Arriving just as the sun was, it couldn’t have been a more amazing sight to see. Where once there was an empty field, a tent city now spread into the distance. When did all this happen? Doesn’t a runner ever sleep? And they were already awake enough to be running all over the place. If you ask me, they couldn’t pay a person enough to do that…which
is the point.
Soon these teenage night owls will grow up to become adult night owls, and subsequently have little night owls of their own. With no competition, they will take over. Zombies won’t stand a chance (too slow), and who else will be awake to see all this going on? (Certainly not the now furloughed Feds.) No doubt it will forever change the human race!
Personally, breakfast had to come first. (The above explains why the hotel restaurant was virtually empty.) It was going to be a looooong day, and was preceded by about three—maybe 3 ½--hours sleep. But with a running event of this magnitude, there really is no excuse for being late, and missing the 7:20 AM Boys and Girls Middle School Race did not come without its consequences.
So, boys and girls, it was decided that, as compensation, someone will have to help each of the race’s 295 finishers with their next writing assignment. Please forward the aforementioned to Todd Grasley, care of flrunners.com, and consider it done. He’d be happy to help. (Does anyone still remember Soupy Sales and the “New Year’s Day incident”?)
Day 2
Race 9: Boys and Girls Middle School Race
About a minute apart, Trevor Foley (10:29) and Rafaella Gibbons (11:28.30) are now on the radar as the fastest Middle School boy and girl—maybe in the state—respectively. From now on, coaches, sportswriters, and the NCAA will be watching everything they do. Thus, the need to keep meticulous competitive and financial records, claim that any future success is due to 100 mile weeks (1000 over the summer)—even if it is far from accurate—and race-by-race updates on their flrunners.com athlete’s page (in order to keep a growing fan base informed). Come to think of it, a personal website wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
“I came to win,” claimed Foley. “MY PR was 10:40 and I definitely thought I could beat that. The Belen Jesuit kid”—Joshua Collins—“took the early lead and I hung back until about 800 meters into the race. Then I took the lead. He came back and kicked (surged) with a mile to go.
“I ran negative splits, and kicked it in. I finished in 10:29, a new PR. That definitely excites me. ESPN/Disney is next, and they have a 3000. I’m trying to do it in under 9:55 there.”
Young as he is, Trevor couldn’t forget who got him where he is.
“I want to thank Coach Drew Martucci, who coaches at Plant High.”
In second for the boys was Belen Jesuit eighth grader Joshua Collins. The 13 year old finished in 10:38.70 (3000 meters).
“I actually tried to lead from the beginning, but I fell back a little,” Collins said. “I lost him”—Foley—“in the first mile. There was a five second difference after that. We held that position the rest of the way.
“Today’s time was a new PR. I’m very excited about that.”
Team Races–Belen Jesuit’s domination of the local running scene—more on that later—is evident even at this level. Taking 1-2-5-6-7-8-10, they scored a skimpy 21 points to win the Boys’ race decisively. West Shore (3-4-16-22-24-33-45; 69) and Eye of the Tiger TC (12-14-17-18-21-31-32; 82) followed in second and third places, respectively. Eye of the Tiger was strongest among the Girls’ teams: 1-2-4-19-21-28-36; 38 points. The Tornadoes were a close second (3-7-8-11-13-20-23; 42), and in third was the Miami Elite team (5-6-15-17-18; 61).185 girls (10 teams) and 110 boys (8 teams) participated.
Race 10: Girls Race of Champions
A big race—in more ways than one—the Girls ROC drew unparalleled support from the assembled masses, early as it was, which started running’s version of “the wave.” This would be where hundreds of people crossed over the course, multiple times, to get a “better view” of the proceedings. Being the gentleman that he was, JB dealt calmly with its effects on incoming finishers. Someone with less panache might have brought in the fire hoses.
Fortunately, none of this seemed to detract from the race itself. The lead 100—or was it more?—rocketed forward with an intensity that defies description (hence the photo). As the meet’s folk hero, Audrey McAnally, would say, “eventually” Karen Xiang emerged from the mob and took control of the proceedings—or would that be pre-seedings?
