Hotel, Motel...Knight's Inn

AM: 45 mins. ellip.
15 mins. core
PM: 4-4.5 miles
2x20 water pump extensions=80

This afternoon I joined the team and headed to Wingate, NC, home of Wingate University and the site of tomorrow's XC Regionals. My plan was to take it nice and easy while running the course this afternoon, then evaluate how my hip felt for tomorrow. To my pleasant surprise, it was a complete non-issue, virtually night and day from yesterday morning. Not sure what happened in the last 36 hours but I seem to have dodged a bullet there. At any rate, things feel good to go for tomorrow.

As for the course itself, it's hard for me to evaluate it given that this will be my first (and second-to-last) college cross-country race ever. The only other course I have to judge against is McAlpine, which is essentially a glorified dirt road. With that in mind, I would evaluate the Wingate course as neither hilly nor flat, with equal parts grass and gravel, and quite a few sharp turns. I'd give it a solid B, maybe a B-. I don't expect it to run particularly fast tomorrow, but then again I'm not that concerned with times right now anyway. My primary goal for tomorrow is to place as high as I can to help the team achieve the lowest score possible. I'm not sure how realistic that goal is given that this is only my second full week of running, but as I have nothing to lose I'm able to approach this with a mixture of excitement and cautious optimism.

Oh, and we're spending the night at a fine establishment called the Knight's Inn. It looks like the Bates Motel from Psycho, only crappier. Hopefully we will all survive the night and make it to the starting line in one piece.