Hi everyone! I hope you're having a fabulous February. Winter comes with a lot of exciting things and events - snow, Christmas, hot chocolate, but especially... indoor track season!! Two Wednesdays ago I finished up the last meet of my 11th grade indoor track season, so I thought I'd do a little recap and reflection on the season.
Indoors has been SO much fun. I hold the unpopular opinion (at least until outdoor season this year, haha) that I think indoor track is more fun than outdoors. This indoor season I raced three times, all at the Penn State University Indoor Track, which is such a nice facility, I'm always so thankful to race there! This season I had the new experience of running the 3000 meter race, as typically I do the mile and 800m, and I'd say it became my favorite indoor event to race very quickly. I've run the 3200m race outdoor quite a bit, but never 200m shorter than that, and I can see why it's for distance folks, haha! I started off the season with a personal best time of 10:54, and lowered that time to 10:46 by my final race, which I'm quite happy with! Indoors is typically seen as not quite as serious or intense as outdoors, but it was fun to get back into the competitive mindset for a few weeks.
One thing that felt like a milestone for me this season was being put in the fast heat of the races at my first indoor meet of the year - the Kevin Dare Invitational at PSU. I didn't have an indoor season last year (10th grade) because of Covid, but I remember in ninth grade setting the goal for myself to make it into the fast heat of the mile or 800m. This was a goal that I never accomplished, given both that I was a baby freshman and I just plain wasn't fast enough for the fast heat. Kevin Dare was the only meet I raced at this year that had multiple heats of the 3000m, and (drumroll please!)... I was put in the fast heat! Given I'm quite a bit faster now than ninth grade (I would hope so, LOL) my seed time was in the top tier and I was put with the fast chics! This wasn't really a surprise to be honest, just given my times and race experiences, but reflecting on it afterwards, it feels special to know that I made that ninth grade goal come true. I also got my name put on the big screen for results at that meet too, which felt pretty special! (picture below)
What an indoor season it's been!! It's really helped me to find racing fun and exciting, and it's made me super excited for outdoors.
I'm so thankful for such amazing competition as well. As much as we can all play mind games with each other, at the end of the day we push each other and enable each other to reach new heights of ourselves and our capabilities. There's something so beautiful about that to me!
Thanks for following along! Check out the pictures below, which are a variety from all three meets. In the first picture you'll also see me playing sports photographer for a day at the first indoor meet in December, which I didn't race at. It was so cool to have that new experience in a familiar environment.
Also a HUGE thank you to my amazing coaches/parents who never fail to support, encourage, push, pace, and challenge me to be my best self as both a person and an athlete. None of this would be possible without them. I love you!!! ❤️⚡️