Wrapping Up The Season

Cross country season has really flown by fast, hasn't it? It seems like the season just started, but in reality the cross country season is over with and every runner out there is gearing up for the winter season. We have had our ups and downs as a team, but in the end we were happy with the results of the season. Maybe not every race, but we definitely surprised ourselves in the end. To wrap up the cross country season I have a video that every runner should watch. In my opinion this video is great for capturing the essence of running and inspiring anyone in need of motivation. However, cross country is not the only competitive season. Next up we have indoor track. It may not be as scenic as cross country, but it is great for competition since we race on the track. Here is another video to check out in hopes to give you motivation and to inspire all of you to drop your times! Before you go tell me, what was your best race and what time did you get?

"You have to wonder at times what you're doing out there. Over the years, I've given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement."-Steve Prefontaine

Footlocker Nationals

Over the weekend the Footlocker National race was aired live over the footlocker cross country website, http://footlockercc.com/. The race was on Saturday December 14th in San Diego's Balboa Park. There were eighty runners there, forty girls and forty boys. All the runners had an all paid for trip to San Diego for the race. They stayed in a luxurious hotel, Hotel Del Coronado and in their hotel rooms they found a plethora of free items, ranging from t-shirts to free running shoes and racing spikes! All the runners spent about two or three days in San Diego before the race. They spent their time bonding with the other runners from their region and enjoyed themselves on the beach before they had to race. The course they had to run on was very challenging. There was a monster of hill that they had to run up three times! The race itself was great to watch. Although the quality of the video was not the best, you could see every exciting part of the race and you did not miss anything important. The winners of the races were Grant Fisher from the Midwest for the boys race and Tessa Barrett from the Northeast for the girls race. The links below will take you to the full results of each race. Did you watch the races and what did you think about them?

Girl's race: http://footlockercc.com/2013/results/girlschampionship.pdf
Boy's race: http://footlockercc.com/2013/results/boyschampionship.pdf
Photos' Link: http://www.footlockercc.com/2013/nationalphotos/awards/index.htm

Girls Finalists

                                                           

Tessa Barrett and Grant Fisher

Boys Finalists

Footlocker Regional Race

Over the Thanksgiving Break, a few of our runners ran in a post-season race, Footlocker. Footlocker is a race down in North Carolina. People living all over the southern region run in this race. From Texas to Maryland and all the states in between race in Footlocker. Not only does this region run in the Footlocker race, but other regions have this same race. The regions who compete in this race are the West, Midwest, Northeast, and the Southern region. The top ten in the Championship races of each region qualify for Footlocker Nationals in San Diego. Over the weekend our own Molly B. qualified for Nationals! She finished in ninth place, beating her previous best time by a minute! She will be racing on December fourteenth. It will be broadcasted live on the footlocker website (http://www.footlockercc.com/). You can also find the results of all the races in the link.  We also had many others run in the Footlocker South race. They all ran in their age group race. Many of them came home with a personal best. I would love to hear what you think of the Footlocker race and if you raced how did you do?                                                                                                                                                                                                

The Beautiful McAlpine Park, NC

State Meet Reflection

TES Boys XC second place plaque

On November first we competed in the State Meet. Unfortunately we lost and came second. Our nemesis Woodberry Forest beat us. On our team Steven J. came just short of being All-State, coming in the top twenty. He was one spot away, he finished twenty first. I came third, coming behind Alex L. from Fork Union, and Hale R. from Potomac. Although we did not win, we were happy with the results. If you asked anyone on the team in the beginning of the season, you would have gotten a negative response, but we surprised ourselves and we are proud of ourselves for accomplishing second place. Our goal next year is to rebound and finish first as a team.
On the girls side, they came fifth. They had Molly B. winning the meet for her second time in a row. She finished in front of second place by almost a minute! Katie B. also had a great performance, coming in second for the team and fourth overall. Both of them were All- State, top twenty. In the comments tell me how your state meet went?

Top Ten Boys

Top Ten Girls

   


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Championship Week!

The beginning of this week marked the start of our championship season. The two championship meets we have are both on Fridays. This Friday is our Prep League meet. We are competing for our fourth consecutive prep league win. There will be eleven schools we are racing against. The list of schools are at Milestat.com (http://va.milesplit.com/meets/154134-prep-league-lis-championships#.UnFPJXDVCs8).

Next Friday is the VISAA State Cross Country Meet. This is a big meet! We have been training for this meet all year. We will be competing for our fourth consecutive win, also. The meet is held at Woodberry Forest. The Woodberry Forest course is, in my opinion, a great course to have the state meet. The course is challenging making it a slow course. There are also great places for spectators to go to watch the race. If you have nothing to do on Friday November 8th come watch the state meet! My question for you is, what do you think about the Collegiate course?

Collegiate course map: http://cache.milesplit.com/venue_files/1862/full/5k_course_map

VISAA State Cross Country Meet

Image URL:http://va.milesplit.com/meets/147764-virginia-independent-schools-state-xc-championships#.UnGUaXCmjbg

 Boulder Running Company 

Over the summer a few of the guys on the team and I went to a cross country camp in Colorado. While we were there, we went to visit the Boulder Running Company. The Boulder Running Company is this store that specializes in selling running gear. While shopping through the store I found a lot of running gear that I have never seen before. There was this contraption that rolled out your calves. It had wheels on either side and you had to roll in up and down your leg. Along with all the gear you could look through, they also had tread mills where the employees could analyze your running form! The employee that analyzed my teams form was a very strange man. He told us that we all had terrible running form, and that we should buy new running shoes as soon as possible. I did not believe him because a few months before then I had my form analyzed by a running specialist, who studies running form for a job, told me I had great form. The store also had an event going on outside the store. There was a tent with music and a group of people who were going to run and among them was a famous runner! Frank Shorter was there and we got to meet him!

Although the staff was strange, to say the least, I would have to say that this store is a great place to visit if you are interested in running. They have great running gear and even have, on occasion, events that include famous runners. I would recommend this store to anyone who were to visit Boulder Colorado.

Front of the Boulder Running Company and their logo

http://www.runcolo.com/content/boulder-running-company-bought-out-1425/
https://foursquare.com/brcdtc

Maymont and Our Journey

Over the weekend Trinity Cross Country raced at the Maymont Cross Country Festival. There were more than 100 schools racing, including 3,000 runners who raced at the meet. It was a great experience for the younger guys to know how it feels to compete in a race that big. Although we did not race well last week, according to our coach we raced better as a team than we did at the William and Mary Invitational last week. As a team we placed 9th in the varsity race, and overall we all performed pretty well.

Looking at the results of this meet, we still need to improve if we want to compete for the state title this year. Although we have beaten Woodberry Forest School once this year, there is no denying that they and every other team who we run against is training as hard, if not harder than we are. Considering we have not raced against some of the other teams yet, this only means that we need to give it all we have at every work out/race that we have so that we can prepare for the challenge at the end of the season. The challenge of winning the VISAA State Championships.