The New Hampshire State Meet was yesterday and both the Indian River School program (coached by Ben and I) and the Lebanon program (coached by Brian and Jeff) competed very well. The meet was down in Londonderry, NH and there were TONS of kids there. They had scored races for Girls and Boys, Large and Small Schools, and un-scored races for 5/6, 7th, and 8th grades. It was pretty cool seeing our kids compete in their first big meet. Everyone was a little nervous (some even said scared!) before the start, but we had some great performances and everyone overcame their initial fear and will have some good experience for the next time they’re racing in a crowd like that!
Some of the highlights of the day were our 5th grade girl finishing as the fastest 5th grade girl of the day, and one of our boys running faster over the 2 mile course than he ran over 1.55 miles just 1 month ago! We had several other personal bests and great performances and everyone should be proud of their first season of cross-country!
Earlier today Jeff, Brian, and I ran in the Mayor’s Cup Cross Country race at Franklin Park in Boston, hosted by the Boston Athletics Association. It was perfect weather for a cross country race, partly cloudy, crispy-cool autumn weather, and just a little sloppy with some pits of mud scattered sporadically around the course. That was my first time running at Franklin Park, and it’s a fairly challenging rolling course with one big hill you run twice over 8k. It’s a nice course for spectators because it’s a bunch of loops that extend out from a main field that you keep swinging back by throughout the race.
The race went out in 4:40 through the mile and I’d say it took me 2 miles to hit any sort of rhythm, then by mile 3 the pace started to pick up and I started fading off from the main pack. The last couple miles I ended up running in no man’s land. I put in a bit of a surge at one point back in the woods in an attempt to reconnect myself to the main pack, but never gained any ground and ended up settling in. I ended up finishing 10th in 24:14, which is only 12 seconds off my 8k cross-country PR. I wish I had been able to pin the ears back and stick with the lead group a bit longer to perhaps drag me to a PR, but I guess it’s not too bad for my first XC race in two years!
Jeff was 2nd overall in 23:48, and Brian PR’d by a minute today – 24:45!!
Here is a cool Video a friend from FOSS Running Camp put together:
Here is a cool Video a friend from FOSS Running Camp put together:
‘til next time,
-Lex
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