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 #2 (November 3, 2010)
It’s hard to believe that the high school cross country season is almost over! State is coming up on Saturday and sadly my high school’s girls or boys’ team did not make it. Luckily three of my boy teammates made it individually and a couple of friends and teammates are coming to cheer us on. These past couple of weeks have been mainly focused on training for running hard at state, so there has been a couple of races where I have taken them more relaxed. At the more relaxed meets I will race them differently each time as a way to simulate different styles of racing. For example, at my league championship meet, I ran the first mile with one of my teammates to help her find her pace and then ran the second mile at faster than 17:30 5k race pace to practice running a hard second mile. For this past weekend at our district meet I ran the first two miles at my target state race pace and then coasted in the last mile. Through racing this way, I have been able to dial that pace in my mind.
For state this year, I hope to break 18 minutes because last year I missed it by one second, and my goal is to beat the state record. There are many fast Washington runners this year so I feel that I won’t be the only one going for that record. Racing is definitely one of the highlights of the trip, but one thing that we all look forward to is just being together and having fun. Pasco is about three and a half hours away from Seattle, but no one minds the drive because that is usually where the best stories come from. There are also a couple traditions that we do every year at state and they are going to the Columbia Mall the night before and stopping at a Mexican restaurant called El Porton de Pepe. I’m really excited for this trip!
If I run well at State, the next big race will be Nike Boarderclash. This race includes the 40 best runners from Washington against the 40 best runners in Oregon. Borderclash is pretty different from the normal cross country race. There are separate starting lines for the Oregon and Washington teams, and when the starting cannon is shot both starting lines race straight at each other and then make a 90 degree turn coming together. While you are racing through the Nike campus, there is a helicopter above filming and then projecting the race onto large TV’s for the spectators. The race has been a blast the last couple of years and I’m really looking forward to it. After Borderclash the main focus will be getting ready for Footlocker regional’s and some warm California sun J
Talk to you soon,
Maddie
