When in Rome

Well, I’ve made it thus far to Europe. The road has been a rocky one to say the least but I am getting out of my experience everything I had hoped for and probably more! I’m based out of Leuven, it’s a quaint town in Belgium. So far I’ve been to Kortrijk, Belgium and Velletri, Italy to race an 800 and 3k. The 800 happened straight off the plane from the states. Needless to say I didn’t wake up until 600 meters into the race. Of course 2:12 is a PR but was rather disappointed in it. The few days after this race nothing seemed to work quite right, I felt as though I had no control over my body. No matter what I did I couldn’t make my body respond positively. Going into the 3k my confidence was down because of how badly I had been feeling all week but I went in fighting and battling for the time I thought I was capable of but ended up dying in the middle. I still ran 9:28, only 9 seconds off of my PR indoors. I was bummin’ pretty hard after this race. This was the first time this whole year I’ve really been disappointed in the way I’ve performed in a race. Of course I’ve had bad workouts or practices but I’ve never let it into a race. In some ways I felt as though no matter what I did to make the situation better there was nothing I could do to turn it around.

I knew there had to be an upside coming and I believed in that. The workouts I had done before the 3k had gone fairly well but just felt awful at the same time. This week rolled around and I just kept at it, I did a semi- long run that helped turn my legs around. The next day I had a faster workout and Thursday I was able to hammer an awesome tempo run averaging at a mile pace right around where I left off. It’s crazy how travel can make a negative affect on your body; I’ve never experienced anything like it. Maybe for me it’s just a super long season as well. I do however feel like I have some great races to come while I’m out here.

Next race is on the 31^st, the Allonsius meeting. I will be racing my first 1500 in 2 years! Get excited, I know I am!! After that are only 2 more races. A steeplechase and I have my choice between a 1500 or 5k to round out my season. I’m so excited and thankful to be in Europe experiencing traveling and all the crazy stuff that goes along with it. This is an experience of a lifetime and I’m trying to learn everything I possibly can for future adventures over here!