“For me, it was a really comfortable pace,” Karen said humbly. “I felt really comfortable. I went through the mile in 5:40. I think I was alone by that point. I took over the lead at about a half mile into the race, and was able to hold it all the way.
“This is probably my biggest win, running wise. I think this is my break-through year. I haven’t had that many (wins) before this year.”
Karen, of course is referring to “the streak,” during which she has run, and won, four straight meets: the Ridgeview Bob Hans Invitational on August 31st (an 18:42.51 PR); the Katie Caples Invitational on September 7th (18:52); the Mandarin Mustang CC Invitational on September 14th (18:30 PR); and this FLR XIV Invitational (17:52 PR).
“That makes me want to attack my workouts, but it’s really hard running alone. I usually have to run with the guys, so today I was chasing the lead vehicle, something I hope to do again. I was so glad there was a car. I pretty much get a little lost every race.”
If she keeps it up, she can have her own pace car…which, with those times, she pretty much has.
“As far as college, I went on my first official visit to UF. I was pretty excited. I’m thinking of either business, or nursing, as a major. They’re on opposite ends of the spectrum, I know, but I’m still undecided.”
Team Race – No young woman is a team unto herself. Estero, however, is like no other team. One would think that losing Katy Solis—and did she ever run a race for JU the day before—might put a stutter in their step. Not with this juggernaut. Going 4-6-7-8-43-44-119, their total (68) was half of the next team’s and a much smaller fraction of everyone else’s. Winter Park (13-14-23-29-56-108-125), no pushover themselves, finished second with 135. (This was a HUGE race, with 25 teams and 226 runners, so even their score was remarkable.) Oak Hall was third with 170 (9-20-22-58-61-72-130).
Race 11: Girls Invitational
While the ROC was a big ‘un, the GI was even more “thunderous.” (Yes, that was yet another, fast-moving double entendre.) Whether taking the lead over a race with 275 runners is akin to ambition or fear, Titusville’s Claire Castillo didn’t balk at the challenge.
“I didn’t know who the top finishers would be, so I just tried to get a feel for the race,” she later said of her strategy. 
“By the time I got to the 800 mark I took the initiative to step up in the race and pretty much led after that.”
This was the same strategy that worked for her the previous week, in the Embry-Riddle Small School Race, which she also won (in 20:27.64, on a beast of a course).
“I heard the girl’s footsteps”—probably Alexandra Melehan, second in 19:13.60—“behind me and tried to put some space between us. I threw a surge in.
“It felt smooth the entire race. I ran a 19:03 (.70), I believe. It’s a new PR. I wanted to get an 18, but once the rain came down I felt myself slowing. It was distracting.”
Not so with her college major/professional ambitions.
“Both my parents are nurses, so I want to go into the medical field.”
Team Race – While it may seem an odd thing to say about cross country, when it comes to a team race, time and distance are relative. Coral Reef Senior High, which bills itself as “Miami’s Mega Magnet”—I don’t get it either—was one of several South Florida teams that exhibited anything but bus fatigue. They placed 16-17-26-47-51-143-162 and won “easily” with 157 points. (Remember, there were 32 teams in the running.) Robinson, with 211 (5-18-52-58-78-171-181), was second, and Woodstock High School third (2-39-57-73-75-120-122) with 246 points. As mentioned, this race had 275 runners.
Race 12: Boys Race of Champions
Surprise, surprise; the winners of this race are from…Miami. (
We should just move the invitational down there.) And we readers weren’t the only ones “surprised.” Overall, it was Nick Diaz, from Miami Sunset in 15:15.60.
“I came in with no pressure,” said a CCC (cool, calm, collected) Nick Diaz. “It could have been Nick Morken (second in 15:16.60), Tyler Bennett (third in 15:22.50), Kurt Convey (fourth in 15:24.30), or Ryan Rodriguez (fifth in 15:29.80), or me. It could have been any of us.
“I came in with the attitude of getting a goal time of sub-15:20, and taking the win back to South Florida.”
