Cross Country 11/2/09

Over the last week we have had two races, and three practices. During the meet against Pope John Paul and Cape Cod Academy, I was only able to run about 40-50% of the time due to a cramp that lasted throughout about half of the race. Despite this, I posted a decent time of about 28 minutes and managed to pass the person ahead of me in the final stretch. Our team managed to overcome the stormy weather and beat both PJP and CCA. I had to miss the meet on Friday due to our school's "Spirit day" activities. During the next week we will be training hard for our upcoming "weekend" state meets.

Cross Country 10/23/09

Over the past two weeks, we have run a few races. We had one at Southeast Regional High School and one at Nauset. At both races I have seen my improvement soar compared to earlier endeavors. On each course I have been able to jog or run the whole course, and my current "running rate" is about 40-60%. I have also been able to keep up during practices, and my mile times are nearing 8 minutes. I've also found that I run better in the cold weather, since the running keeps me warm. Next week we have two games: a tri-meet with Pope John Paul and CCA, and another meet against Southeastern.

Cross Country 10/9/09

These past two weeks, I have been able to be at more practices. However, I had to miss the last meeting and today's meeting in order to make up work and because of scheduling reasons. My times have been better overall, and I'm now able to run a consistent three miles without walking. During one practice, after running the 2.1 mile "triangle" and four double-quarter mile laps, everyone had to run the triangle again. However, many people did not finish, and were sent back. I was one of the two people who did finish. This past Wednesday, we ran against Cape Cod Academy and Pope John Paul II on our home course, our last home course game of the season. Although my placement was worse, coming in 25th, my time was better by nearly two minutes, and only 13 seconds from my best pace on any course. Next week, I will try to run for longer distances and push myself for better times.

Cross Country 9/26/09

Last week we had two meets: One against Mashpee, the other against both Upper Cape and Harwich. Unfortunately I did not run Sunday, was feeling sick Monday and was home sick on Tuesday, making three days without running before the Mashpee race. However the course was quite short (at 2.9 miles instead of 3.1) and almost completely flat. As a result my time was respectable, being about the same as my time on the Upper Cape Tech course. I placed 22nd, one better than last race, however the girls were not counted in this race so in reality I probably did a little worse. I was able to run nearly the whole course due to the relative ease of the course. The next day, I again had to miss practice to do an HL math test, and then there was another race day. This time, the race was in Bayberry, a much harder course with hills and sand. This time I was only able to run 85% of the time, and my time was just under 30 minutes. I only placed 25th by two seconds, having to try and sprint along with another runner for the last portion of the race. During the next week I will try for better times, and to come to all practices.

Cross Country 9/20/09

This past week we did not have any meets. Because of this, on Tuesday we ran 3 miles straight and on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we ran for 50 minutes each day. During the runs on Tuesday and Wednesday, I ran about 70-80% of the time. On Thursday, however, it was up to a solid 80%, and by Friday it was about 85%. This week we also had an unfortunate announcement. Our top runner, Sebastian Jakaus, had decided to retire from the team. However, the coach said that we should not be training harder or making ourselves feel like we need to make up for a lost teammate. On my part, I will continue to run even though we may not win as many games. We have a few games coming up next week.

Cross Country #1 (9/15/09)

Last Tuesday we raced against Cape Cod Technical School. This was my first race, and I was able to attain a time of about 28 minutes, coming in 23rd place of 32 people. Although I was not able to maintain a steady jog or run, I was able to run or jog about 80-90% of the time, a good pace. I was also able to sprint at the end of the race, meaning that I still had energy left. This means that I should use more energy throughout the race, just enough so that it is all used up by the end.