Ottawa based Lanni Marchant recently ran the Canadian XC Championships in Guelph, Ontario where she placed 21st. She provided the following reflection on her race.
After five years of being down south in Tennessee and not participating in any Canadian events, I decided to try to participate in the Canadian Cross-Country Nationals this year. Originally, I had just set this as a goal to get motivated to run again after being in a boot off and on for six months and not running all summer. As my training began, I started to feel pretty good about my running and stated to see some good results in some road races. I also raced at the Provincial Cross Country championships, which I won and made me turn my mind to the National race two weeks later.
Going into the race I believed I had an outside chance of coming top ten and potentially making the World team, until I looked more closely at the start list and realized that some of the girls in my race were/are Olympians, like Carmen Douma Hussar, or World class runners. I think that the key to my results this fall was my ability to stay relaxed and treat each race as if it was obligation free; I was just doing it to have fun. I think I allowed myself to get too nervous for Nationals.
The days leading up to the race didn’t help my nerves too much as I started to feel really fatigued but thanks to the beast known as law school I was not able to just chill out and get some extra Zs. When I showed up at the course in Guelph the morning of the race I could not believe what I had got myself into, -7 temperatures and snow, lots and lots of snow! I drove up with my London team and ended up having to stand around in the frigid weather for the hours before my race because there were no facilities for the athletes to stay warm in. What kind of National event is held without an arena or banquet hall or something for the competitors to stand in? Needless to say I was freezing cold, even while warming up for my race; which was nearly impossible to do because there was so much snow and to get down to the road was very slick. As I was doing strides before the race I began to realize that my spikes were not going to do me well on the snow. This was an error on my part for not thinking that I would need either proper XC spikes or longer implements in the spikes I was wearing. I chalk this up to my time in the south where I never considered needing snow shoes to race in.
The actual course for the race was pretty challenging itself as it had rolling hills and really did not give you the chance to settle into the run, this was only made more difficult by the snow that covered the course.
I did not get out well at the start of the race, and continued to struggle to move up in the pack the entire race. Every time I tried to make a move I felt like I was running in place or quicksand. I could not move and I felt like I could not really see very well either (after the race my eyes closed and would not open for several minutes – I had to stand there with a race official until they opened again – no clue what happened there). Needless to say I was disappointed with my race, but it was more that I didn’t get to have MY race that bothered/bothers me. I should not have been racing the girls back in the pack but been up with the girls in the top 12-15, especially since I have beaten several of them this year.
I’ll be the first to admit that after the race I was severely frustrated and not sure what the point of all my training was to once again bonk at the worst time. I had my little pity party, and even at fast food with my sisters after the race (the first time in years... and the last!).
The day after the race I looked at the results, and aside from the sting I felt to see a few names in front of mine, overall I figure I was only about 5 places out of where I should have been; several of the girls in the race have run sub 16 min for their 5ks. When looking at my season as a whole I can’t not be pleased, I took over a minute off my 10k road time, ten seconds off my 5k time and won a Cross- Country title. I think that this year’s Nationals helped open my eyes not only to how to prepare better for next year’s race (training and equipment wise), but it also made me realize exactly how competitive female running is in Canada and how strong our senior field is. I still feel a sting when I think about the race, but I think it will help motivate me to get through some winter runs here in Ottawa this year, Lord knows I’m going to need all the help I can get to survive (LOL).
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