Playmakers' Grand Finale

'Twas the Sat' before Thanksgiving, and all through the trails, runners were racing, being tough as nails...

Hola! And welcome back to yet another edition of Blaze! Finally, after about six weeks or so of not racing, I have returned to action. Today was the Playmakers' Grand Finale race, a cross-country race put on by our club team as a last harrah before club nats in December. We also use this race as a final measuring stick for picking who will be on the team that runs at club nats, so it acts as a sort of selection race as well. Not to give away the ending, but I was not in the mix for the "varsity" club nats team. However, considering how my training this fall has went, I don't think that it was necessarily a bad race either. I ran a 26:40 or so. Not bad, considering that I ran slower at the Autumn Classic, my last outing. But not really an improvement either. At least I'm not regressing.
For the most part, the rest of the team ran great. Our top guys ran PRs (Jake finally breaking the 25 min barrier), or at least ran close to them. So overall, it was a good showing.
This will probably mark the end of my cross-country season for the year, as I don't see myself paying my own was to Seattle to run club Nats. So what's next for me? Well, I'm tempted to run a Turkey Trot back in Nebraska on Thanksgiving, but I haven't made a decision yet. Then, I'll probably start prepping for an indoor season once again, and possibly run a 3k or mile indoors in December before Christmas break. Really, this last race has shown me a few weaknesses that I need to start working on. I really don't feel strong right now, and especially not on hills, so I think that may be a focus area for a while.
One last thing before I sign off: I am growing more and more convinced that my cat is 100 % pure awesomeness in feline form. That is all. Blaze on!