Team Canada kills it in Jamaica!

Hello!!!

I have so much to blog about, I don't know where to begin!  Ok- let's start with where I left off last time- NACACs! 

I went with Team Canada to Jamaica in late January to compete at the NACAC (north American central American Caribbean) cross country championships.  It was a fantastic trip!  The senior women (myself, Rachel Cliff, Lindsay Carson, Maria Bernard and Rachel Hannah) took Gold, and beat out the Americans- it was awesome.  We were super excited.  The race was tough- it was pretty hot and the course was challenging with lots of hills and uneven surface.  I was definitely pleased with my race too, as I was able to pull off the individual win:)  I went out with the lead pack and stuck with the front few for the first km.  I found the pace a bit slow, and I was feeling good, so I put on a bit of a surge going up one of the hills.  No one went with me and I went through the first loop (2k) about 20 meters in front of the chase pack.  I just kept pushing and by the next loop (4km) my lead was almost 100 meters.  The last 2km was pretty painful....but I toughed it out and maintained my lead.  I finished in 21:07 for 6km- not a super fast time, but for the course it was alright.  My teammate Rachel Cliff was 2nd place- she had an awesome race!!!

NACAC CHAMPS!!!

The junior men's and women's teams both won gold as well.  Congrats to all of them on stellar performances.  The Senior men were second to the Americans, but kicked ass too.  The trip was lots of fun- what a great group of people! Here's a funny story from the trip....

On Saturday night after the race, I am hanging out in Paula's room (hardest working massage therapist ever!  she's awesome!)  Suddenly 2 of the Junior girls burst in (Natalia and Jillian), both in tears.  What the heck is going on???  Are they ok???  We are very worried! 

Natalia- "It was in hair!!!!  I was asleep and it was crawling in my hair!!!"

Me- "What was in your hair??"

Natalia- "A giant cockroach!!!  Its still in my bed!!!"

Me- "Alright, I'll come down and kill it."

Ok, I am terrified of bugs/spiders, so not quite sure what i was thinking when I said I would come down there and kill the giant cockroach.  Maybe it was the terrified look on Jillian's face.  These girls were not going back to sleep with that cockroach in there.  

We get to the room and I'm thinking there is no way I'm gonna find this thing.  I shake out the blanket, and holy f*ckn shit a giant cockroach falls out!  This thing is massive- like the size of a lighter.  I immediately scream like a little girl and yell out every profanity I know.  And run out of the room.  After about a minute, I compose myself, grab a shoe and go back to kill this thing.  I try to hit it with the shoe, but its too fast for me and crawls under the dresser.....and that was the last time I saw that disgusting thing.  My attempt at helping the girls was pretty pathetic.  We went and found some of the senior men to try and help kill the cockroach, but no one was able to find it.  Jillian and Natalia did not sleep in their room that night.  I would not have either.  I spent 30 mins searching my room before I went to bed that night.  Luckily it was cockroach free....I think....they could have crawled on me when I was asleep- who knows?! 

So besides that unfavourable part of the trip, we had an awesome time.  Even got to go to the beach on the last day.  It was so beautiful!  

ME AND THE SENIOR MEN'S TEAM

THE BEACH....SO NICE!

 TEAM CANADA "SHRUGS" LOL!!!

Two weeks after Jamaica I competed in an indoor 3000m at the University of Washington on Feb. 9th.  It was my first indoor race in a few years, and I was pretty nervous.  The energy in the Dempsey indoor facility is awesome.  It's such a great place to run, and you just feel excited being in the building!  My goal was to run around 9:10.  I was running in the Invite section so I knew there would be plenty of girls running atleast that fast. So the gun goes off and all 25 girls are elbowing each other for position.  I thought I went out pretty aggresively, but was still mid pack stuck way inside.  I did not like this at all, especially cause it was slow and I was getting jostled around a lot.  Coming through the first lap, my coach yelled at me "to get out of there!!!!"  I found an opening (or should I say, pushed my way through) and got out of the inside pack and surged up to the front.  I ran in about 4th or 5th spot for another lap.  My coach again yelled at me to pick it up and get to the very front.  So I just took the lead out right and went for it.  I felt great, and super strong, so I was ok with leading.  My mile split was 4:50- just ahead of where I wanted to be.  With about 1km to go, a couple of the girls went to pass me, but I pushed back and didn't let them!  Then with 600m to go they tried to pass me again, and I fought them off again.  So with one lap to go (300m) when 3 of them went to pass me again, I just didn't have enough to fight them off.  But, with 200 to go I started my kick and was gaining on the 3 girls.  I passed one right away and then with 100m to go, passed another.  But, I just didn't have enough to catch the last girl and had to settle for 2nd place.  But, hey- I ran a 23 second PB- 9:02.57!!  I was super stoked!!!  I was happy with not only my time, but with how the race went.  It was a good day at the Dempsey.

The day after the indoor 3km was the Vancouver First Half half marathon.  I was signed up to race, but knew it would be a stupid decision to race 21 Km the day after a super hard 3km.  I went to watch anyway, as my run clinic (Port Moody's Kintec Clinic) was participating, along with many of my running friends.  It was really hard being there and not racing!  I was at the start line watching all the elites warming up and I wanted to join them so badly!  I did my long run on the race course (we ran it backwards!) with Rebecca Johnstone, Rachel Cliff and Erica Digby.  It was fun cheering for everyone- such a great energy that morning.  My run clinic peeps did amazing!  So proud of them!  It was also cool to watch my friend Rob Watson win the race- he's a pretty fast guy and has a good blog too.  Not as good or as funny as mine but still worth a read:)- leblogdurob.com.

So now I'm in the middle of a big training block- 4 weeks of no races, just lots of running!  I was sick with a cold last week, but still managed to run my biggest week of mileage this year.  I'm hoping to top that this week!  I've gotten in a couple of pretty wicked workouts in the past few weeks- did 8 X 600m on the track and averaged about 1:42/1:43 (2:30 rest).  I feel like things are coming along well- just gotta stay healthy:) 3 weeks until I leave for Poland- and less then 4 weeks until I race at the World XC championships!!!! 

Exciting news!  My coach and I decided that I'm gonna try the 3000m steeplechase!!!  So I've started doing hurdle drills- and they are going well:)  I'm super pumped to be trying something new.  I'm definitely nervous and scared of the water jump.....I've always wanted to do the steeplechase...so we thought why not just give it a try?  YOLO!  lol- yeah I just said that.....hahaha what a nerd I am!  I am still gonna race 5ks and 10ks, and maybe even a few halfs this year, but I still wanna do a 3k steeple!  Its gonna be fun!

Ok this blog is getting ridiculously long, so I'm gonna shut it down.  I do have lot's of other stuff to talk about, but I will save it for another blog!!! 

Happy running everyone!