Now we all know that those Miamians are “hot runners,” but the rain added an element that might have “cooled” things off for Nick, et al.
“We love rain so much that our whole team thought ‘We’re going to do so great!’ When the clouds came over, and the rain started, we had a much more positive attitude. The humidity kills down there. It’s not just the heat. Up here it seems hot, but drier. I took that advantage and used it in my run. The plan was to be in the top four the first mile.
“For the first mile I was in the top 20. I didn’t panic. I just reset myself. Before the second mile, I was in the top five. A little after that, I took the lead, and kept it until 2.5 miles. Tyler Bennett and Kurt Convey were next to me. I didn’t want them to take the lead, so I kept it. It wasn’t until the final 600 meters that someone came up and was right next to me. So I kicked it in.
“He”—Nick Morken, exactly one second back at the finish—“definitely pushed me. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have finished the race with such a strong kick.”
Team Race – A race this deep in talent doesn’t make a “runaway” victory possible, as evidenced by two teams, from diagonally opposite ends of the state, having had a “shootout.” Perhaps Belen Jesuit’s coming north away from the heat, rather than Fort Walton Beach’s southward sojourn into it provided a small margin of motivation for BJ. In any case, they ran a 5-7-18-41-43-57-73 spread to win with 114 points. What is truly amazing is that their average time was 16:04. That was only two seconds slower than St. Leo’s average—16:04—in the previous day’s college race. (DII St. Leo was second to DI UF’s 15:37.)
Here’s how they match up: St. Leo’s had 15:18.5, 16:00.2, 16:12.10, 16:14.9, and 16:27.2; Belen Jesuit’s top five ran 15:29, 15:44, 16:06, 16:29, and 16:31. It makes for an interesting matchup…naw, both the FHSAA and the NCAA would frown on it.
Second place went to Fort Walton Beach (13-25-27-32-50-100-114; 147), and third to St. Thomas Aquinas (9-20-24-47-60-83-117; 160). 25 teams and 225 athletes participated.
Race 13: Boys Invitational
While everyone appreciates a good circus parade, there are few who would willingly follow behind. As with elephants, camels, and ponies, runners too leave reminders of their progress, especially after a good drenching of the course.
“It was a little muddy,” said Steven Cross, adding to the metaphor, “but overall it (the race) felt good. I don’t know if the wind helped—it made it kind of hard to breathe—but the rain felt good. At some point, it made it hard to see.”
Cross, however—competing for Merritt Island—was on a mission.
“I went out to win. Three or four guys stayed with me; one was ahead, and two more behind. I started to lose them with about a mile to go. I started to pass the last guy with 400 to go, and moved ahead at the last turn. The challenge came with that last straightaway, because it’s so long. So I had to keep up my pace.”
From a spectator’s viewpoint, the eight seconds that separated Cross (15:51.80) and second place finisher Ilio Sanchez (John Leonard HS, in 15:59.80) was a pretty wide gap, but the sound of footsteps splashing along behind you make it seem like dry land is a long way off. Cross, however, waded ashore first.
“It was my first win, and feels great. I don’t want to get cocky, but I can see that my end-of-season goals are getting closer. I want to hit right around 15:40, 15:35 by the end of the season. And I’m really hoping that my team will make it to the State Meet. That’s why I ran the invitational, rather than compete in the Race of Champions--to give my team a chance at this one. I’m only a sophomore, so at this point the team is more important.”
Team Race – As it turned out, Steven Cross fared far better than his Merritt Island team, eclipsing his previous PR (16:03 at the September 14th UF/Mt. Dew Invitational) by a little over 11 seconds. The first eight teams scored 200-some points, but Matanzas was lowest with 251 (12-22-32-59-126-185-186), followed by Hagerty with 261 (24-43-53-63-78-169-214), and Robinson with 265 (3-8-64-70-120-232-233). 328 runners and 30 teams competed.
Girls Unseeded A
All irony aside, had this been a Grange meeting, rather than a cross country meeting, long about now those old farmers would have been in pretty high spirits. Sheets of rain were so thick, that the autofocus feature on cameras were picking up individual droplets of rain, rather than what was in, or behind, them.
