View from the Midway Photo Album by Rese Ammons - Over 500 Photos
There is no doubt that the flrunners.com invitational is one of the most well organized meets in the state. The course is beautiful, with most of it trailing alongside lakes and wooded areas. Winners were well rewarded with very nice medals and team trophies. However, this isn't the main reason participants from all over the state come to this event.
If there was one word to describe the flrunners.com invitational, it is FUN! The overall atmosphere was exciting. Everywhere you looked, people were smiling and having a good time. The staging area almost turns into a carnival midway with team tents, kettle corn, snow cones, hamburgers and hotdogs.
And don't forget the House of Bowerman. This was the favorite aspect of the whole event for many participants. Nike set up their 'Big Top' and offered not only shoes and other Nike apparel for sale, they had a lot of freebies too. Anyone who either purchased or brought in their own Nike apparel, could receive free customization of their shoes and shirts. There were free shoe laces of many colors. The pink shoe laces were the first to run out, surprisingly to the guys! There were also red, blue and gold colored spikes. Additionally, an artist was on site to customize shoes by spray painting designs on them (He was quite good, too!) and there were two locations to have iron on designs put on your shirts. The lines for this were always crowded. Runners standing in line took the time to get to know members from other teams in line with them.
There is always a sense of camaraderie and sportsmanship at any cross country event, but it seemed to be more prevalent this weekend. Nike also had treadmills available and assisted runners of all ages by testing their running gait to help them find the best shoes to make them better runners. Nike also gave out pretty cool posters and cowbells to help spectators cheer on their favorite teams.
Perhaps the most notable part of the entire weekend was having Chris Solinsky as a guest speaker. Chris is the American 10,000 meter record holder with a time of 26:59.60 as well as the first non-African runner to break the 27-minute barrier in the 10,000 m. He spoke to everyone about how setting goals helped him achieve his success and how learning to set goals not only helps with running, but also translates into academic success. Chris was on hand Friday night and Saturday morning to sign autographs and take photos.