Hey all!
So the day finally came haha, yesterday I received my Team USA uniform, and let me tell you I almost cried. It was everything I had hoped for and more. The USATF, being sponsored by Nike, only allows us to wear Nike products while we are oversees. Therefore, they gave us everything that we could possibly need to run and wear in Nike. This included, socks, several different styles of running jackets, hats, tights, half-tights, and several t-shirts. We were even given an official Team USA Nike backpack, drawstring sack, and suitcase. Finally and most importantly is the Team USA uniform. I know that every runner out there dreams of being able to put on the singlet and shorts and represent their country and I feel honored that I am able to be one of the lucky few that get to realize this dream.
So now that I’m done bragging, I guess I’ll just discuss how everything has been going recently. I’m on spring break this week so it’s really been nice to only have to worry about my training. No homework, no class, just running. Training the last few weeks has been going exceptionally well. Senior Cale Allen and I blasted a track workout on Tuesday. It was the first time that I have seen Coach Hartman visibly excited about anything haha, so I guess we really ran well. I’ve really been working mostly strength recently. For an 8k cross country race you really don’t require a blistering amount of pure speed like you do when you’re racing a similar distance on the track. I’ve been sleeping and eating really well and no matter what my legs are feeling fresh and ready to go. This will be my last really serious week of training as I am sure that the jet lag is going to interfere with the quality of training that I will be able to get in for the first few days that I am over in Poland.
Next Tuesday I will be leaving to head over sees from Chicago at 11:05 P.M. We will get into Copenhagen at about 12:00 P.M and will then take one more hop into Poland where we will arrive about 1:15 P.M Polish time. Poland is about six hours ahead of us here so basically my body will have stayed up most of the night and when we arrive in Poland it will be like 7:00 A.M here in the Eastern Time zone. So you can see that my body is going to really messed up for the first couple of days we are over there. Luckily the race is not until Sunday so I will have 4 or 5 days to fully adjust.
Well that’s everything so far. Once I get oversees I hope to be sending MaineTrackXC blogs everyday along with some photos of the country and team.
Thanks for reading everyone!
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