Recap of 2013 XC Season

Forgot to write this a while back after Cross Country season was over, but will give you the last bit of our 2013 XC season.  After Jim Drews, we know what we needed to do.  We had a good solid couple weeks of running mileage & workouts before WIAC conference came around.  The day before WIAC conference, we drove to River Falls to stay over night, once I was on the bus, I was very excited for the opportunity to race in the greatest conference in DIII.  Once we got there, we did our usual pre-meet easy run on the course, basically for our race is doing the loops around 3-4 times, feels like running a track-grass. Got to our hotel & had a meeting, Antczak gave his pep talk & said "Time to show what we can do & make it the best of it".  Next morning- race day, got to the course, had a little butterflies in my stomach but stayed pretty confident.  Did our warm-up & got to start line, and I thought to myself "Time to get after it & give it all you got".  The gun went off & it started off really quick, had a little trouble with it, I was starting to feel the pain during the early going of the race, but kept thinking to myself, don't quit now, you worked too hard for this, just keep pushing through & finish the race.  As the middle of race progressed, I was able to build confidence & able to pass people.  Once it got to close to the end of the race, was giving all I got, kicked hard as I can, once the race was over & thought "Wow I just ran my last race of my collegiate career".  I have to thank my coaches & my teammates for being apart of the 3 years great UW-Platteville XC program, I will for sure miss it next year.  At conference, we finished 5th, hope better but I can see my team winning it next year. As the rest of our season continued, our guys finished in the 9th at Midwest Regionals.  We had three guys All-Region.  My bros Joel & Sam qualified for Nationals.  Then we had Joel & Sam running Nationals the next weekend, none got All-Americans but had a good first experience of it.  Sure will help them carry to next season.  I will be the only runner gone out of the 24 roster.  By the looks of it, I can see a very special team next year, they have all of the pieces to the puzzle, just have to stay healthy & have solid training, this team can do a lot of damage & making a statement in DIII.  I can see us bring home a Conference Title, win Regionals, & possibly the National Championship.  I really believe it.  Definitely will come back for Alumni & making visits.  I love you guys, you are my second family.  Want to say thanks for the memories.       






















           

Top 10 Running moments of 2013

Since we are closing in on the 2013 year, I decided to say my top 10 running moments of 2013:

10. Hanging with Rubis at DIII Track & Field Nationals in La Crosse, WI
 

















 9. Running a lot on my favorite course over the summer




















8. B2B in Platteville, WI with the bros

7. Racing at Griak for the 1st time ever in my collegiate running career




















 6. Last Trip up at Pigeon Lake/Training Camp with the team























5. Berbee Derby- Verona Alumni Reunited


























4. Meeting Arizona's All-American/National Champ Lawi Lalang 





















 









                                                                                                                                                                         3. Running with my Pioneer XC team one last time- Heck of a ride with my bros


























2. Running on one of the coldest days of the year- last day of the 2013 year



































                                         1. Racing the greatest Conference in DIII Nation: WIAC

Top 10 Female Distance Crushes

I have decided to do a blog on my top 10 female distance crushes, here is what I have:

10. Emma-Lisa Murphy:Wisco (Badgers)

















9. Maggie Vessey: USA Olympian/New Balance



































 8. Mandy Perkins: Florida Gators




























 7. Jordan Hasay: Oregon/Nike Oregon Project



















                                           6. Kara Goucher: USA Olympian

































5. Colleen Quigly: Florida State
















4. Emily Sisson: Providence















 3. Katie Flood- Washington/Juliet Bottorff- Duke
























 











                  

