Recently, my sister and I made it to the national competition in New Mexico for cross country. The competition in New Mexico had over 3,000 competitors from all over our nation representing their state. My sister and I competed on the California Comets team which had qualifying meets to make this special team. There were 5 qualifying meets and top eight became part of this separate team. Michael also participated in the qualifying meets but came in 9th overall therefore prohibiting him from competing with the California Comets team. My sister and I trained everyday in the morning or at our night practices to get ready for the national competition. Our coaches, coach Kevin and coach Cathleen were very supportive and trained us very well!
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| Racing |
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| At the start line |
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| My start line |
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| Hannahs start line |
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| Hannah and coach kevin |
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| Running to the finish! |
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| Both Hannah and I took fifth at our championship race |
Our first qualifying meet for New Mexico was in Arcadia on an all grass course. This event was difficult as we were not prepared to run on grass as our team practiced in the mountains.
Hannah and I both made it on to the second qualifying meet in Las Vegas. We drove for 6 hours to get to Las Vegas. It was a great trip as we had a chance to walk around on the strip and see a new city. In Las Vegas, we saw a fountain show outside the Belagio Hotel which was gorgeous! The next morning, we competed in Las Vegas and once again, we qualified on to New Mexico. I placed third on my team and Hannah placed 7th on her team.
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| At Las Vegas |
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| Enjoying the beautiful fountain |
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| Hannah and her teammates |
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| Playing on the slide in Las Vegas |
After this meet, we had two weeks to train for our national competition. Hannah and I worked extra hard during practiced and it payed off! A few days ago, we flew out to New Mexico. That day, it was raining which created a muddy wet course. It was 30 degrees outside and snowing ten miles away. Hannah and I were both freezing going into the race and after the race. We both ran in leggings, long sleeve shirts, and mittens, yet our fingers and toes still froze during the race! I placed 168 out of 400 and Hannah placed 136 out of 400 competitors in our age division. I placed third on my team and Hannah placed sixth on her team.
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| Gorgeous snowy mountains |
The exciting part of the journey was being able to ride back on a train. While on the train, we stopped in 8 locations and at 3 of them, we were able to see snow. Hannah and I made snowballs that we later threw at each other. Our cross country experience was really exciting with many events that I will never forget!
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| Getting ready to board the train |
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| Playing in the snow during a break |
