It's a blustery winter day in Kippens. The temperature is -3, but feels like -13 with the wind chill, and high winds are blowing snow across the town's roadways.
None of this bothers Jillian Forsey. The 16-year-old runner is training for the 2012 North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC) Cross Country Championships.
She has just over two months left to prepare for this international event, taking place in Trinidad and Tobago on March 17. She's among the six junior female athletes competing as part of Team Canada.
"I'll be running six days a week all through the winter," she says. "It doesn't matter about the weather. One day I'll do a long easy run and another day I'll do interval training. I'll also use cross-country skiing as a cross trainer."
Jillian qualified for NACAC games after an impressive performance at a national cross-country running meet in Vancouver this past November. She finished 14th overall (and fifth in the under-19 division) in the junior women's five-kilometre race.
"Our goal is to win the team competition in each race and this will take each of you working hard to achieve your own best performance," stated Thelma Wright, national endurance coach with Athletics Canada, in a letter to Canadian athletes heading for the NACAC games.
While she's looking forward to competing in Trinidad and Tobago, Jillian is also hoping to medal at several cross-country skiing events leading up and after the meet.
"Right after the race in Trinidad and Tobago I'm heading back to Canada for cross-country skiing nationals in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Que.," she says.
