That One Race

     A cross country race is like a death march expect you're running and competing with the people you're marching with. Half of a race itself is mental game. The best feeling in the world is when you cross that finish line knowing you left it all on the course, that you couldn't have done any better. You can often tell who those people are because they're throwing up or passed out right back the finish line. Let's face it, running is partially a competition between you and yourself.
     It feels as though there a few worse feelings than that of having a bad race. Putting so much work into something to not get what you want out of it is devastating. I've seen both, and experienced. I've had teammates crying at how awful they did or crying at how wonderful. I've picked up some ways of coping with killing your own self during a race and getting absolutely nothing out of it.
     First off, it's totally okay to let yourself be sad or mad. In fact, I encourage it. Beat yourself up. Then, dissect what went wrong. Was what happened in your control? Was the weather okay? Did you trip? These are things that you couldn't have changed, so stop beating yourself up and analyze what you need to do to be better prepared for the next race. If it was a hot day and you don't run well in heat, train yourself to!
     If you were in control of your race and decided to slack off on those hills or slow down on those turns, by all means beat yourself up! Run hills a few days after and don't ever let yourself ever slack off again!