Melody on the Lam: NEW ENGLANDS!!

THE MOST AMAZING DAY EVER !!

We woke up at 7:57AM and rolled around for a bit to try and wake up, and then headed down to breakfast at our Holiday Inn. I had some yogurt, and then my team sat around and cheered me on to eat seven bites of mini-wheats! I don't think I'm ever going to have an appetite that soon after waking up, especially not at 8:00 in the morning!

We packed up and then made that video you see down there on my last entry. Then it was off to the course which was about 10 minutes away from our hotel. We had walked it the day before so we didn't have that to worry about. It was mostly just try to stay dry and warm until the race.

By time our race came around it was heavily down-pouring which was absolutely freezing! We were dancing around in box 31 and trying to huddle together for heat, and our spankies weren't helping. The race was turned over to the starter and I didn't hear him but I could see him so I figured I'd better get ready to go. The start was crazy! I didn't go out very fast, and it was hard for me to go faster after that because when you're surrounded by tons of people it's not easy to increase speed too much unless you want to trip on the person in front of you and fall on your face. I just tried to stick with my pace and when we got into the more open areas I'd take the far outside just to try and get around groups of people. I went through the mile in about 6:30, which is very slow for me. I think after that I just started having fun.

I wasn't sure where the two mile marker was but at one point I looked down at my watch and saw 12:45 (where I'd normally be at the 2mile area) and didn't see anything that made it seem like I was even close to the two mile! So I was worried for a little bit, and then I realized that I didn't have a care in the world. I didn't stop trying but I just stopped stressing about beating certain people, running a lifetime best (in that weather!), and anything else. It was the most fun I have ever had in a cross country meet. If my face and muscles weren't so tired I would have been smiling, 'cause I was on the inside.

I had built up some stress about this being my last high school cross country race and everything, but halfway through the race when I actually looked around me and realized where I was placed and how I was doing, I just decided that the best I could do was stick with Rachel Wilkinson and try not to fall! Coming into the last 800m - well... I didn't know we were in the last 800m for a bit - when I realized where we were I started picking it up, and encouraged Rachel to come with me and pass some people. When I first caught a glimpse of the clock it read something along the lines of 20:30 and my first thought was probably something like, "oh ****!" but then I crossed the line and all I could think about was how I achieved my big goal of staying on my feet! Then I saw my coach and I was smiling and laughing and exchanging congrats with everyone, and it was really nice. I didn't care that I got 77th and ran over a minute slower than I wanted to! All that mattered to me really was that I was there - running in Connecticut - with my team. That was our goal. Getting to that point is what we wanted since summer, and after I crossed the line it didn't matter what my time was, or where I finished in the race. I could not have been happier than I was just being there with my girls, seeing them smile as they came through the chute. It was one of those days you wouldn't trade for the world.

After the race was through Addie grabbed me and we started running toward a muddy hill, and we were smiling and laughing! We took off our spikes and sprinted down the hill into the watery mess of mud and grass, then stood up laughing with pieces of the ground covering our bodies almost completely (and fixed our spankies that were riding up very badly)! After a little bit other girls started to join in, and we all just kept running and jumping in it, and it was SO MUCH FUN! Even our girls that didn't run, came and jumped in with us! I honestly had one of the best times of my life that day.

Running truly is a one of a kind sport where your "enemies" are your friends, and you can all just jump into a giant mud puddle together regardless of what took place 15 minutes ago. I love the atmosphere so much, and I couldn't ask for a better one than a crowd of hundreds of runners.

I love my team so much and I wouldn't redo anything from this season if I had the chance, because it IS true that "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger," and once you succeed and reach your goals you realize that EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE!