Yesterday at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, the TEAM was represented by Maria and Lauren competing for the USA. After training in Colorado Springs for 2 weeks, the girls were ready to tackle the race at the altitude.
The startlist showed that it was going to be a stiff competition with 6 girls with seasons bests of 1:33 and under. Maria and Lauren were excited to take on the challenge and see how high they could place.
When the gun went off the two Guatemalan girls shot right into the lead and set a blistering pace of 8:46 for the first 2km lap. Maria and Lauren were smart and started off conservatively so that they wouldnt get carried away by the group. As the race progressed, several girls continued to push the pace and Maria kept watching her pace and hoped that she could pick off some of the girls that couldnt handle the pace. Maria ended up holding her place throughout the race and finished in a strong 9th place out of 17 starters in a time of 1:38:47. A great time for her first time racing 20km's at altitude.
The race went a little differently for Lauren. She was struggling with some knee pain fairly early in the race and after getting several cautions for bent knee, she decided to drop out of the race at 12km's as a precaution so that she wouldnt injure her knee. This was a very smart decision as the Olympic year is almost upon us and she needs to make sure that she is injury free heading into this all important year. You can view their post race comments on USATF's website here.
Also, a post race interview with Maria on the USOC's website here.
Up next for the TEAM is the USA 30km RW Championships this Sunday in Congers, NY. Competing for the TEAM is Yandy and Coach Tim racing the 30km and continuing on to the 50km. In the 20km race we have Little Rachel, Katie, Bruno and Nick. Its going to be an exciting weekend!
Stay tuned!
TEAM
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