Following the exciting two weeks of racing our team had just completed, many among us were looking forward to a few strong weeks here of training and tuning up before the end of our season's push towards NXN NE Regionals. With a conference title and state championship already pocketed, we feel great as we are beginning to stride through the twilight weeks of the season, gathering all of our strength and fitness. The GFS XC boys team continues to drive towards that goal which has hung over us for months already, the end of the season, the definitive chapter in our cross country story. There have been huge accomplishments along the way, as well as difficult defeats, but we have used all of them as momentum to bolster our spirits. Over the course of these two weeks, we completed some of the most grueling workouts of the season, pushing our bodies to the limit in order to achieve supreme fitness. With a lack of structured competition, we took each workout with a race mentality, maintaining the acuity of mind that is required to be a great racer.
I saw progress from my efforts earlier in the season, both in mentality and effort. We came back to exact same hills which had claimed some of our workouts before, continuing to push the envelope on our training while maintaining a healthy balance of intensity and recovery. After all, I think this point in the season is about developing a confidence in your own ability. You need to not only believe in the training, but also to believe in yourself, and know that when the time comes and the question is posed as to whether you're willing to go beyond what any regular athlete would be able to endure, you can answer with an exclamatory and resounding shout of approval. We've seen the success we're chasing in its various elemental forms, and we've experienced each of the challenges we're going to have to take on alone, but the culmination of all of these things is what will be the ultimate test of our ability. We have a passion for what we do, and at the end of the day after all of the miles have been logged and all of the splits have been hit, that's what makes this whole experience worth it.
When it comes time for us to be tested, you can bet we'll be ready.
