Great night with some bad circumstances. First off it had downpoured before we arrived at the course, and when we got there, a nice stiff breeze welcomed us. Girls ran well and our sophomore had a great race and got a close 2nd to a very good upperclassmen who has made multiple trips to State. As soon as our race started it began to rain...this plus the wind was not cool, but deal with what ypu get right?<br><br>
Started off relaxed...a bit too relaxed - 6:03, and upon hearing the slowness of this I immediately sped up. I was around 25th or so at the mile and I kept catching people. I had to jump around from cluster to cluster, and when I got to the front I needed to make a break for the next closest one for some wind cover. I think the surges actually helped me a bit. Now it's less than a mile to go and we're really strung out...2 guys from a team are in front of me and I make my move on them...going by them, but now all alone in no-man's-land. A guy is up ahead about 10m or so and I start reelign in on him. With a quarter to go I get by him and start working on the next guy who is about another 15 m or so. We round a final sharp corner and I'm gaining no ground on the guy in front of me, but the guy I just passed almost passed me by, so I dropped it into final gear for the last 50m or so and easily held him off. 9th place....wow, didn't expect that but I'll take it. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Very Happy"><br><br>
Sad thing is we didn't get to hang around for results or medals because of an accident. A great girl runner on our team last year now runs at Minnesota Stae University Mankato and was riding around with a friend of hers on bikes when a driver flew up onto the sidewalk and hit both of them. Laura, the girl from my school got scuffed up, but her friend got thrown from her bike and landed on the car. I guess she's in some serious stuff, so I'm asking all of you for some prayers for these girls. Laura runs on the XC team there and I think her friend may as well, so I'm really hoping their seasons aren't ended now. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/sad.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Sad">