Jamey's blog: USATF National Club XC Championships

All good things come to an end! That's certainly how I feel about this past cross country season. I ran quite a few races since late August - 12 in total between cross country, 2 long road races, and the Corp Challenge. Quite a few were good, a couple were bad, and one was ugly, but regardless I improved as a runner, and had just a great time doing it. While the PA season was over, our club had one last piece of business to take care of - the USATF National Club XC Championships. Club 'Nats is team focused race (with individual bragging rights of course) that features many of the best semi-pro and amateur runners & clubs from across the country.

I ran my first Club Nationals last year in Spokane & let's just say the race wasn't a great experience. Last year's race features single digit temperatures + howling winds, which combined with an unimpressive fitness level placed me toward the back of the field. I was also super nervous the whole day before the race... bleh. (although it was GREAT to catch up with a couple college teammates the evening after the race).

Anyway, I waffled throughout the fall between continuing my momentum from the half marathon and 30K by running the California International Marathon or traveling to Kentucky for Club Nats. A couple factors tipped me toward Kentucky. One was not wanting to tack a marathon on top of such a busy racing season, and then the deciding factor was getting to see my parents who drove up from Lookout Mountain and my sister Alysia her family who drove from Louisville (sister Debby was going to drive up as well, but got knocked on her back with the flu).

After the PA Champs & Turkey Trot (the latter being the one ugly race) I had a great couple weeks of training. So I headed off to Kentucky exited to finish off the season on a good note. When I headed to the course the day of the race, I was so much more relaxed then last year. I had a race plan, and the confidence to execute it. The 40 degree race day temp felt tropical compared to last year.

The race was 10K total, which consisted of 3 times a 3 kilometer loop (just shy of 2 mile), then 1K mostly uphill to the finish line. The course was challenging with 2 long gradual hills on each loop, but fair & well suitable for a championship race. The grass course was in decent shape, but there were some sloppy sections leftover from a recent snow storm that had melted. A bonus feature was a digital clock at every mile mark.

I witnessed first hand the funniest thing I'd ever seen at the start of the race. Todd Rose, Jonathan Charlesworth, and I took the front row of our assigned starting box. The starter called "runners take your mark" then we waited what seemed like forever for the gun to fire. But how it really went was "runners take your mark" FART!!! Jonathan mistook Todd's flatulence for the starting gun, and almost took off before getting reset behind the line. Finally the gun fired and we took off with Todd & I laughing almost hysterically.

My plan was simply to run a conservative first mile+ then start moving forward - very similar to what I did at the PA Champs. I almost felt like I was running too easily in the first mile, which hit both of the long hills. I stayed relaxed, resisted the urge to shuffle positions, and dropped 10 - 15 meters back from Todd. I hit the split in 5:10 which was a decent pace for a net uphill mile. We headed downhill to the one flat part of the course, where I finally let myself pass a few runners. Throughout the 2nd mile, I started to move up considerably. I hit that split in 5:08. I kept moving through the 3rd mile - now having picked up quite a few spots - and hit the split in 15:28 (a 5:10 split). The 5K distance had been a monkey on back over the past year, and I had just ran my fastest 5K since college - at the half way split of a muddy, hilly, cross country course. I had a great race going, so time to keep rolling.

I passed a few people the 4th mile but slowed down a good bit, hitting the split in 20:58 (a 5:30 mile). I was pretty tired heading into the 5th mile, but just tried to focus and relax. I saw my niece Callie & nephew Conner jumping and cheering, which brought out a smile at a tough part of the race.

As the last loop started, I gave back a few of the many spots I had picked up. That net downhill mile was a more respectable 5:22 (26:20 total). With a mile left to go, I tried to take a deep breath and make a move toward the finish. Unfortunately, that move was short lived, and I just died, or the wheels fell off, or pick your cliche... it was ugly and painful. In the last half mile, I lost many if not most of the positions I had gained. The 6 mile mark was 32:00 (5:40) and a finishing time of 33:13 for 171st of 319 runners. West Valley finished a solid 27th out of 41 teams, beating our PA rivals, the River City Rebels, by just 2 team spots. Jonathan Charlesworth finished 92nd, and Todd finished 110th (exactly a minute in front of me).

My thoughts on the race echoed those of several people I talked to afterward, not great, but not terrible. If I hadn't fallen apart in the last mile, I think it would have been pretty good. But still, I ran my fastest post college times from 5K thru 10K. West Valley only brought 5 guys to the race (the minimum required to score a team) & everyone ran well. I thought Todd's race was particularly impressive. Also, congrats to the Aggies and Transports who put numerous runners in the top 50 to finish 4th and 5th respectively in the team competition.

Before the race I had hoped to be close to 100th place, but that might have been a little ambitious given how competitive the nationwide running scene has been. I'm happy with my improvement over last year, moving from the back of the pack to the middle. Just as long as I further improve on it next year!

The official post race party was a dud, but we met up with the Rebels team later in the evening, and had a great time celebrating the end of the season, and a closely contested year long rivalry.

Sunday morning I drove up to Louisville & enjoyed hanging out with Alysia & the family.