Oct 04, 2011

MileSplit XC Journals 2011

Meet Julie Macedo, from Wilmington DE. Julie has exploded this year with some impressive early season wins. She will be sending in a journal several times over the course of the 2011 season to update you on her running and the life of an elite HS runner. Enjoy!

Hello runners! This is my first journal entry so I’ll introduce myself and tell you about the first few weeks of XC. My name is Julie, but some people call me J-Weezy. I’m seventeen years old, and a senior at the Charter School of Wilmington in Delaware. So I’ll start with the first weekend of September…

On Friday, September 2nd, I went on my official visit to the University of Arkansas. I had a great time getting to know the girls on the team; they were all really cool and fun. We ran, had a team lunch at Coach Harter’s house, and went to a football game (Hogs destroyed!). Go Razorbacks!

The next weekend was my first race (Lake Forest XC Festival). Beforehand, I was really excited because I love competing and was ready to get the season going! The night before, I looked up the course record, it was 17:48. So I figured I’d give it a shot. That morning I was not feeling so good and my race was in just a few hours. I’ll spare you the details (let’s just say I was a little sick to my stomach). I got to the meet, managed to do some warm up and headed to the line with my goal of the record thrown out the window. The gun went off and like always, I got in the zone. It felt like the first mile was over before I even realized I was running. At the 2 mile I was feeling pretty good and told myself “you can always just crank out one more mile!”. Before I knew it, I was sprinting to the line with the record time on the clock (17:36). After a quick interview, I ran straight to the bathroom! I was so excited the next morning when my parents told me that it ranked me #1 in the U.S.! The performance also made me “Athlete of the Week” for a local radio station. The first race got me pumped to continue training hard and working toward the rest of the season.

The next weekend was the Charter School of Wilmington (CSW) XC camping trip to Avalon, NJ! We go on the trip every year and it’s always a super fun way for the team to bond.

The next weekend was the race at Six Flags Wild Safari. It was a very early morning (bus left at 6am and we were racing at 9am), but I was ready to go race! I knew there were girls from NY, NJ, PA, and MD so I figured there were some strong competitors on the line. After a conservative first mile with the lead pack, I threw in a surge and held the pace through the rest of the race. I was absolutely stunned when I saw the clock at sub 17! I knew that from workouts, I was capable of that time but it still felt unreal. And once again, it ranked me #1 in the U.S.!

The next race was Paul Short at Lehigh University. I love this race because there are so many runners and fans. The course is also pretty nice. It’s a little bit rolling, but no major hills and it’s very open and good for spectators. I was expecting Angel Piccirillo to be there (I saw that she came in 2nd last year in the results) and was excited to run against someone who could really push me. But she wasn’t there, and I ran by myself from a little after the mile. Overall I’m pleased with the race and was really happy to get the win, but I felt as though I could have pushed a little harder and run a little faster. Between cool-down and awards, my team and I went on a quick trip to Subway which is my favorite “restaurant” in the world!

The next morning a few of my teammates and I volunteered at a local race. It was cool to be on the official side instead of the participant side for once. I have a new appreciation for the officials who keep the all those results in order; it’s a lot harder than it looks!

So that pretty much fills you in on my xc season so far. Coming up this Thursday is my official visit to University of Florida. And I don’t race again until October 14th. I’ll keep ya posted! I hope everybody has a great week of training and racing!

* Julie *