Next steps

The year is just about over. The season is coming to a close, as I mentioned before, and I have only one more meet before it's officially summer running time. Conference went well; it was actually a very fun race. As Molly pointed out, it didn't look like I was having fun, but it was enjoyable to feel so little pressure and be able to have only opportunity, no expectations. After the race I didn't feel as tired as I should have, as tired as after a cross country race, but either way it was a good experience. From here there is only one more race for me, either a JV race or the varsity relay race. I'm not going to be running sections but am excited to cheer on my teammates! It's an interesting position to be in, running either at the back of a faster pack or trying to push the pace in a slower pack. I often feel like I'm in limbo between being a real competitor and just tagging along for the fun of it. Which brings me back to my point from yesterday: running in college. I talked to my coach about it today and she told me about some of the different options. Obviously I'm not division one material, as that's for the people that can make state and do well there. I still don't know of any division two schools in existence, so those are completely out of the question as well. This brings me to division three. According to my coach, this form of college running allows runners to find a group of like minded people and sets up lasting friendships. The training is basically more mileage than high school running, but very doable. It provides an opportunity to be very competitive but also accommodates a broad range of intensity levels. She also mentioned other divisions that weren't as selective as D3, which include school that I have been looking at. My main goal if I ran in college would be to continue competing, running, and connecting with other runners because, quite frankly, they're often my favorite type of people. I used to think that college sports were only for the star athletes, but it's a great realization that there are still opportunities for the runners from the middle and back of the pack. My coach encouraged me to check out the programs available, and I would encourage everyone too! There's only one winner, but that doesn't mean the rest of us can't step up to the starting line.