In Her Own Words: Natalie Varela - My First Sub 18 Performance


So my streak ended. I went into the Flrunners Race of Champions 3 for 3, but ran into a hurricane named Bailey. To be honest no mater all I heard or read,I thought I would go in and shock everyone.I was on a roll momentum wise ,and full of confidence. I had a good week of practice and a good game plan.

The gun goes off, I'm full of energy so I tried to stay calm .I would follow for the first time this year. At the mile mark the lead pack was down to four, Bailey, Amanda, Tsion and myself. We hit the mile mark flying at 5:27. Wow, we were moving. I was planning on going 5:35 to 5:40, but Bailey and Amanda had other plans.

I had no choice. I came to win, so I was either going to run a great race or crash and burn. By the 2 mile mark, Bailey and I had a slight lead on Amanda with Tsion following about 15 meters behind. I was in good shape just behind the leader and feeling good. That's where the game plan went out the window and started a series of small mistake on my part. First, I tried to surge, but was covered by Bailey. I tried again with no results. Mistake 1 & 2 .

The plan was to follow and conserve strength and roll the dice in the final stretch. Now my legs were starting to feel impact of the pace and the surges. With about 600 to go Bailey surged and I couldn't cover. With 600m left and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't shake Amanda and Tsion was starting to come on. Around the horseshoe turn we go.



The win is out the window and the other girls are coming on strong. With about 200 left I hear someone yell go Natalie she's coming. Mistake number 3, I do the one thing that I should never do. I turn my head over my right shoulder to see how far back Amanda is and I lose stride. My momentum and form is gone. She's 20 meters back and coming on strong. I recover, but the speed is not there, I have to suck it up and go.

I cross in 17:46, my new PR, and just manage to hold off Amanda. Wow, what a race. I head back upset that I didn't win before my coaches and  dad come over to congratulate me.Then it finally starts to set in. I broke 18 which was my goal this year. I feel a little better. I run into Bailey and we do a cool down together. That was awesome.

Thinking ahead 2A is going to be  a brutal region. Beach is the real deal,Tsion is in great shape and me I'm just me. Throw in the talented Pine Crest team and it makes for a heck of a race. States is even tougher when you throw in some other girl from the north with freakish 800 meter closing speed. You know who i'm talking about.

I fell asleep on the way home to Miami. This race was so challenging, but these are the races I live for. Bailey got the trophy and I got the bullet shell from the starters gun.I'll keep it as a momento with my bib and maybe frame it. Hey, it's my first sub 18.



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