In His Own Words: Quincy O'Connor - Journal #7
Hey Florida Runners readers, this will probably be the last blog on the site for me. So first off I would like to thank Todd and Jason for giving me the opportunity to write this fall. It has been a great experience, which I am thankful for!
The state meet this past weekend was a success for me. Though I finished 5th, which is not quite as high as I had hoped for leading into the season, I did run a race that I can look back on without any regrets. The race went out hard, hats off to Elliot Clemente for taking the race out and dropping the entire field before the first mile. Going in my coaches and I expected it to go out fast, but near 4:30 never crossed our mind. I went through with a pack of about 5 other runners, and it was not until 2 miles that we started to string out a bit. At that point Avery Lopez and Mac Reynolds went by me, and left me running in no man’s land for a good portion of the final mile. The last straight away was my best portion of the race, I love hills, so for me there is nothing better than an uphill finish. I managed to drag back in Mac Reynolds, and finish in 5th, my highest finish out of my 4 XC State meets, and I also ran the fastest I have ever run at Little Everglades; not quite the place I would have hoped for, but I do not have any regrets about the race.
Looking back on the season as a whole, I would say that it was very successful. I ran consistent throughout the year, and peaked when it mattered most. The post season was a huge success, winning my conference for the second time, and my first district and regional championships. Looking back on the year, there is not one thing that I think I would have done differently. I will go into my final track season on a high, and ready to roll! Before then however, I will be running in the footlocker south regional meet this coming weekend. This will be my second time running the meet, and I am really excited about it. My dad and I will be driving up the morning after Thanksgiving for the race; my dad will also be running in the open race for the second year in a row, so it will be very exciting to see him race and cheer him on before my race goes off. Hopefully it will not be my last high school cross country race, but even if it is, I will consider this season one of my best ever.
Good luck to everyone else going into the post-season, I believe I heard that Belen will be running at NXN regional, and if that is the case I wish them luck! Go out and represent Florida in that race, and then in Portland! Also, good luck to all the upper classmen still working on their college search!
More On Quincy
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In His Own Words: Quincy O'Connor (Article) Hey all Florida running fans, my name is Quincy O’Connor and I am just getting underway in my senior year at Celebration High School, right outside of Orlando. After a great summer of running and some fun, I am now getting my final XC season underway. My summer this year was nothing too crazy, just building mileage. I was lucky enough to be able to go to camp in Flagstaff, AZ, which for all those who like to travel, I would highly recommend. I have never been to a city more perfectly set up for runners than Flagstaff; and I cannot think of a better place to train. - 2011-09-19 11:15:00
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In His Own Words: Quincy O'Connor (Article)Hello all! It has not been too long since my last article, but since then, I have put in a couple more days of great training, and ran my last regional cross country championship of my high school career; which went great. I arrived at the course midday Friday to practice on the course prior to the race Saturday morning, and was very excited for the race after walking and running the course. - 2011-11-14 13:46:00
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In His Own Words: Quincy O'Connor (Article)Hello everyone! Another week has gone by, and it is incredible to be able to say that there are only a few short weeks left in my final season as a high school cross country runner. It will be bitter sweet in a few short weeks. This past weekend was the district championships. - 2011-11-10 13:33:00
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In His Own Words: Quincy O'Connor (Article)Hey flrunners readers! Not a whole lot has been going on since my last blog a few weeks ago. I haven’t had too busy of a racing schedule in the past couple weeks so I have been focused on getting in some good workouts going into the championship season. I did run my conference meet this past Wednesday which went quite well. - 2011-10-31 14:24:00
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In His Own Words: Quincy O'Connor (Article)Hey all, it has been another rough but rewarding week. After missing four days of school for a trip up to NY the week before, there was a lot of work to be made up. It never seems that I have an overwhelming amount of school work, but I guess when you pile four days of missed work on top of an already full load, it can get hectic. It was nice to get it all out of the way and then be able to end the week with a race. - 2011-10-17 20:15:00
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In His Own Words: Quincy O'Connor (Article)Hello again all Florida running fans, it has been a crazy few days, all culminating in my racing at the Manhattan Invite in New York City on Sunday. This was my first trip back to the state of New York since moving more than a year ago; and let me say, it was great to be back. The race itself left quite a bit to be desired, however it great to be back and racing at Van Cortlandt. - 2011-10-10 11:09:00
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In His Own Words: Quincy O'Connor (Article)Hello again everyone. This past week has been one of the best this season here in Celebration; both training and racing wise. The team traveled up to Gainesville for the Mt. Dew invitational at the University of Florida, and raced better than we have as a team in a long while. Our average time of 20:18 is the fastest that it has been since I began at Celebration, needless to say, it was a good weekend for the team. - 2011-09-26 11:46:00
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