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!
Julie Macedo and Haley Pierce at the Newcastle County Champs (Photo by Bluehenphoto)
Hey there fellow runners! As the championship season is kicking off, I hope you are all ready to face it with confidence, excitement, and the readiness to perform at your best. I look at this time of the season as a celebration of the months of hard work and preparation that it takes to get our bodies to this level of fitness. This is when our efforts and dedication will show.
BHC Meet
My Championship season started last Friday, October 28th, with the conference meet. Charter is in the Blue Hen Conference, which is made up of the large public schools in New Castle County, DE. Our girls team has been conference champs since 2006 and our guys have been conference champs since 2007. And we both continued our records! On both sides, our team placed 1-4! I am so proud of everyone’s effort; individuals are really starting to step up. Our hard work is now showing and I’m excited to see what we can accomplish as a team in our upcoming races.
The race took place at White Clay Creek State Park in Newark, DE. The course is always fairly challenging but with the added mud factor, the usual difficulty level was increased. After running the course for warm up, the entirety of my running shoes were caked in mud as well as my running tights. Some of our girls even duct-taped their shoes to their feet so they wouldn’t lose them in the mud. Muddy courses seem to be the theme for us this year. I just say might as well embrace it, it makes for cooler pictures anyway!
So the race went off and I took the lead from the start. I set off with the plan of trying for the course record that was 18:16. I didn’t really have much of a pacing plan to get the time. I just figured I’d run with a solid effort and see what it produced. Around the middle of the race I was lacking motivation but I pushed myself with positive self-talk and reminded myself that it’s the last time I’d ever race that course. I got myself out of the little slump and was still on a good pace. My brother’s extremely impressive cheering was also helpful keeping me motivated. He must have been in at least 8 spots on the course; he just seemed to be popping up around every turn!
I finished the race in 17:37. It was a course record by 39 seconds, so I was pleased with another solid performance. But I was even more excited to turn around and see that the next three girls coming in were all Charter!
Committing to UF!
On Wednesday, I committed to UF! I’m so happy to know that I’ll be there in less than a year. I loved everything about my visit there and I just knew that that was where I wanted to be. That day our team had the course preview for our county meet and I wore orange and blue head to toe! You can check out my interview on the Florida Milesplit page to see more about how I made my choice and what I’m most looking forward to.
County Meet
Yesterday, November 5th, was the New Castle County Championship. This meet is always at Winterthur, which is a grassy 2-loop course on rolling hills. Winterthur is by far the most challenging course for me. The footing is really terrible and the major hill of the course is placed in the worst possible spot. On the first loop, it’s not that bad at all. But on the second loop, the hill is about a half mile from the finish. By the time you reach the top, you’re ready to collapse and the last half mile feels like a death march. The course had this effect on me in eighth grade, freshman, year, and sophomore year and I had sort of developed a mental block about getting over that hill on the second loop. Last year was not nearly as bad as the previous years. I ran 18:30ish and came in 2nd to Haley Pierce- not too bad for the course that had given me so much trouble in the past. I thought I had overcome the course and my fear of it. But this year was the craziest, most unbelievable race I’ve ever run. Haley and I ran hard from the gun, testing each other the entire way and trying to get away from each other. But I wasn’t going to let her get away from me and she wasn’t going to let me get away from her. We battled like that the whole way, running a suicidal pace. And it all hit us hard on that hill on the 2nd loop. Off the top of the hill we both slowed down to begin that death march to the finish. I started to fall back a little bit more and a gap built between us, but we were both really struggling. We went around and down the hill and I realized that I was gaining on her. At the turn to the last 200m, I was just about to pass her when she collapsed. It was shocking and scary to see her go down but all of my energy and focus was concentrated on making it to the finish line. I barely even noticed when Tatnall’s 2nd runner, Reagan Anderson, passed me to get the win. 5 seconds after Reagan, I stumbled across the line in 2nd place with 18:09. I have never felt so horrible after a race; my head was pounding and my legs were burning.
Of course I was a little disappointed not to win, but the race was really something that Haley and I can be proud of. It wasn’t a display of good race tactics or smart pacing, but of two nationally elite runners battling it out relentlessly because we were both equally determined to win.
Moving Forward
One very important factor that makes a champion is his or her ability to bounce back from a disappointment. I’m putting all disappointment from this race behind me and moving on. It really wasn’t even a bad race at all. It was an incredible showing of courage and determination, I ran my best time for that course, and was barely 5 seconds behind the winner, so what do I even really have to be disappointed about?
I’m looking forward to our state championship meet next weekend. The Charter girls always really “bring it” at the state meet and I know we can be repeat champs! After that I’ll have a weekend off from racing and then our team is off to North Carolina for Nike Cross Regionals! Looking ahead to the rest of the season, I am confident in my abilities to perform at my best when it matters most. I know that I am ready.
