20-Time post #5

Regionals did not go as well as i had hoped. It was a very large meet, so for sprints they had prelims. When meets do prelims for open sprints, you have to run once, and then if you place (1st, 2nd, or 3rd) in your heat, then you go on and have to run again for semifinals, and then if you make it through semifinals, you have to go on AGAIN to finals, then if you get a certain time for finals you get to to go states. Sadly, I did not even make it to semifinals due to a hurt knee. I was not happy about that, but i guess it is what it is. On the bright side, we had our last varsity meet at Valley's at Carmen Ainsworth in Flint last Friday, and i got the chance to participate in my first sprint relay! I ran the last leg, which is meant for the fastest runner on the team, so it was an honor my coach placed me there. I ran very well but our hand-off was not the best. When runner #3 was coming in, she was coming in slower than what we had practiced because she was tired (makes sense) so when she hit the exchange zone I took off fast and then had to slow down a lot so that she could catch up, it wasn't a huge deal...just something to work on for next year. My coach told me i ran a 27.0 in the relay, but he must have been a little off on his timing because that's craaazy fast ha ha. And then for my open 200 I ran a 28.3, which was a huge P.R. for me! I'm very upset the season is over and I'm so grateful for the opportunities I've been blessed with. Even though the season has come to an end, i will continue to work and improve myself.

20-time Post #4

We had a home meet last Monday against Flint Powers. An illness has been going around on our team so a few of our runners were not able to participate. It was brought to my attention by my assistant coach that we were short one sprinter, so I jumped on the opprotunity and quickly rushed to my head coach to ask if I would be able to take the runner's place in the 200, and he said yes!!! I was super nervous, becuase when i got up to the starting line all the girls were getting out starting blocks. I only practiced with starting blocks once so I wsn't comfortable using them yet in an actual race. But the funny thing is, I WON! Yes, I won my very first 200 race in a time of 29.07 seconds. I am still in complete shock as to how that happened, but I couldn't be happier! When i crossed the finish line, the boys head coach yelled over to my coach, "I think you found your new 200 runner!"
                  After that race, my coach has now been referring to me as a sprinter. I still continue to run long distance relays. But I now have been participating in the sprinting workouts rather than the long distance workouts. I hope to soon learn how to do sprinting hand-off's for relay's, because they are A LOT more stressful than long distance relay hand-off's. I also hope to practice using the blocks more. My mom used to be a really good sprinter when she was in high school, so she gives me a lot of tips and tricks on how to use them. She also told me that using starting blocks can lower your time by as much as 3 seconds! That's an insane amount of time taken off just by getting a good start.

Below are pictures of me running the 200 and about to start the 200