ACTION Jackson: Getting Back Outside

Every year our university indoor track season becomes more and more fun. My first year I did not care to run around a boring oval but now I look forward to watching my times drop race by race before University Nationals. Since my start at TWU in 2011, my 3000m time has dropped 10-20sec every year. If I keep this up next year I will run 9:22, then 9:10 and sub 9:00 (9:10 wins races and rolls the dough – although rolling the dough means working at the pizzeria alongside a sponsorship or bits of invitational race money).

1st lap of 15 - Nationals 3000m

This year the field of female distance runners in Canada was deep. The top 12 girls were hitting standard times and on paper the races looked really close. This is so exciting for Canadian athletics! It is also exciting that I am in that top range of runners. For the second year in a row I have qualified for CIS Nationals in the 1500m, 3000m, and 4x800m relay. For the second year in a row I am the CanWest 3000m Champion! I thank God for translating my training into running fast times.

The week before CanWest Championships I injured my foot and had to alter workouts prior to Nationals. This affected my racing by not allowing me to be race sharp for Nationals. No PB’s at Nationals, but I am happy with how I ran and the experience to race against fierce competition.

But now, with the indoor season over, we can move outside and onto the trails – my first love. This year moving back onto the trails was more important because I had two weeks to prepare for FISU cross country World Championships, that is World University Championships in Entebbe, Uganda. I had a few workouts where I ran hills in a sweater in the 18 degree sun (prepare for a hot climate). Tuesday I would throw my things onto the first of 4 flights to fly Abbotsford-Calgary, Calgary-Toronto, Toronto-Amsterdam, and Amsterdam-Entebbe