Charlotte’s Danielle Young, the first runner to slice through the curtain of invisibility, ended up on the sad side of 20. She (20:12.30), and second place finisher Sydnee Russo (20:13.10), however, were righter than rain.
Dani: “There was a lead pack of Sydnee, me, and another girl; she was wearing black (5th place finisher, Molly Delaney, from Melbourne?).”
Sydnee: “It started drizzling, then pouring, then there was just me and Dani.”
Dani: “I think she was okay, though.”
Sydnee: “She didn’t fall, or anything.”
Dani: “That was probably a mile into the race.”
Sydnee: “Yeah, maybe a mile and a half.”
Dani: “We both kind of kept each other going. I know that if she wasn’t there, I wouldn’t have pushed myself as hard.”
Sydnee: “Same.”
Dani: “I really think that at the last curve…”
Sydnee: “The last 300….”
Dani: “We both tried to stride in.”
Sydnee: “Yeah, you’d take a step and….”
Dani: “We both kind of switched, off and on.”
Sydnee: “We kept each other motivated. I definitely couldn’t have sprinted then.”
Dani: “We wouldn’t have pushed ourselves as hard when we saw the time, and the other wasn’t there.
I was going for a specific time-- 19:44, a school record. I was hoping to get it last week, at Northport, but I had to take the ACTs.”
Sydnee: “I have the SATs next week.”
Dani: “Good luck.”
Sydnee: “Thanks.”
Dani: “I think my time was 20:04, 20:05.”
Sydnee: “I think mine was 20:05, 20:06.”
Dani: “This is always our favorite event of the season. It is a fast and beautiful course. Being in a lower ranked race, it was nice finishing up near the front. And the rain definitely made it memorable.”
Sydnee: “It was nice to see what we could do up front.”
Dani: “More like a practice.”
“Sydnee: “Defintely.”
Another interview overrun by the tug of friendship.
Team Race – Neither Dani’s Charlotte, nor Sydnee’s Barron Collier figured in the trophy hunt. That was decided by a spread-out Naples (4-21-23-27-34-63-70; 109), Dwyer (11-25-42-44-69-80-98; 191), and Wellington (16-22-47-67-78-126-128; 230). There were 29 teams and 222 runners.
Race 15 : Girls Unseeded B
An flrunners.com cross country race is unique among invitationals. With its fast, flat course, and thousands of screaming spectators, Chain of Lakes Park is a veritable breeding ground of future champions. A runner can toe the line as an unknown starter, and cross the finish line a legend. Every year, at least one athlete will come in like a dusty cowboy fresh off the prairie, and--figuratively speaking--shoot down that gunslinger with a dozen notches on his pearl-handled revolver.
The thing is, unlike a single, highly publicized race, in this meet—with twenty different races and a constant turnover in spectators—you can miss an event of historical significance, like Friday’s first race. While everyone was busy setting up their tents, a sixth grader won a high school cross country event. How often does that happen? A similarly rare event occurred in this race. Right smack dab in the middle of the longest day of the longest cross country meet of the season, and while everyone was busy shaking water off their rain gear, and re-adjusting their cameras, two freshmen ran the most thrilling race of the weekend. While they may still be too young and inexperienced to realize the significance of their feat, some day in the future it will most certainly be replayed again among a much attentive audience.
Although just beginning her first year of cross country, coming into the race, Shelby Lindsay of Choctawhatchee High School had an experiential edge. In the three weeks prior to FLRXIV, she had run three races: The Mobile Challenge of Champions on September 7th, where she finished first (in 22:01.99); the Gulf Coast Cross Country Stampede on September 14th, where she again finished first (in 21:40.40); and the September 21st Rutherford Ram Run on September 21st, where she finished first for the third time (in 20:37.25). In summary, she came in to the season as a virtual unknown, yet won her first three races, and set three PRs.
