Hello everyone! First, I would like to thank Todd and flrunners to allow me this opportunity to share my season with you. I am Brandon Marquez and I will be a sophomore for Timber Creek High School right here in Central Florida.
After my last race in late May at Golden South, I took a short break before starting my summer session. I spent most of my summer close to home, and training nearby, whether it is on the golf course in my community, on campus at my school, or on a local trail. I did manage to spend one week down in Puerto Rico with my grandparents and cousins which reminded me that the heat in Florida could always be worse. As summer ends in a few days, I am able to look back and feel confident in my training as I have ran longer, farther, stronger, and faster then I have in years past. I also have worked hard to maintain injury free, which derailed part of my freshman year in cross country. Even with all this running day in and day out, a good team always manages to find some time to relax together outside of practice. With that being said, it’s always nice to just spend the day with your teammates as I have throughout these long summer days.
Finally, like most of us who run, I am a huge fan of the sport. I have spent the summer keeping up with Diamond League meets and the current World Championships in Moscow and it’s truly captivating to watch these athletes perform at the highest level. Mo Farah was my favorite athlete to watch this summer and he showed why with another two gold’s this past week. However, huge congratulations though to former local Jenny Barringer-Simpson, whose raced I watched on the live stream many time zones away, running a brave race to get the silver medal.
I am looking forward to shaking off the rust in the first meet in a few weeks and starting that long drive towards November with my teammates. I not only wish the team I am apart of and myself the best of luck, but also every runner in the state, and the flrunners staff and fans to keep up with it all.
