This past Saturday proved to be the most amazing day. We left on Friday for the long drive up to Wisconsin, spent the night at a hotel and then arrived at the Warrior Invitational, hosted by Wisconsin Lutheran College on Saturday morning. I had been looking forward to running this race despite a problem that I'd been working through in my leg for quite a while, but just before the race, I decided that I shouldn't run after all.
One thing I love about our team is that our decisions are always supported, whether we decide to run or not to run. Even so, I was extremely bummed out not to be racing, and especially once it started, I wanted nothing more than to be out there with them. But not running turned out to be exactly the right thing for me.
So far, I've been one of the slower racers on the team, which has meant that I never get to see my teammates finish. Well on Saturday, not only did I get to see everyone finish, but I got to see all of them along the way too, and it was unbelievably inspiring. I had heard previously about how our top runners placed well, but not until this race did I actually see what that entailed. And it happened to be a race in which teammates of mine came in first in both the women's and men's races, which made it all the more inspiring to watch. It just goes to show that neither a single meet nor the whole season on the team is about just the running part, or any single part for that matter. Rather, it's all about the entire experience, and there's always a good lesson to be learned, no matter how you're supporting your team and yourself.
Before our meet, an elementary-age race took place with close to 150 girls and around 200 boys, if I'm remembering correctly. So as we were warming up, we got to cheer on these kids running their mile, and then they got to see what a college meet was like. It was everyone's favorite meet so far; the weather was great, and the site was gorgeous. And now I'm looking forward to running in our home meet on Friday!
Amber Dahlin
(about Amber)
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