Andrea Vargas took a little longer to get rolling. In her first race, the August 31st Estero DDD Invitational, she finished 20th in 21:58. Next came the September 21st Mariner Classic, where she moved all the way up to first (20:33). She ran another superb time, 21:07, at the September 12th Lely H.S. Quad Meet.
One way or another, these two would meet on the course. It was definitely going to be a showdown, but the big question was if it was going to be just a battle between each other—somewhere in the middle of the pack--or would it decide the outcome of the race itself?
Andrea: “(When the race first started) I sprinted ahead to get behind the first runner”—Lauren Ashbacker from Choctaw, who eventually finished fifth in 20:34—“and a tall girl—probably Rebecca Fleeman, Eau Gallie, third in 20:19--to keep pace with them.”
Andrea: “I did the same thing, pretty much.”
Shelby: “At 2 ½ miles….”
Andrea: “We started to break up from the tall girl. Laura fell off the pace. I think she got fifth.”
Shelby: “I stayed behind her the whole time. When we got up to the last turn, I sprinted. Then, in the last few meters, she sprinted past me.”
Andrea: “My parents and coach were right there. Earlier in the race, they saw me and said ‘You’re going to win!’ But then Shelby passed me and I thought, ‘Oh!’ But just before the finish, I could see them cheering for me. I tried to stretch it out again. I won by a step.”
Shelby: “I did the best I could. Before the race, I was telling my coach, Sean McSheehy, that I could run 19:50, and I did. (After the race) he came over and gave me a big hug and pat on the back. It felt good. I was happy because he was happy.”
Andrea: “Last week, at the Mariner Invitational, I won and set a PR (20:33). This week I broke it. I was just trying to make it into the 19s. I’m only a freshman, and they’re older than me. I’ve learned a lot from them.”
For some, setting PRs is a rare event, but between them, in one month alone, these two have set seven. Vargas’ times have dropped 2:08, and Lindsay’s 3:11. All this in the first month of their first season of high school cross country.
Team Race – Lindsay’s team placed 2-4-6, but dropped off to 37-59-74-100. Cardinal Gibbons, however, started off a little further back (in 11th), but their runners stayed within sight of each other. With an 11-17-20-21-23-30-42 finish order, their 92 points were the best among the teams competing. Choctaw took second (108 points), and The Geneva School came in third (12-14-31-34-43-57-66; 134). 168 runners and 22 schools finished.
Race 16: Boys Unseeded A
Following Shelby Lindsay’s heartbreaking .4 second loss in the previous race, Choctaw’s Sean White—whether aware of it or not—ran a much safer route to the finish line. Sean explains how he ran his race:
“Our team got pushed over to the outer starting box, so I knew I had to get out quickly. I angled toward the middle. Coming out of the first turn, I was third. I knew I was going for a, roughly, 5:15 first mile and came in at 5:13; just about the right pace.
“I was battling with another runner for second. I eventually passed him and caught up to the leader, right around 2 ½ miles. We battled for about a quarter of a mile, and then I passed him at the corner, going up the hill—just before we saw the finish line. He hung on for about a hundred meters, but never passed me.
“It had stopped raining just as we started, and the humidity was prevalent. After about the first mile it slowed the pace a little, but there was a little breeze. It got hot just as I finished.
“I’m on track to set another PR by the end of the year.”
His current best, 16:23, was set way back on October 15, 2011 at the Black Cat Invitational.
“Last year I tore a ligament in my calf just before the regionals and couldn’t run. But I stuck to my training, in hopes of coming back this season and PRing. I think I have a good chance of that as long as I stay healthy.
“I have to give a shout-out to my coach, Sean McSheehy. He put me through the hard miles, and now it’s showing.”
Team Race – Charlotte won with 87 (3-10-11-29-34-49-56), Liberty was second with 156 (5-22-32-47-50-55-87), and Satellite third with 176 (20-23-33-40-60-142-188). 258 runners and 30 teams were scored.
