Milesplit Cross Country Journals
Maddie Meyers returns this season as one of the top distance runners in the country. Last year Maddie finished 7th at the Foot Locker West Regionals and earned her way to Nationals where she placed 23rd. As a sophomore she also posted some fast times in track with a 10:26.40 3200, a 2:09.78 800 and a 4:41.93 mile. Follow Maddie for the next few months as she journals about her XC season.
Maddie Meyers
(Jr., The Northwest School, WA)
Journal Entry #1 (October 15, 2010)
Introduction
(Photo left: Maddie Meyers at Foot Locker Nationals)
Hi Milesplit! My name is Madeleine (Maddie) Meyers and I’m currently a junior at the Northwest School in Seattle, WA. Since this is my first journal entry I guess I should start off a little with a little of my background. I have practically lived in Seattle for my whole life and love it here! Some people might think that it is a little too rainy, but I don’t really seem to notice the rain as much anymore. I have two sisters, one older and one younger. I had started ballet when I was 5, and used to think that I was going to be a professional ballet dancer for 6 years after that. I had never even thought of doing any other sports besides ballet until the start of 6th grade. When I was signing up for classes before middle school you had to choose a sport that you wanted to play and the only options were soccer, cross country, and variety games. I didn’t know what variety games was, and didn’t think I would be any good at soccer, so I thought that running 1½ miles wouldn’t be too bad, so I went for it. When I went to my first practice, I met so many nice kids and a coach that actually made running fun; I knew that I had found something that I would want to do for a while. My coach Joe Bisignano then introduced me to the Rain City Flyers, which was a kids’ club running team, and I have been running ever since!
It’s five years later and I still love running, maybe even more. This past year has been a little hectic and a lot of fun, with racing in larger invites and a couple of national meets, but I have enjoyed every minute of it. This summer I mainly focused on getting some base work in. I went to two different running camps and had a blast at both. The first was a local camp called SPU Falcon running camp. I went with one of my best friends and had fun the whole time. We learned how to orienteer and got to run through some great places on beautiful Whidbey Island. The next camp I went to was the Nike Elite Camp. This was an experience of a lifetime! We were able to train with some of the best runners in the country, and it was the first time where we all really got to know each other. Once I was back in Seattle, I started training with my team again. Since we are one of the smallest schools in Seattle (1A), we don’t have the largest or fastest of teams, but we are all like a big family. Everyone supports each other and we all get along great.
One of my main goals this season is to just race strong, stay healthy, and to hopefully cut some time off of my 5k times from last year. To do this, training has changed a little from the past years. I have upped the mileage a little and now I have been trying to build up my strength by doing a strength workout every week and a ½. We haven’t been doing this for long, but I feel like it is helping and I can already do more pushups! Now that we are almost half way through the season it is time to start focusing more on the upcoming larger races like State and Borderclash. I am also really looking forward to racing at Foot Locker West Regionals again. Hopefully I will be able to race at Nationals! Can’t wait to let you know how the season goes.
Sincerely,
Maddie
