The big race... and a smoothie ;)

 Hip-hip for the weekend!!

Hi friends, how are we going? Good? Good!
As promised in my last post, I'm going to do a little recap of the big interschool cross country race that I have been training for, for a few weeks now (refer to posts here, here and here) how it went etc. So grab your green smoothies, get comfy and enjoy the story....

But wait. What green smoothie?

 This green smoothie!

 Seriously though, this bad boy is sitting in front of me as we speak and oh my it is goood! Perfect re-fueling after an easy-paced 7km run this brisk morning! (I'm still in ma running gear and the heat of exercise is starting to wear off!!)

Super creamy, cake-batter-y, nut buttery goodness!
Step 1. Place around 1/3 cup rolled oats in a bowl with enough milk (I used almond milk) to cover:

 Leave to sit for around 15 mins
Step 2. Into a blender chuck 1 chopped frozen banana, a big handful of kale, the soaked oats, 3 big spoons of greek yoghurt, a handful of spinach, 1/2 chopped frozen avocado, 1 tablespoon nut butter and a splash of water to get things rolling!
Step 3. Blend and blend and blend until smooth!

 This was a super thicky guys! Just the way I like it (spoon is on stand by ;)

 Super filling, tasty and packed full of goodness- what are you waiting for?

 Alrighty, now that everyone is settled with a big jar of green smoothie, let's talk about the race!

So it was on Thursday and because I was running in the open girls division (U/19 both year 11's and 12's- yep that did freak me out) our race wasn't until 12:35pm, so I opted to stay at school for the first two periods (hello, exams coming up!) and meet the team there with two other girls in my race.

Of course I was nervous all morning and concentrating on school work was getting quite difficult, so when we arrived at perry Lakes Reserve I was buzzing! There were sooooo many schools there, so many athletic kids, warming up, running around, stretching and just eyeing up the competition... it was intimidating!

We finally managed to find our school's tent, got our numbers drawn on us and changed into our school's running tank top. 15 minutes later and we were off to marshaling to get our number for our shirts which also held a little chip inside to time us as we crossed the finish line.

Thankfully this year they had changed the course from last year, that resulted in an extreme bottle neck right at the beginning, meaning if you didn't sprint to the front, you would be walking trying to squeeze through. This time, we all just ran! I tried not to look around and get psyched out but I could see in the corner of my eyes a few girls tripping over and no one stopping to help them up. It was literally a stampeded of runners.

I didn't want to look at anyone else. I had to get in the zone and run my own race. So I ran. I ran to a pace that felt good. I will admit I noticed I was getting closer and closer to the front but I couldn't seem to push myself that little bit harder. There was a pack ahead that were the very front of our race and I so wanted to join them but I think my mind just accepted that wouldn't happen maybe? I don't know. i kept up my pace and when we turned the corner into the finishing 100m sprint, I went for it, passing someone at the very end.

I flicked my eyes to the clock and saw 12 mins flat! That beat my PB by 1 min 30 seconds!! Although the 3km course we run at school as a steady incline the entire 1.5km back to school, so I guess that's why. Any-who I was stoked! I did feel a little disappointing because I could tell there was more in me- I could've pushed harder, gotten closer to the front.

But after looking up my position and time on the Interschool cross country website, my face lit up as I saw I came 37th out of the 279 girls in my race and better yet- 200th out of 1571 girls running the entire day!

After the race the girls I'd come in later with and I headed back to school, each grinning with our success and a little wobbly in the legs from a fast run!

Overall it was a great race, I felt good and I could tell all the training at school really paid off. As soon as we got back to school I missed cross country already! Missed the trainings and being part of the team. This is another moment where I wish I lived in America so I could be part of a track team that trained on a continued basis! Ahh well, I guess I'll just have to go back to my solo running until next year! :)

What about you?
Were/ are you part of a running team?
Do you find you do better when training with others?
Ever won a big race?

That's it from me today folks- lots of studying scheduled for this weekend!! (3-days until exams start!) I hope you all have a fabulous day, eat something delicious and usual and give someone a hug, trust me, it'll brighten both of your days!! Bye friends! :D