Hey everyone, I’m sure Flrunners page views have sky rocketed after this first week of the cross-country season! Well, I started my senior season at the Wickham Park Jamboree last weekend running 16:31 and then Katie Caples happened. The goal from the start was to run hard the first mile and see what everyone wanted to do.It worked. I threw in surges and was leading by mile one. I ran a gusty race going out faster than I like and leading the thing at the start, but I wanted to try something new and might as well do it now then later on in the season. The race that night went below average for the team. Costa Stathis ran a solid race placing fifth and then I ran my gusty race and managed to get 20th, but from there the team fell apart. Having our number one runner drop out and others just not being in the best shape, we looked pretty bad out there, but no doubt like I said to some other friends this is week one. Nobody is a state champion or even district champion yet, there’s plenty of time.
Even with my race not going so hot I like to joke around about it because I still had fun out there running with everyone. Before the race started I went to Holy Trinity’s tent area and joked around with some of the guys including eighth grader Trevor Kattenburg and Andrew “ Catch” Cacciatore. I told Trevor not to beat me tonight and it came back to kick me in the butt and he beat me. Then with Catch he is recovering from an injury, but we always go back and forth about his kick and how I better watch out. That night at the very end I actually held him off. Still, he is recovering from an injury so I don’t officially say I beat him in the kick. We will just have to wait for later on in the season.
My next race is a small local meet at Rockledge and should be a good confidence booster being up close to the front. One of our goals was to make the ROC for Flrunners Invitational. In the coming weeks we really need to close the gaps up and make a case for ourselves. Next race I already have a new tactic and am ready to try some new things and just improve throughout the season. It doesn’t matter where you are ranked throughout the season it only matters at state. If anyone reading this had a bad first race or the time wasn’t what you expected , DON’T give up until the very end. Last season I was ranked 40th going into the state meet and I walked away that day with a medal. This season has just begun …
Next race : Rockledge Raider Classic
