A few weekends ago I had the chance to compete in the USA XC National Championship in Washington. The experience overall was great. It was just amazing being able to have a team that’s so good and close. We had an A and a B team; the A team got first and the B team got second. It was fun being able to win as a team and not just get a medal by myself. I enjoyed leading the team to be national champions.  I also got the chance to compete against many college runners and, in a way, I got a taste of what a college race might be like. They had us use ankle chip timers which was something new, and definitely nothing I had expected. The course itself was also unexpectedly hillier than they had made it seem like it was going to be. On the other hand it was an amazing 50           degrees out making the air fresh and clear, a good day for running.  The day before the race I got a sore throat/ fever and acted on it quickly, but it was too late.  By the time night had come, I was a mess and felt horrible, but I tried to keep my head held high and mind ready to run.  Out of all the races of the day my race, supposedly, had the most depth of runners. Although I had not expected this, I tried during the race, to react by staying calm. I ended up getting 14^th place, not as good as I had wanted but still a great experience. I have learned many lessons from this race and I will carry them over to track, something I’m really looking forward to.