Tomorrow's race

Tomorrow I am running in the Semi-finale du Championnat de France for cross country. I am entered in the senior women's long course, which is 7.046k this time. The race is in Mably, sort of between Clermont-Ferrand and Lyon. All of the qualifiers from the Championnat d'Auvergne will race, as well as qualifiers from the championship of the Rhone-Alps region.

This will be my last cross country race of the season unless miraculously manage to qualilfy to the national xc championship. Based on last year's results, however, I am going to get my butt kicked by the women of the Rhone-Alps!

Wednesday night Cecile and I did what may be one of our last track workouts together, as I'll start focusing more on the marathon and she'll be racing middle distance. The original workout was 10 x 500m with 90 sec rest, but after we'd done three intervals, Christian decided 10 would be too much with the cold and rain and cut it down to 8.

My goal time was 1:52, and after a sloppy and slow first attempt (1:56, ouch) I stayed between 1:50 and 1:52 for the rest. I love doing track work with Cecile because she is very steady and consistent and doesn't mind me keying off her tempo. She led me through the last 500 a little quicker (1:48), though, and afterward announced happily, "I could do two more!" I hushed her so Christian wouldn't hear and said, "I could use a hot shower." So this makes another way I can tell my French is improving: I can now good-naturedly complain about track work.