Race 17: Boys Unseeded B
Incredible as it seems, this race was a re-run of the Girls Unseeded B. After almost all of a 5K behind them, it came down to two runners sprinting all-out for the finish: Peter Grootens of Monsignor Pace, and Devon Bradford of Jupiter Christian. Peter—a senior--came in with a 17:34.70 best (at the 10/20/2012 Lely Trojan XC Invitational), and Devon—a junior--17:09.75 PR (at the 11/3/2-12 1A District 13 Meet). In the end, the difference between them was 1.4 seconds.
Devon: “He was in front. I started closing in on him in the end, but couldn’t catch him.”
Peter: “There was a ‘rabbit,’ who was the leader in the first mile. My coach—Coach Odermatt—told me to go, and from then on it was just a mental race until the last mile, when I heard Devon come on.”
Devon: “I was about eight seconds or so back, but I was getting very close. At about a half mile from the finish, his team was there screaming at him, and it gave him a little burst.”
Peter: “They were yelling that he was closing on me.”
Devon: “I thought I could get him. A guy at the end of the straightaway yelled ‘Show me if you have a sprint!’ and I took off.”
Peter: “I heard him coming, but I was just trying to give it my best and leave everything on the course.”
Both broke 17, both set PRs, and both can consider themselves winners, but there was only one first: Peter ran 16:58.50; Devon 16:59.90.
Peter: “It was my first win, and a huge confidence boost. Before today, it was just my coach saying I had the potential. Now I know I can run that time.”
Devon: “Actually, I think I should have started my kick a little later. Where I did, I gave him a chance to kick again.”
Never say die.
Team Race – Lemon Bay took the big trophy (5-8-11-2-39-49-55; 89), Miami Monsignor Pace a trophy (1-15-24-41-46-91-93; 127), and Christopher Columbus third (2-17-30-42-45-54-65; 136). 188 runners competed for 24 teams.
Race 18: Girls JV White
Alyssa Fraga got her first real taste of a big meet as a freshman running in the 2012 4A FHSAA Championship. 
She finished in her then PR of 20:32 (68th out of 181). Not bad. But winning is better. So she tried that out in this meet.
“I started out fast—the first 100 meters—and when I noticed there were only four or five girls around me, I took the lead. My coaches and teammates told me ‘they’re 100 feet behind you,’ and then ‘they’re 200 meters behind you,’ or words of encouragement. When I realized that I could keep the pace, I think I relaxed, and kept strong.
“When I got to the mat, I thought OMG, I just won. It definitely gave me confidence. I had, before today, low self-confidence, and this gave me a big boost. My mom and dad and coaches have been encouraging me to believe in myself, and that I could accomplish great things if I put my mind to it. This proved that.”
Confidence and a trophy.
Team Race – Make that two trophies. Fraga’s “1”went a long way toward assuring her Lourdes’ team enough of a cushion (48 points on a 1-6-7-8-26-41 spread) to hold off a relatively close Spruce Creek team (2-9-13-17-23-24-28; 64). Winter Park (10-11-16-39-62-93-102) was a wee-bit further back in third (138 points). A whopping 329 runners and 33 teams went to the mats.
Race 19: Boys JV White
To win the last high school race of this year’s FLR Invitational, all Robert Jones had to do was fend off a determined Rodrigo Bustamante (Belen Jesuit), and avoid being trampled by the entire Mandarin herd—five in all—that had their sights set on anyone ahead that was not bedecked in orange. How close was it? Well, there was Jones in 17:39.20, Bustamante six seconds back in 17:45.20, and five—count ‘em—an entire team of Mustangs crammed into the space of ten seconds after that.
“I took the lead for the first time after coming out of the woods, and going onto the bridge. I was able to hold onto it the whole time. My biggest challenge was to be mentally prepared to get back on varsity.
“I usually run for the varsity, but I missed Wednesday’s practice, and then overslept on Friday. On Friday, my coach, Ed Sebetka, told me that I’d be running JV here. (Moving down to JV) wasn’t a good experience, but I learned. I thought I’d make the most of the opportunity and work to get back to on varsity. My PR was 18:12 (run twice), and here I think I ran 17:40 or so.
“I think the race will propel me—mentally—to help my team to go to states this year. We definitely want to be competitive. My motto is, if we’re there, we should definitely try to win it.”
