Hello, Florida Runners! The name's Cory Sayyeau. I'm out of Cocoa Beach, and I'll be giving you guys the inside scoop throughout the season about what happens on the Space Coast side of Florida.
First off, a little information about me: I've run since seventh grade and will be the first to admit that I don't know everything there is to know about running. I'm always learning new ways to train, new ways to race and new ways to improve. Last season, I placed tenth at the 2A Cross Country State Meet and I'm ranked third coming in to the 2012 cross country season... but I'm confident I can change that soon.
This summer, I’ve had the best runners to run with in Brevard County: Alex “Brownie” Brown, Cole Oliver, Tristan Kattenburg , Andrew “Catch” Cacciatore and Luke Redito, along with other Brevard County greats from last year and other years past. All of us running together at Wickham Park at 6:30 in the morning and being coached by Coach Butler have forced us to work hard, and I believe we are ready for a great season.
This summer we’ve been on a plan which consists of two high-mileage weeks and one lower-mileage week, with high weeks at 85 miles and low weeks at 70 miles. We also went to Warrior Running Camp together in Georgia at theNorth Carolina Border. Running up there brought us closer together as friends, and working hard together to attack hill training to get in the 1 week of the 100 mile week made us know we can attack any course Florida has to bring.
Now, a little on my team in Cocoa Beach: First off, we have Costa Stathis who ran a 4:24 mile this track season, so his speed has improved quite a bit! Next is Dylan Taylor, who is one of my closest friends on the team. He ran his first year of cross country last year and ran a 16:46. We've also got Telly Galanopolis... what a stud the kid is. He was able to PR almost every race last season in his first year running. And last off from our top five is Brandon Holst: some injuries have set him back a little in the last couple years, but he's been training at Wickham Park with me and has shown a lot of improvement this summer.
Our team is pretty unique. Just like any other team, we fight with each other at times but are still family in the end.
On a final note, the other day some of the guys and I were trying to come up with a signature thing for us individually. As you look around, there've been things like my old teammate Shelby Davidson's signature bow she wore each race and Joey Castagnaro wore a thin headband when his hair was long. It's the little things like that to keep one another unique in a different way. So think of something you would want to do and maybe it will catch on around the state! I'm already trying to figure one out, but I'll tell you guys about that later on.
I look forward to writing again and keeping you all informed on the drama I expect throughout the season... and the fun times as well!
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