I think I'm due to provide a race report for Guelph and a brief synopsis of training as of late.
I started off last weekend by travelling to Toronto Friday night and crashed on teammate Kristen Marchant's couch before grabbing a free ride with U of T Saturday morning. The weather upon arriving in Guelph was perfect for cross country- brisk enough for gloves yet sunny. The howling wind near the start/finish where the team tent was set up made it a bit uncomfortable to stand around, so the men's team trekked over to the Guelph student centre, sat around just long enough to get warm, then walked straight back to warm up (in hindsight, this was a bit of a waste, but at least we warmed up slightly). Prior to the gun I didn't feel great as I battled some digestion issues, but thankfully they didn't trouble me once the mass of bodies sprinted for the first corner. I'm going to be honest- I absolutely loathe that start at Guelph. Two hundred and fifty athletes all trying to push and elbow their way around the sharp turn always makes for a chaotic scene, and this was amplified when a certain individual from a school which will remain unnamed decided it was a good idea to travel horizontally in front of me. Both of us nearly went down before as I clipped his spikes and then I hauled him forward while shouting "Relax! Plenty of time to move!"
Settling in with Rookie Dan, Michael, and Charly, I did my best to move up when the opportunities presented themselves. The one thing about running at Guelph is that because of the size and quality of the field there always seems to be somebody hunting you while you're trying to move up, and plenty of guys find their legs in the latter stages of the race. I was feeling good through 5k, but towards the end of the penultimate lap, a gap began to open between me and those I was running with. I had the odd sensation after cresting the hill that I wasn't working hard enough, almost like I was in workout mode despite feeling tired, and then consciously tried to close on the guys in front of me again, which included Charly. This burst didn't last long, and with fading hopes and reserves as the gap opened up again, I was now ripe to be passed.
With a kilometre to go, Trevor Walmsley of Queen's flew up behind me and shouted "go with me!" For whatever reason, this seemed like a logical plan, and so I latched onto him as he chased others that were hurting. At the base of finish, muscle memory took over and I started kicking, only to elbow Trevor (incidental contact, I swear) as I went by him on the outside. In the shoot after the finish, I apologized, and to Trevor's credit, he assured me he knew it was accidental and that there we no hard feelings. We had both run well.
Frankly, after some reflection, I'm happy with my race at Guelph, even though I could only manage to finish 51st in what I'm inclined to believe was a very deep field for CIS competition. I was curious to see what fruits two weeks of decent training (my two biggest weeks mileage-wise this season) would yield, and my time was right around what type of shape I felt I was in. I have two more weeks to gain fitness in preparation for OUA's, but I think I'm on the right track. Thankfully I have this weekend off as I was starting to feel a little burnt out from all the travel.
