Alana Hadley - Growing Up Fast: 2012

Hey everyone! It’s been a while since I have written a blog. I apologize for this race not having a video blog for it but with storms and rain at the race I kind of forgot to get video footage at the start and then when I did remember at the award ceremony, it was pouring down rain and I didn’t really feel like getting my camera wet. So I’m writing this one instead, hope you like it. J

Last Saturday, July 21^st; my dad, brother, sister, and I went up to Winston Salem, NC so I could run the Beat the Heat 5k, which I could run the North Carolina USATF 5k road championships. There were quite a few Charlotte runners at the race, which was awesome to get to meet up with them. Among them were Stephanie “Pezz” Pezzullo, Caitlin Chrisman, Caleb Boyd, and Bill Shires. As soon as I got to the race I got my bib number, 14, and my race t-shirt, which is a bright neon orange by the way, totally awesome! Soon my grandparents, 2 aunts, 2 uncles, and 3 cousins came rolling in to cheer me on, talk about an amazing support crew, gotta love family! J

Come race time I was all excited and ready for my first race of the new training cycle. However at the moment right before the siren to start the race sounded, is when the nerves settled in right at the pit of my stomach. Not a very pleasant feeling if you ask me, but I didn’t have much time to dwell on the feeling because the race had started. As I had jogged the first mile of the race during my warm up that mile seemed to go by very quickly as I tried to get right into pace. Before I knew it I was at the mile point in 5:20, right where I wanted to be. However I knew the race was already a third of the way done and I could feel myself starting to get tired. The next mile would be very difficult as it was an uphill mile, so as Caitlin and Caleb passed me and my dad yelling encouraging words, I decided to latch on and not let those two get away from me. Now I’m just going to go ahead and put it out there and say, that the second mile absolutely sucked! But, I pushed anyways and never let Caitlin and Caleb get ahead of me by much, in my head that just wasn’t an option to let them get away. This was a good thought though, because I was starting to get that competitive feeling going.

That last mile I definitely enjoyed the down hills and used them to my advantage. As we turned a corner into a long downhill stretch a man on the side of the road yelled “half a mile left”, man was I happy to hear that. I used that knowledge and accelerated off the turn into the downhill. Soon, towards the end of the road I noticed it curved and realized just how close to the three mile point I was. Caitlin seemed to notice too and put in a burst of speed, so we were neck and neck at the three mile marker. That was when it came down to all out racing, we might have been helping each other push and stay together during the race, but now it was every woman for herself, and neither one of us wanted to lose to the other. We both took off towards the finish and I am proud to say that I definitely all out sprinted to the finish of that race, and if you don’t believe me just ask my calves as they were sore after the race!

I am very happy about my race and excited about how the Charlotte women finished. In the North Carolina USATF 5k road championship Pezz won, 16:22, I was 2^nd, 17:03, and Caitlin was 3^rd, 17:04. What an amazing clean sweep for the Charlotte Running Club and my dad who coaches all 3 of us! That race might not of been my best time, but it didn’t matter, for the first time I felt truly competitive in a 5k race and that is exactly what I want as I prepare for Footlocker XC later this fall.