Hello FlRunners, Congratulations to every athlete so far this season. It is always fun to check out all of the race coverage each weekend.
This past weekend, our team competed at the Mt. Dew Invitational on the UF golf course. Leading up to this race, we were very excited, as it was our first overnight meet. This meant more fun times spent together, and plenty of new memories to be made. I had a feeling that our team was going to have a great showing this weekend, but the girls exceeded all expectations. We finished 7th out of 72 teams and I am extremely proud of the girls. They work so hard day in and day out and I am excited that it is paying off.
On an individual standpoint, I tried a different racing strategy than I had used the last two meets. I decided that from the gun, I was going to take it out hard and run my own pace, and let the girls come to me. 
I definitely felt stronger and more confident running up front, which I believe helped me improve my time from the previous week. I was a little surprised to come through the mile marker at 5:29, but I tried to remain calm and run with good form. By the two mile I knew the girls were gaining on me. I tried to hold on for second, but could not maintain it all the way up until the finish. I ended up 4th, which I am not satisfied with, but it is a step in the right direction time-wise! Congratulations to all of the girls that competed that day.
Immediately following the meet, I stayed in town and had the amazing experience of going on my first official visit of my senior year! It was really cool to see all of the benefits that athletes receive, like academic advisors, tutors, smoothies [my favorite part ], and all of the athletic facilities that you have access to! Actually, my favorite parts were seeing the weight room and the orthopedic center. I do not incorporate any kind of weight training into my current training, but that is definitely something that I am most excited about to work on in college. Seeing the atmosphere of the football players working hard in the decked out weight room was very inspiring to me. As of right now, I want to major in physical therapy, so visiting the orthopedic center and meeting a physical therapist was awesome. The technology they have to analyze your running form was unbelievable. Mix in hanging out with the other recruits and the team, and you get a really great weekend. I was extremely grateful to have the opportunity to spend this visit with a competitor of mine since middle school! We discovered that we were practically twins and have uncanny similarities. We even ordered the same exact meal on THREE different occasions, how crazy!
These past two weeks have been very chaotic for me, as homework in the IB program is starting to pile up. Trying to balance that with getting adequate sleep, eating well, and hydrating has been a challenge. Last week, I focused on trying to get an extra hour of sleep a night and this I feel benefitted me for the race this past weekend. Each week I am setting a new goal to improve the balance. That is my advice to you: find the right balance that works for you and makes you the most successful. It is a struggle, but once you find it, the benefits will be worth it!
This weekend, our team is attending the North Port Invite. We are finally running on a flat, faster course, so I am looking forward to seeing some fast times! Good luck to everyone racing this weekend!
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