PennTrackXC Journal: Regan Rome, Dallas - Entry #2 - October 31 - The Team Steps Up

Dallas senior Regan Rome has had a remarkable career at Dallas in her first three years. Rome has been a medalist each of her first three years in XC, twice in AAA and in 2012 taking 3rd - leading her team to the podium in 2nd by just three points in AA. She is a three-time defending champ in Distirct 2 (2x AAA,1x AA); and capped off 2012 with a 4th place finish at Foot Locker Northeast, finishing 19th in San Diego, just seven seconds from all-American. And Rome is a three time medalist in AAA in the 3200 in the PIAA champs, plus a two time medalist in the 3k at the PTFCA Indoor Champs, taking 3rd in 2013 in 9:53.59 as Tessa Barrett and Courtney Smith both bettered the state record.

 

Cross Country:
 
 
Entry #1 10/8  |  Entry #2 10/31  |  Entry #3 11/7  |
   Entry #4 12/3  |  Entry #5 1/2  |


 

Regan Rome
SR. Dallas HS, PA

 

 

Hello PA!

                  Sorry I have not written in a while, these last few weeks have been a whirlwind for me.  I know this may not get in before states, but I would like to share my perspective going into the state meet. 

                  Two and a half weeks ago was our conference meet and my first race back.  The course is a fair course with a couple of major hills. I was excited to race again, but nervous at the same time because I knew I would most likely be in a lot of pain since I had hardly run in the past six weeks.   Going into the race my team wanted to give a full out effort because we have hardly raced all season.  It was not our best race overall, but we had some really good individual performances.  My sister took second and ran a 19:17 which is extremely fast for the course!  Also our fifth girl Riley Oremus really stepped up and edged the sub 21:00 mark with a 21:07 and placed 12th!  She is only a freshman and is really coming on this season.  As for my race I felt okay, I was happy with my performance since I broke 19:00 which was my goal going in.  Going fast for the first time in a long time was hard like I expected.  I was extremely thankful and happy to be back though!  

                  Fast forward to a week later and it was the day before our district championships.  Things finally seemed to be going well for me, I was finally running consistently and had some confidence going into the district race.  That morning though, I dropped down in pain clenching my stomach, screaming and crying in pain.  It was by far the most painful thing I have ever experienced.  Some people describe a kidney stone as being more painful than giving birth.  My dad rushed me to the hospital and we found out that I had had a kidney stone.  I spent the day in the hospital having all kinds of tests and was put on tons of pain medications, luckily I passed the kidney stone!  A thought never went through my mind that I would not run, there was no way that I was going to be the reason my team might lose districts.   I would have run no matter what, I just could not imagine missing my senior districts because of a kidney stone!

 

 

                  The next day at districts I felt so worn out and run down from the medication and the trauma of the kidney stone.  Just doing strides wore me out, and by the time I got to mile one in the race I was dead.  Luckily I was able to finish it and help my team to a district title!  We had some amazing performances that day from numerous girls!  We went 1-2-3 at the district meet, with Lindsey Oremus placing second and Bryanna Dissinger placing third!  Both girls beat a couple of returning state medalists in the race.  My sister finished with blood streaming down her leg and shoulder, she had been elbowed into picker bushes in the first mile!  She showed how tough she is and finished the race off for us with a sixth place finish.  Our fifth girl was struggling with an illness so our sixth girl really stepped it up and placed 24th and had her best race of the season!  It was a great day for the girls and the day gave us a lot of confidence for states.  It was tough to watch the boys race though, as our boys just missed out on qualifying for states by a couple points.  They gave it all they had though, and we still get to send four of our boys to states. 

                  Going into states we are more confident this year than last year.  Whatever happens though I am beyond proud of my teammates for how hard they have worked this year.  They have stepped up their game so much and their PR’s have all taken huge jumps.  This year was not a great year for me being that I hardly ran, but what made it great was watching all of my teammates have amazing seasons.  We have one more race though and this is the important one.   But we are all ready for it and we can’t wait to see what we can do.  For me personally I know I am in no shape to go out and run a great race, however I am a competitor!  I am going to give it everything I have, but I will not be disappointed with what I do.  I know what times are realistic for me right now.  However now looking back at this season I am actually realizing that this injury was a blessing in disguise.  It was a blessing because this injury has made me such a stronger person, I would have never found this strength if I was not injured.  If this is posted before states I wish everyone good luck at states!  Trust your training and give it everything you have!

Regan Rome