Hello Monday!

Good morning! :)

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! Monday mornings are usually pretty rough, and this one has really lived up to expectations to be honest. Monday's have a way of piling a million things on you at once, and I don't do very well with stress unfortunately! But it was a great weekend, so I'll focus on that right now!

This weekend, my cross country team road tripped it to Portland for the Adidas Concordia Invite. And Portland is probably one of my favorite cities ever. It looked so pretty with all the leaves falling everywhere, and the atmosphere over there is just so cool. After a late dinner at some Italian restaurant, we went back to the hotel for our team meetings. I knew our girls team was going to do so well... this last week was the first week in practice that we actually packed it up together, and you could tell we all really wanted it. 

Then, my best friend Christi, who goes to school in Portland, came to talk to me at the hotel!!! It was SO good to see her, and it always makes me remember even more how glad I am she is in my life :) We could only talk for a few minutes, but it was great. 

Race morning was a mix of crazy nerves and excitement. This meet was definitely one of the cooler ones I have ever been to.... Tents everywhere with leather couches for the runners to hang out in, free tshirts and adidas things, and huge tv screens everywhere with running clips playing. My dad, who was in town for work, and Christi came to watch me! The gun went off.....

And it was a good race! I pr'd by 10 seconds, bringing my record down to 18:27. My team did amazing too, closing the gap by so much compared to the last races. I honestly felt like I had more in me though. And that's why I know I haven't reached my full potential. I was tired, and I felt accomplished because I pr'd on a faster course, but I didn't give everything I had. I settled. And if I want to be great, I have to not settle. I have to make a conscious decision to push myself further and harder than I even know how to.

We got back pretty early Saturday night, so me and a couple of friends had a bonfire and roasted marshmallows! Its probably the last bonfire for awhile, so it was nice! Then yesterday, after hours of homework (I powered out two papers and loads of other stuff) I went with some people to check out a new youth group that I LOVED! The rest of the night I spent hanging out with friends until really late. Thats probably the reason I'm so stressed this morning... lack of sleep :)

Anyway, I'm going to be positive and believe its going to be a good week! Because our days are what we make of them!!!