Team Race – Mandarin averaged 17:54, and—because Jones’ Rockledge didn’t field a full team--placed 2-3-4-5-6-21-23, winning with a low-scoring 20 points. Belen Jesuit was second (1-8-14-17-19-20-36: 59), and Winter Park third (9-12-18-22-29-33-56; 90). 299 runners and 31 teams finished.
Community Run
In theory, yes it was. In practice, however, it reminds one of fanatics who jump out of their seats at major league baseball games, and run around the outfield until someone finally tackles them. In this case, after two days of non-stop running around, the staff was too tired to care. Still, at least two participants took the 5K seriously: a bandit named Dan Barry, and a registered runner named Emma Tripper. Ladies first.
“I’m a sophomore, but I don’t run for my high school,” Emma said after the race. “We run AAU as a team—with the Columbus Middle School, in Lake City.
“I was trying to run like a 19:40, but I ran a 19:59. It’s a big race, and I was hoping to go a little faster, but it was humid. I liked the course, but it was a little loopy; it had a lot of turns.”
The male winner—if he had actually registered—would have been Dan Barry. Dan is a coach at Park Vista, near Lake Worth, and he ran the race, basically, to impress his team. According to Dan, however, his cross country team “encouraged” him to run the same course they did.
“They did last year too. They set goals for me. They said, I’d better win, or I’d have to walk back to Lake Worth. But I ran it as part of my preparation for marathon training. My goal is to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I’d have to run a 3:05, and maybe faster. I’m 37.”
The official winner was Tim Pierce, in a sparkling 17:43.
Team Race – Boone, so feared and admired, had no challengers, and ran a perfect 1-2-3-4-5-6 for 15 points.
Epifanio-logue
Looking up from that last interview, I suddenly realized it was over. (Yaaay.) Gone was the sound of the starter’s gun way off in the distance; gone was yet another “wave” of jaywalkers crossing in front of the finishing runners; and gone were the moms and dads sprinting past behind me, yelling “Goooo!” And, if I were smart, I’d be gone before the next downpour.
In their place remained deeply philosophical questions, such as how did they pack up all those tents so fast? What happens to those funny tee-shirts after they are worn? (Do they have to be hung up in the attic like last spring’s prom dress?) Who gets to eat the leftover Shave Ice? Is there any leftover shave ice?
Over the space of two days—by my count--436 teams and 4044 runners passed by my camera. I wasn’t able to get all of them, but I tried. I finally convinced my son Chris—who is quite a gifted photographer--to try too. You’ll see his photos under the title EagleEye. (He graduated from FGCU, whose mascot is a frumpy eagle—last May.) My wife Stephanie, it turned out, was an in-dispensable purveyor of water to runners who needed it most. And my daughter Katy is probably the most relentless pursuer of interview prospects on this planet. Those who appeared in the above story have her to thank.
After a long ride home, what lay ahead was a day of photo loading-resizing-sorting-uploading; two and a half days of writing; and approximately a year to recuperate in time for next year’s invitational.
See you at FLRXV.
More Coverage
- FLR14 Meet Page (Results/Complete Coverage)
Arriving just as the sun was, it couldn’t have been a more amazing sight to see. Where once there was an empty field, a tent city now spread into the distance. When did all this happen? Doesn’t a runner ever sleep? And they were already awake enough to be running all over the place. If you ask me, they couldn’t pay a person enough to do that…which is the point.
Soon these teenage night owls will grow up to become adult night owls, and subsequently have little night owls of their own. With no competition, they will take over. Zombies won’t stand a chance (too slow), and who else will be awake to see all this going on? (Certainly not the now furloughed Feds.) No doubt it will forever change the human race!
Personally, breakfast had to come first. (The above explains why the hotel restaurant was virtually empty.) It was going to be a looooong day, and was preceded by about three—maybe 3 ½--hours sleep. But with a running event of this magnitude, there really is no excuse for being late, and missing the 7:20 AM Boys and Girls Middle School Race did not come without its consequences.