Expectations

We all have expectations on different things... From the first day of school, to how hard a class will be, to what it's going to be like when we finally score our first job. We have ideas in mind for the expectations of how we are meant to be treated, how fun something is going to be, and even down to how our friends and professors should treat us.

So it is to no surprise, I had expectations about my first race.

After learning lingo and suffering a week of bad dreams I finally got to meet the challenge.

The expectations went something like this:

The bus rides would be awesome, a lot of fun and hanging out with awesome people. I would laugh lots and get to know my team "family" better.

I was going to come in last place and I would be so exhausted no matter what and I would forget my uniform and take the wrong route.

Among other things I just was very jittery about this first race. However, much to my surprise the expectations and the actual happenings were very different to say the least. In my head, I had created a trip that would be disasterous... And well, it wasn't so bad.

I found that when you race you just go: you stick with what the coaches have told you and it's totally on your own from there. I also found that your coaches won't disown you even if you feel like you did awful, and I was so grateful for my coach saying I did well even though my time felt so very slow.

My favorite part of the race was getting to encourage and cheer on the guys (they raced after us). And hearing the word of approval from the coaches.

My least favorite part of this race was feeling like I could have done better, but didn't because of my poor planning skills for the race in terms of how I balanced out my paces.

For the future: I expect to drop around 3-4 minutes total this season and I hope to reflect God even more through my running and rely more on Him.

For those who are keeping track: today's time was: 30:01. (We had scheduled paces to make, which I was making until I started looking for my partner and slowed down considerably and this race was taken at a workout pace. Slowly we will begin speeding up and getting more and more like race speed)

All in all, I was not in a wheelchair, I did not just walk this race, I ran it!! And I am going to improve.