Yesterday I went to the USATF Regional Championships at Mt. SAC in Walnut, CA. My family and I got up really early to drive up north. It was pouring rain and I thought I would be running in the rain. Luckily, the rain cleared by the time we got there.

The first thing we did was do a course walk-through. This is when you walk the entire race course to get a feel for it and know which way to go. Every course is different.

Since this was the Regional Championship, there were many more runners from Southern California. In my division, there were over 50 boys.

When we were doing the course walk-through, I noticed that a lot of the other runners had t-shirts and sweatshirts that said National Junior Olympics 2009. I thought they must be really good runners because they went to Nationals last year. I also decided that I wanted a sweatshirt of my own.

I was very excited about the race. The good news is I am completely over my bronchitis and cough! I felt so strong and could breathe without making wheezing noises.

At the start, I quickly fell behind. I noticed that the runner who took first place at last week’s Association race was at the very front of the pack. I was probably somewhere in the second half.

The course had a lot of turns in it and pretty early on, I passed that runner! It was definitely a boost for me, even though he wasn’t in first anymore. I passed a lot of runners and just kept trying to catch more, one at a time. My lungs and legs felt great.

As I neared the finish, I saw the clock. It showed a time that was waaaay less than the time from last week. I was so excited as I ran through to the end. I placed 4th behind 2 runners from 2 other teams and 1 from my team.

This meant I not only qualified for Nationals as a team, but also as an individual! Everyone was really excited. I am SO PSYCHED that I am going to Nationals next month!!

Official results are posted here.