Whitewater Cross Country at Harlem Meet; Team Heading to State

We traveled to the Harlem Invite on Friday, October 13. This season has been a little eerie in the fact that all of our weather has been almost identical to last season's weather. Which, you don't see very often in Montana. It was nice and chilly, a light breeze, and once the sun came out around 10 am it turned out to be a beautiful day to run. We had great competition at this meet with Shelby, Sun Burst, Glasgow, and Chinook all coming to compete. Harlem has a very flat course so it is a great course to go to right before state. A lot of kids end up PRing at this meet, giving them an extra boost of confidence. I don't know if we necessarily went into the meet expecting PR's, more so wanting good consistent miles. That was my hope anyways.

Ava was planning on starting her race off with an 8 minute mile which is faster than she has run all season. But, with no hills it was worth a try. Shelbi was just planning on finding a comfortable rhythm and trying to stick it out with the pains she has been experiencing with her sides. Both girl's first miles were good. Ava came in around 8.09, great split for her. Shelbi came to mile one at about a 6.47, not where we usually start but that was ok. She was maintaining her form and running strong as usual. Mile two for Ava was 8.59, Shelbi a 6.51. We've really struggled with mile two all season. Naturally mile one tends to be a little faster with that initial burst of adrenaline. You just don't want to be too far off of it in the second mile. They both made up some time in mile three. Shelbi came around the corner with 800 meters left, just behind Sunburst trying to keep her eyes up on her back as a target. She tried her hardest to catch up to her on the last 200 but Nikki also had some extra juice left in the end. Shelbi ended with a time of 20.45 in 4th place. I was happy with this. Her miles were fairly consistent and she's learning to run through some pain and push through even when her body is telling her to stop. Ava ended with a time of 27.28 in 37th, making up a little bit of time in the third mile as well. We've been trying to work on running and being ok with being uncomfortable. This can be difficult but I know Ava has the potential to do so.

We will be heading to the State meet in Kalispell this Friday. Walk throughs are in the afternoon and then we will run at 11:50 am on Saturday. This is the first year that I've taken kids and had a morning run instead of late afternoon. The girls are happy with this. They hate being at the meet and watching all of the races go by. It makes for a lot of nerves before the race. We hope everyone has a safe trip and goodluck to all of the athletes competing! It is one of the best Montana sporting events you can go to. It is an atmosphere that you can't find anywhere else.