This past weekend I raced at the famous Swamp… literally it was a swamp. First of all it was at the University of Florida in Gainesville so it was already way hotter than where I live, but also the girls varsity race was at 9:45 AM on a golf course. It was so hot, and I was not expecting the hills to be as bad as they felt. Regardless of the conditions, I had a really fun weekend up in Gainesville at the Mountain Dew Invitational.

            Going into this race, I knew I had tons of competition like Kacy Smith, Olivia Ortiz, Bridget Blake, etc. as well as many other fast girls that cannot be counted out of the picture. My plan prior to racing was to hang up in the front with the pack that I figured would form eventually, and then I would try to pick up the pace at some point during the race just to try something new. Well my plan changed during the race because things did not go as I thought they would… but I guess you always have to expect the unexpected, right? Anyway, I was up at the front next to Kacy Smith and we had a pack of Olivia Ortiz and Bridget Blake right behind us. We were approaching the mile mark but to get there you have to go up a little baby hill, and I love hills so this was actually a fun addition for me. Before the mile, I felt Kacy let up a bit and start breathing heavier. Immediately the signal went off in my head that this was my time to pick it up. Yes I had my doubts because this was early to make a move, but I knew I just had to go. I picked it up a little bit and none of them went with me, so I just tried to hold my pace and increase a lead throughout the rest of the 2.1 miles.

I ended up getting first place in the race with an 18:12, which I was very happy about considering the racing c onditions. It was such a fun race, minus the fact that there were 60 something teams on the starting line. That was a bit crazy. But also it was a great weekend, because I got to go up to Gainesville a day early to see my brother Tyler who runs for UF as well as his teammates that I know, my friend from Footlocker Nationals Blake Williams, and tons of my friends on other high school teams. The trip home on Saturday was a bit hectic because I had homecoming that night, and I didn’t get home until 4 PM when everyone was coming over for pictures at my house at 5 PM. I rushed to get ready, but I managed! It ended up being an awesome day altogether. This coming weekend I will be racing at the FLRunners.com Race of Champions with my team, and I am extremely excited for all of the fun events going on and to race some crazy competition! Best of luck to everyone in their upcoming races, and remember anything is possible once you put your mind to it.

Editor's Note- Shelby will be keeping a blog for us this year as she is set to improve on a stellar junior year. Last year Davidson was a Footlocker Finalist and has had one of her best summers of her high school career. Click here to follow all of her blog posts.

More on Shelby

2011 Mt Dew Invitational Post-race interview

Mt Dew Invitational Race Finish won by Shelby

2011 Katie Caples Post-race interview with Julie Wollrath from Holy Trinity

Post-Race Interview at the 37th

Astronaut-Rotary Invitational

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