Thursday, September 14, 2006

First XC Meet

Yesterday I went to the first official cross-country meet of the season. The three teams had a large variation in size. Riley's team has 55 kids (boys and girls). One of the other teams probably had half that, and the third team was about double! In Riley's JV match, the smaller school had exactly one runner. The larger school swamped the course. I don't know what the deal was with the wide variation. I assume since we are all in the same league, the school sizes must be within a certain range. I guess it's just a variation in how many kids go out for a team.

Riley got 9th in JV, behind eight kids from the larger school. He was the first one in from our team, and it turns out missed varsity by only 8 seconds.

I got recruited to work the finish line - which I've done for every home meet for three years. I'm the "tick marker". My finish line buddy, Glen, calls out the time and the number of runners and I mark it on a tick-sheet, then later it is matched up with the kids names. We've been having beautiful, hot weather right up until yesterday when it turned cold and windy. I had three layers on trying to stay warm while I was there!

As for my own running:
Monday: rest/pilates
Tuesday: 6.5 miles
Wednesday: 8 miles (including the 6 mile hill run)
Thursday am: 4 miles, 3 miles planned for tonight

I ran alone on Tuesday for the first time in a couple of months. Sonya was sick during the night and needed to sleep. It was kind of nice to run alone, but it sure seemed like I was out there for a long time.

We're heading up to Bellingham (about 3 hours away) tomorrow night to visit with my parents and Eric's Dad, and to run the 15K. We're planning a nice run for Sunday morning, then after visiting Eric's Dad, we'll head back home. Should be a fun weekend!

EDITED TO ADD: Riley's time was 19:38 - 5K course. That is better than his PR of last season which was 19:50.

11 comments:

Wes said...

Nice pics! Riley will make varsity yet. Tell'em I said so. You have a great trip and 15K!

Unknown said...

Nice job on the workouts. You're in the home stretch now. Maybe we can hook up next week.

Sarah said...

Your pics bring back memories of my high school xc days. : ) WTG, Riley! His time will come. : )

Your workouts are impressive. All your hard work will soon pay off! : ) Enjoy your 15K.

tryathlete said...

That's quite a huge variation - the largest school was 4x the smallest?

Have a good weekend and enjoy the 15K!

Legs and Wings said...

Good of you to continue in your supportive role for Riley and the entire school. He's fortunate to have such a great mom.

Have fun in Bellingham - I think I remember it being pretty flat there. Should make for a great run. Most of all, enjoy a happy reunion with family. Take care.

JustRun said...

Sounds like you're in for a great weekend! Have fun. :)

Olga said...

great on all, and thou Riley didn't get in, placing so high in such a crowd is woo-hoo!
enjoy your weekend

Anne said...

Sorry to hear Riley just missed the varsity cut off but it sounds like he still turned in a spectacular performance for the number of kids that were on the course. Enjoy Bellingham.

Taunya said...

Wow..Riley already beat his PR from last season? That's great!

Have a terrific weekend!

Rose said...

Loved the high school race report. It is amazing how different the kids are at these ages.

Your training is certainly impressive! Keep up the good work!

Anonymous said...

Michelle-
Good luck at the 15K, I hope you feel as strong as the Bank to Bay! I'll be taking it easy sat. and missing you and Sonja! Way to Go Riley!!!