Aisling Cuffe's MileSplit.us Journal #5 
Hey guys! The past two weeks have flown by, and once again, a lot has happened since I wrote the last journal. The last time I wrote, Counties had just happened. So I guess that is where I will begin.
The very first big thing that happened after Counties was my college decision! As many of you guys saw on Milesplit a week or two ago, I chose Stanford! I had known for a few days prior to verbally committing that Stanford was my favorite, but I guess I was scared to call all of the coaches to tell them. While the point of verbally committing is that it’s not final (technically), it felt so final! However, I really wanted to be done with the recruiting process. Once I called Coach Dunn at Stanford, I was glad I finally took the plunge. Except for calling all of the other coaches to tell them that I would not be attending their school (which was tough, seeing as I really loved all of the coaches I met), the past weeks have been extremely relaxing. I feel bad feeling so relaxed, seeing all of my classmates working to meet early action deadlines and getting their letters of recommendation sorted. But I still wouldn’t trade places with anyone! It has been a lot easier focus on the upcoming races now that I know where I will be in a year! I will be extremely sad to leave Cornwall next summer, but I really can’t wait to join the Stanford Cardinals. I am getting excited just writing this!
The weekend after Counties came the Section 9 championships. For those of you not from the wonderful state of New York, our County/League/District meets are just there for your teams to try to garner another title. The Section meets act as a championship as well, but they are mostly viewed as a State Qualifier, and are therefore usually divided up into classes, just like our state meet. Section 9 Class A is not as competitive as the class A race is in other sections, so I have the advantage of not having to go all out. This is very convenient, as it turns 5 weeks of competitive, hard racing in a row to 1 week hard, 1 week easier, and then 3 weeks hard. This can make a huge difference, especially when the post season comes along. For our section meet, both our girls and boys teams won (the girls were one point away from the perfect 15 score! That had been our goal, but it definitely wasn’t the end of the world when we missed it. After all, we can’t all be like FM… : ) . Knowing that all 14 members of our varsity squad would be continuing on for another week was a relief. We could now all focus on the upcoming state meet.
The week before the state meet went very slowly. For some reason, I really had nothing to do all week. I really felt like a senior! I had no homework (that I couldn’t finish in school, anyway). To top it all off, I didn’t even have school on Thursday. I had all the time in the world to make myself nervous for the state meet (and catch up on my sleep). I found myself resorting to Disney movies. Wednesday was the Aristocats and Thursday was the Tigger Movie. On Thursday, my team took a trip to Pawling to run the course, and in my coach’s car I watched The Santa Claus. I had never felt so relaxed in my life. But the State Meet was always in my mind. On the day of States, I was nervous, but I was also excited. I hadn’t been in a race in a very long time where I had absolutely no idea of a time goal. I raced the course last year, and got a 17:54. Since then, the course was tweaked in a few places. I also knew that at that race last year, I had won by close to 2 minutes. I was going to go with a guess of 17:30… until Christie Rutledge (the leader of the amazing FM sweep) ran the 17:30 or so about 10 minutes before the race started. That’s when I really got nervous. I really wanted the fastest time of the day. I was now up against a much improved, uncontested up-until-this-point Shaylyn Tuite, an always present Brittany Winslow, the really fast wild card Kelsey Margey, and a time from another race that had just tied my made-up time goal. But I was ready…
The race started, and just like that, it was over. I crossed the finish line, and my last cross country state meet had just ended. Sure, at the time, I didn’t mind that it was over because I was really tired. But later on in the day, I realized that the racing in blue t-shirts was over for good (until indoors, anyway). There are no cross country states in college. This was my final championship in my favorite season. At least it went well! I got the fastest time of the day, and I overcame all of my pre-race “what if?”s. My team got 4th, and we were happy with that place. They were all able to look back on a really good and enjoyable season, and now they get to enjoy a well-deserved break before Indoor Track.
(Editor's Note: Aisling's time was 17:19.6, which was a new course record)
That’s all for now. Next up is my last Federation Cross Country meet ever! And my last race on my favorite course, Bowdoin Park. I hope that the next time I write, I will have good news!
Until then, good luck to all at your various state/regional meets!
Cornwall Girls have been Section 9 Class Champs for 13 straight years!
Section 9 runners leaving the starting line at States.
Me, Shaylyn, and Brittany heading up Toboggan Hill. For a frame of reference, Brittany has been on the hill for about 5 seconds already. The gator was so far ahead I didn’t know he was there. The group of people off in the distance is about 30m below the actual top of the hill. Yes, this is the biggest cross country hill I have ever seen. For about 400m, you are running straight uphill.