Looking back – I was the buffalo.
Silent and calm, except the sound of footsteps striking the ground,
Stampeding in my heart.
“Make your own path,” I thought to myself,
“Don’t be a follower.”
This year of training and racing has been unbelievable. I look back over the goals I set in January, and think about the type of runner I was a year ago – and the differences are clear. I am more clear. I know where I want to take running in 2019 and I know how I want to get there.
This weekend was my last race of the 2018 season, and it could not have set me up better for 2019. I was the buffalo. You see, the thing about buffalo is, when they are in a herd, they don’t make paths and don’t follow each other; they take their own route. This is how I felt in the race this weekend. I wasn’t going to fall into a pack and follow the leader, but instead, I made my own route. This allowed me to take risks I wouldn’t normally take, and make decisions based on my current situation; not the situation of those around me.
This weekend I placed 40th out of 271 of the best runners in the country in the USATF Club Cross Country Nationals, running a time of 20:46 for 6k (exactly 1 minute faster than my college cross country 6k PR). I will never forget this race because I was in it 100% and I made it my race, taking my own route. I was the buffalo.
Photo credit: Fran Hailey