2. Emma Coburn: New balance/USA Olympian/Colorado



















1. Cory McGee: Florida Gators/USA Olympian

Jim Drews Invite

We were off to Jim Drews invite at Maple Grove Golf Course in La Crosse on Saturday October 19th, 2013.  We had high expectations coming into the meet & it was time to run fast.  We want to get after it and show what we can do.  When the gun went off, it was a rough start, I had to try to get out of the slump and was stuck in the first mile.  As the raced progressed, finally to start passing people, I was almost feeling a stomach cramp, but still stayed tough through the race.  I had one of my teammates help me out because I was struggling & was able to get back with my teammate, started to feel confident & positive the whole way.  About a 2 or 3k to go, start to progress & passing people.  With less than an 1k to go, I went for it & passed some people, when close to the finish, I kicked as hard as I could.  Once I crossed the finish line, my time was 28:26, still not a PR, but happy that my time went down, & I got the 2nd to last spot for the WIAC conference team, I was soo happy plus excited.  After all I had to go through with the iron deficiency, not running normal/ slower race times & taking iron for the last 9-10 months & getting back into my normal running & racing well, I'm finally get to race one of the best conferences in DIII Nation: WIAC Conference Championship.  That was one of my goals this season & I got it.  Overall as a team from this meet, we didn't do soo hot, we were 13th out of 30 teams, which means we need to look at ourselves & see what needs to be done.  We know what we are capable of, basically the season hasn't really started.  The season starts once we get to the Conference Championship: Step 1 of 3 of road to Nationals.  I am looking forward to it, it's going to be an exciting one.  I think as a team with this week & next week of training, I think we will be ready, just have our minds in the right place, if we can do that, we can still hit our goals/expectations & I believe we can.        

Roy Griak Invitational

It was Friday afternoon on September 27th, 2013, we were on our way up to St Paul, Minneapolis for the Roy Griak Invitational, one of the biggest XC meets of the season.  It's one of the meets where to see where we are at as a team and how we can compete against the big teams in our WIAC Conference & rest of Division III.  Once we got off the bus, we got to run around the Les Bolstad course for an easy shake out, when we were doing our run I was thinking, I feel like I went to running heaven, it's an amazing course, there were some spots with tough rolling hills, but it's a good course.  After the run, got to load up carbs at Noodles & then went to the hotel, stayed at the Country Inn.  Had a team meeting, coach Antczak told us the plan & he said "We've been doing pretty well with workouts and staying healthy, it's time to show what we can do".  Next morning, race day, September 28th, 2013. We did our 7 minute shakeout before breakfast, then I had my pregame breakfast which is a couple of bagels and bananas.  Got to the bus and head to the course.  Once we got there, it was a lot of fans and runners a cross the country, it's amazing.  We started warming up around the course before our race & we had a game plan, basically stay in packs.  After doing our warmup & doing our drill/strides, we huddled up & said, "time to get out relaxed & aggressive, get out quick".  Time to show the rest of the teams what we can do.  Got to our start line, the gun went off, I was a little squeezed in the beginning of the race, but started to spread out during the race.  I kinda started losing the guys at the beginning when we were 400 meters into the race.  Then thought to myself, time to chase down some guys & keep fighting till the end.  Feeling good the first mile, second mile was feeling okay, once I got to the 5k, started to feel the pain from running the hills, thought myself, you trained for this, time to show what I can do.  I kept grinding & pushing through the hills, once I got to 6k, it's time to make a move & start passing a lot of people.  I was feeling the pain, but feeling good at the same time.  When I was close to the finish, I tried to kick as hard as I can.  I was able to finish on one of the toughest courses of my XC collegiate career & I'm happy with it.  My time was 28:56, not what I wanted, placed 126th, not what I wanted.  I knew after the race I have some things to work on & learned a lot from the race.  What I learned is you have to get out quicker early in the race & how bad do you want it.  We didn't place very well as a team, we were 5th overall behind Eau Claire, Oshkosh, Bates, & Wartburg, we knew we were better than those teams.  Hoping to get our guys back from injuries & get our minds back in the right place.  We now know that we have some work to do & get our confidences back, coach Antczak knows we are better than this, we just have to get our other guys like myself step up.  If we can do those things, we should still be able to hit the goals/expectations that we set back in August.