am also thankful for our Grad Assistant coach and her husband who is just as involved and dedicated to our team as she is! I look forward to the future and was it yet to come as I continue training with this team.

I am so thankful to be blessed with a team that is so much fun and very talented as well. We are all so supportive of each other and I know that we will continue to grow and improve and next year both teams (men and women) are going to be racing at the National Championships! I just know it! I am thrilled for the future in indoor and outdoor track this year, actually getting to run as a part of the team, and for the coming years!