I don’t speak for all runners when I say this, but running is difficult. Some find it to be a breeze, but it can be a chore for me sometimes.

There are times where we have back to back race weekends, such as the weekend where we travelled to Decatur, Illinois.

Grinnell College hosted a pretty well run meet, however there were a few peculiarities that could have been changed.

The course conditions were awful. I must have twisted my ankle around 4 times all within 15 minutes of light jogging.

Now I’m from Memphis and in Memphis, hills are practically non existent. Not even 100m into the start of the race, there is a 10 degree incline hill that lasts about 200m.

Exhausted doesn’t even come close to describing what this course does to your physical state.

Remember how I said I rolled my ankle on the warmup? During the race, I am going twice the speed with spiked shoes on with little ankle support. Of course I sprain my ankle not even a mile into the race.

Sure I felt bad about my individual performance, but I wasn’t the only one getting injured. Runners were dropping like flies.

One girl on our team had a scary injury that required medical assistance, but thankfully she is fully recovered.

If I were to take a wild guess as to whether or not we are coming back to this meet next, year I would bet the answer to that question is a no.