We finally kicked off the fall season two weeks ago at the Galesburg Invite. Being as young and inexperienced as we are, I didnt expect to bring home any team trophies. I was though anxious to see how well the freshmen and sophmores would race after putting in a pretty solid summer. A couple suprises were: senior David Blackford running 18:17 for his first cross country race ever, sophmore Cody Margetis running a pb of 18:39, and most impressive was freshman Kevin Eades who placed 12th in the varsity race and running 17:10 for his first 3 mile race ever!!! I knew he was going to be good, but didnt realize just how much talent he actually has. After the race he was grinnig from ear to ear, not a bit winded and told me he had at least 30 more seconds in him!
Last weekend we came back to race at the huge Woodruff Invite at famous Detwiller Park here in Peoria where the state meet has been held for the last 30 plus years. Normally the course is track fast and is a great statewide benchmark for coaches to really see what the kids are capable of. But after 10 inches of rain for the week prior, it turned into a mudpit of survival. I have noticed that it is extremely difficult for the young kids to strength races in the mud. In all honesty I really cant say that anybody on the team ran particularly well. Some of it had to do with the rain and mud, a hard week of workouts, 4 injuries and 6 with colds. The talented junior Drew Thomas did finally step up decide to race to run a personal best. The highlight of the meet was watching my 6 underclassmen run in the open race which had 790 participants! Three minutes prior to the start of the race the heavens opened up and the starting line began roaring like the Spartans!!! Althought they got beat down pretty bad, they did say that it was the most memorable race they had ever ran. Unfortunately my camera was ruined and I lost all my pictures of the mess and mayhem.
Tuesday we raced a conference duel meet against our arch rival Metamora (who is ranked nubmer 10 in the state). Although we got beat pretty bad, the big suprise was freshman Kevin Eades outkicking the returning conference farvorite down the homestretch to run 16:20 on a hot, tough and muddy course. What was even more impressive that he did it with one shoe on after losing it on a corner at the two mile!!! Mark my word, this kid may be as talented as any I have ever seen. Not just the physical, but the emotional and mental perspective is going to take him a long way. There were many others who ran big personal bests and are finally starting to figure out that we do have a bit of talent on this team, but that we have a lot of work to do in the off season if we are going to accomplish what we are capable of.
Yesterday was our weekend off from racing, as we held our second annual EPCC Run-A-Thon. The kids get donations, either per mile or for total distance, and they run a mile loop marked in the woods for 90 minutes. This helps pay for the food, equipment, t-shirts, shoes ect... that we need. We raised almost $1,000, then had a great picnic afterwards. Every kid ran at least 10 miles, and Hugh Gill and Kevin Eades ran 13 before I had to pull them. It was a lot of fun to hear them talk about how tired they were but that they could have kept going. For most of them, their longest continuest run ever was 6-7 miles. It is a lot of fun as a coach to see them beat but being so excited that they were able to accomplish things they never thought were capable.
The most exciting part of this season thus far is the parental support that we are finally starting to get. Several parents were out yesterday to help work on the course and then got to talking about bringing a grill to the weekend races and having food for everyone afterwards! That is exactly what I have been working so hard to get established here at EP. A family oriented culture where all the parents are out watching their kids improve week by week. That not only keeps the athletes more interested, but also attracts others who want to be a part of something special.
As far as my running is concerned, it is just biking in the morning and running my 6-10 in the afternoon. Nothing really exciting tp report on that. We are now in the heart of the season and will be racing every Tuesday and Saturday for the next four weeks. Thanks for reading and I will keep you posted on all the success.
Go Raiders
tb
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Its Finally Time to Race
Good morning everyone. As I sit here typing we are only 48 hours from our first race of the year! We have been dealing with a lot of the ussual injury and heat related problems the last few weeks, but hopefully their frail little legs will start to come around just in time for racing season. I think we are a long way from being fully "prepared", but I am hoping that when we start racing running will take on a new priority for a while.
I actually have a great group of young runners who have a lot of ability. In particular, freshman Kevin Eades has been running amazing. He has been ahead of last years state qualifier Hugh Gill on every run. Although I know we are not going to break any records this season, I think we will do some pretty good things. What is difficult for me is knowing how good we are going to be the next two years and trying to stay focused on the season at hand. As good as we are going to be doesnt help the fact that we are going to get beat up a little bit this season. I guess that is all part of the game though.
What I have noticed about myself over the last few weeks is just how obsessively ultra-competitive I am, and I find myself getting really frustrated with the kids who are not that way, which is the majority of them. I believe a lot of this frustration stems from the fact that I set extremely high goals for myself (something I believe is just innate) and I am willing to do whatever it takes to achieve those goals. So I guess the real problem lies in the fact that we are just to young of a team to have any sort of long-term goals at the moment. If they only knew how far their talent could take them, they would be a lot more motivated to get up every morning and do all the things necessary to get to the top.
My running has been going great. Well, I wouldnt call it great, but relatively speaking it has been going pretty well. I have been riding for about an hour in the morning and then doing the workouts with the team on most days. My plantar is not hurting, but I can feel it is tight when I get up in the mornings. I am planning on making a trip out east to see Dr. Brian Fullem, The Man, and get fitted for a new pair of orthodics if I ever get the chance to get away for a few days. Knock on wood, I will be finishing up a great summer this time next year.
Thats all I got for now. I hope all that are reading are doing well and I will keep you posted on how the meet goes this weekend. Happy running and Go Raiders!
tb
I actually have a great group of young runners who have a lot of ability. In particular, freshman Kevin Eades has been running amazing. He has been ahead of last years state qualifier Hugh Gill on every run. Although I know we are not going to break any records this season, I think we will do some pretty good things. What is difficult for me is knowing how good we are going to be the next two years and trying to stay focused on the season at hand. As good as we are going to be doesnt help the fact that we are going to get beat up a little bit this season. I guess that is all part of the game though.
What I have noticed about myself over the last few weeks is just how obsessively ultra-competitive I am, and I find myself getting really frustrated with the kids who are not that way, which is the majority of them. I believe a lot of this frustration stems from the fact that I set extremely high goals for myself (something I believe is just innate) and I am willing to do whatever it takes to achieve those goals. So I guess the real problem lies in the fact that we are just to young of a team to have any sort of long-term goals at the moment. If they only knew how far their talent could take them, they would be a lot more motivated to get up every morning and do all the things necessary to get to the top.
My running has been going great. Well, I wouldnt call it great, but relatively speaking it has been going pretty well. I have been riding for about an hour in the morning and then doing the workouts with the team on most days. My plantar is not hurting, but I can feel it is tight when I get up in the mornings. I am planning on making a trip out east to see Dr. Brian Fullem, The Man, and get fitted for a new pair of orthodics if I ever get the chance to get away for a few days. Knock on wood, I will be finishing up a great summer this time next year.
Thats all I got for now. I hope all that are reading are doing well and I will keep you posted on how the meet goes this weekend. Happy running and Go Raiders!
tb
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