This was my first time doing this race, and I really liked all the turns it had in it. In the beginning of the race, a woman went for a prime and got it. She created a gap and held it for a bit. I decided that right as she gets back to the group, I’m going to counterattack. When she just reached the front of the pack, I attacked. Nobody went with me, and it was really early in the race. The lap cards weren’t up yet so I thought that the pack would catch me eventually. I looked behind myself and realized I had a pretty good gap, so I thought okay I’ll just keep going! Some time later, I looked at the lap cards and they weren’t up yet, so I thought okay I’ve really got to stop looking at those because that’s discouraging.

Sometime later I saw that the lap cards finally said 8, and I thought oh my goodness okay don’t look at those and just keep pushing. I kept telling myself to breath, get comfortable, and stay calm. I had to remind myself to drink water because it was very hot that day, and relax because I was tensing up. During a lap, I looked behind myself and saw a woman who was bridging from the main pack, and that made me push even harder.

Eventually I didn’t see her anymore and kept on going. Then I saw that the lap cards said 3, and I thought wait can I do this? I looked behind myself and didn’t see the pack, and I thought okay only a few laps to go…KEEP GOING. Then I saw that there was 1 lap to go, and I got butterflies in my stomach. I was in the final stretch of the finish and thought no way, wait is this happening? I crossed the line and I couldn’t stop smiling. It was more like a smile of happiness and suffering because I was really exhausted at that point. It was so awesome to hear my mom and twin brother cheering me on throughout the race, and overall it was a lot of fun!