Travis: What's this Foot Locker experience be like for you?
Heymach: Umm it's been great its been really fun to meet up with all these other athletes there all really great. The South team were like a family now and ummm its been really fun to hang out with them San Diego is really beautiful and we've had a lot of fun here and were going to have more fun tonight, I'm really excited for everything. And umm the race didn't go how I wanted it to, a little disappointing but I have to keep my head high because I've had a good season overall I've gotten stronger then I was last year. I have a lot to look forward to in track in indoor track in outdoor track yeah so I'm excited for everything thats coming.
Travis: And talk about the race when It doesn't always go as planned, you know your very positive right now not everyone can bounce back right after that. What's going through your mind that you can take away from this race where you can look forward and still be happy with it?
Heymach: So ya know, I mean it was a little disappointing so it went pretty well for like the first two miles, but I think ya just kinda have to put it in perspective everyones going to have bad races thats part of the sport, so you just have to kind of come back for it look at your races see what went wrong and kind try and learn from that. Ya know in my race like in the race today I the problem wasn't really much of a strategic error or anything like that it was just kind of like I was feeling pretty bad after ya know two miles. Then everything just kind of went down hill from there. I'm still just proud of myself for finishing cuz I felt so bad I was really close to ya know just not finishing, but I was really glad I was able too, even though it was not a very good showing I'm still happy with it.
Travis: Do you think that sometimes these kinds of races are almost beneficial, just for a runner to be down so far and you still finish. Where In the future you can think about think about when your in a tough race you can be like "Hey I finished that Foot Locker race I can finish this one"?
Heymach: Yeah you can always draw from all of your races that you have good or bad ya know. There all experiences that you can learn from ya know I'm going to be able to ya know think about these races later and kind of draw strength from it. This whole experience has been really fun its just like a blessing to be able to compete here. Foot Locker is such a great race and everyone here is really talented so ya know, I feel honored to compete with all of these girls.
Travis: It's an interesting dynamic at Foot Locker because you race with individuals but your in teams it seems like for some reason the South girls are really close, talk about the group a little bit.
Heymach: Yeah ya know were kinda really close I'm kinda disappointed that I wasn't able to be in the top 5 to like help them score better because we were I think we were I don't know pretty close to the MidWest. We had
Weini, Nevada, Libby, ummm and Logan all in the top 10 ya know but I think we all did really well to. I didn't have the best race I think a couple of other girls didn't have their best races but overall as a team we did pretty well I think we can all be proud of what we did, because we all gave it our all. Were still happy with each other were still happy with how we did, I think we'll have a goo year next year hopefully.
Travis: Is that kind of a refreshing experience for you. your used to running solo in so many races, cuz your on a team but your kind of on another level. Is that fun to be able to be part of that?
Heymach: Yeah, ya know I was running for a good almost probably about two miles with Libby and that was really nice to just be able to run by her knowing that she's part of my team. She wants me to do well and also know that she a really strong runner and so like I stayed with her I could finish pretty high. It didn't end up that way but I think its really nice to be able to root for not just yourself but the whole team. Were all proud of each other I think we had a good day on the whole.
4:10
Travis: Looking back on the season what are somethings that stood out to you about your 2015 cross country season?
Heymach: It was a short season but ya know i'm proud of it because I think on the whole I improved. The state meet was definitely a highlight it was my first cross country title so that was pretty cool. I think that the mud was a big part of the season for me, this cross country season. I think that thats going to help me ya know in the future, I think the mud made me a lot tougher. Region was my first race were I couldn't believe the mud that we had a Region, it was just crazy for me!
Travis: How far did you run with one shoe in that race?
Heymach: Ummm I want to say a mile maybe, yea a mile and definitely making a wrong turn there too. The mud was like really deep so your foot would go like deep into the mud like pulled off my shoe I just had my sock flopping around like for a big part of it. Half of it was like really bad I was really sore after that race. Ya know that like puts it into perspective cuz normally Texas we have like a lot of cross country races were we like, we don't have hills and ummm ya know it was typically it was dry like last year in cross country. I think that puts it in to perspective like what a lot of other athletes are dealing with a lot harder courses so ya know you have to be tough you cant just be like... you have to even if the course is bad and the conditions are bad ya know you have to go in to it with a positive outlook, and try to just compete because everyones going through the same conditions, to try to like compete as well as you can and to go in with a good outlook you know thats part of cross country. So I think thats like a big part of the season for me, its something that I really learned from this year because I've never really been through it, I'm used to really good conditions. So I think over all I think the mud in Texas this year has kind of been a blessing, so I think it's good overall.
Travis: Texas doesn't have much of an indoor season, you have a few races here and there but whats on deck next for you?
6:30
Heymach: Yeah so I think this year I'm probably gonna try to have a bit of like last year I think I just did like one indoor meet and then two weeks late I went to New Balance Indoor. I definitely want to do New Balance Indoor again that was really fun and I think its really good to go into on really competitive race like towards the beginning of outdoor season for us. I think this year I might try to like maybe to a couple more indoor races I'm not exactly sure yet but we might try to carry my fitness more from cross country into track this year and take like a little bit less of a break. So I think thats kind of what I'm probably going to do. Then I'm really excited for outdoor track and getting good times and trying to get into big races hopefully get PR's.
Travis: So you think for New Balance Indoors you'll go for the two mile again maybe go up to the 5K?
Heyamch: Yeah I don't know about that actually I could see myself going with any of those races....well I mean probably not a 5K, I'm not a big fan of 5K's right now. But yeah I'm not sure, anything probably.
Travis: Last year in track was really a break out season for you running what you did State records all those great times I mean do you feel like theres a little more expectations? Last year you were chasing girls like Devin where they were kind of the ones to look at, now Julia's the one with the target on her back.
Heymach: Yea there are more expectations now definitely, there's a little bit more pressure, but I still think I'm going to go into races ya know just trying to do my best, try not to like think to much about like what people kind 8:00 of expect me to do and try and just like... if I keep my training really good and just try to do the best I can, I'll be happy with that. So ya know it's exciting having more people looking at you it's also a little stressful. I think overall ya know its a good thing to ummm ya know have like a little bit of pressure and have to deal with it and yeah so I'm excited.
Travis: Unfortunately for Texas, and really the rest of the country Paige (Hofstad) was out this season with injury all season long and looks like she'll now be healthy for the track season. Could we possibly see a 5K rematch between you guys at the Southlake Distance Festival?
Heymach: Ooo ummmm maybe I don't know, yeah possibly. But yeah I'll definitely I'm really excited for Paige to start running again thats going to be really good hopefully she'll be really healthy, she's a really good friend of mine I'm always rooting for her a soo I really hope she'll be healthy this track season and we can go to big meets together and it will be really good for us to like push each other this year, so yeah thats exciting.
Travis Miller: Julia congrats and good luck at those indoor meets!
