Move Before You Eat!

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That’s the motto of the Oceanside Turkey Trot and also for my family. First thing in the morning, my mom and dad went for a 5-mile run together before taking my sister and me to the races. This year was my 2nd time racing in the kids’ 1-mile race. I love the 1 mile races because they are short and sweet.

This race was also exciting because my little sister, Mia, decided she wanted to participate, too. She ran in a 1/4-mile race.

It was a beautiful day. I always get a few butterflies in my stomach right before a race when I’m at the starting line. But as soon as the gun or horn sounds and I’m running, they all disappear.

My race was first and it was pretty quick. There was a motorcycle leading the way, followed by a high school pacer. This is someone who leads the group and also shows which way to go. Right after the horn sounded, I got a good start. I ended up running alongside the pacer.

She was talking to me saying things like, “good job, buddy!” Eventually, I passed her and was on my own.

I won the race with a time of 5:46. It was my personal goal to try to break the 6-minute mark and I was shocked as I was approaching the finish line and saw the big timer read 5:something. I couldn’t believe it! It was such an amazing feeling.

I heard my mom screaming, “Go, Max!!!” It was great.

After all the runners went through, Mia’s race started. I had so much fun waiting for her at the finish line and cheering her on. She seemed to enjoy it. She took 5th place and said she met a friend along the way. I guess they were smiling at each other the entire race.

What a fun Thanksgiving morning. My parents were happy and they gave us a fun surprise. Right after the races, we drove straight to Six Flags Magic Mountain! We met some friends in Valencia and had a really nice dinner at the Hyatt. Then we stayed through the weekend and rode the most crazy roller coasters ever!

I’m grateful for my family. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving 🙂

USATF Cross Country Regional Championships – 11/21/10

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Yesterday I went to the USATF Regional Championships at Mt. SAC in Walnut, CA. My family and I got up really early to drive up north. It was pouring rain and I thought I would be running in the rain. Luckily, the rain cleared by the time we got there.

The first thing we did was do a course walk-through. This is when you walk the entire race course to get a feel for it and know which way to go. Every course is different.

Since this was the Regional Championship, there were many more runners from Southern California. In my division, there were over 50 boys.

When we were doing the course walk-through, I noticed that a lot of the other runners had t-shirts and sweatshirts that said National Junior Olympics 2009. I thought they must be really good runners because they went to Nationals last year. I also decided that I wanted a sweatshirt of my own.

I was very excited about the race. The good news is I am completely over my bronchitis and cough! I felt so strong and could breathe without making wheezing noises.

At the start, I quickly fell behind. I noticed that the runner who took first place at last week’s Association race was at the very front of the pack. I was probably somewhere in the second half.

The course had a lot of turns in it and pretty early on, I passed that runner! It was definitely a boost for me, even though he wasn’t in first anymore. I passed a lot of runners and just kept trying to catch more, one at a time. My lungs and legs felt great.

As I neared the finish, I saw the clock. It showed a time that was waaaay less than the time from last week. I was so excited as I ran through to the end. I placed 4th behind 2 runners from 2 other teams and 1 from my team.

This meant I not only qualified for Nationals as a team, but also as an individual! Everyone was really excited. I am SO PSYCHED that I am going to Nationals next month!!

Official results are posted here.

USA Track and Field CC Association Race – 11/14/10

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Yesterday was my first cross country race with the Socal Roadrunners, my new team. My division is called Bantam, which is for runners who are 10 and under. I am supposed to be a Sub-Bantam, but the National Junior Olympics’ youngest division is Bantam, so I was bumped up.

The race distance for Bantams is 3k. Our race was held at Kit Carson Park in Escondido, CA. Here is a picture from the start:

It was another really cold morning. I was still coughing a lot, but I felt I had a good race. At practices, Coach pointed out to me several of the team’s top Bantam runners. I tried to make sure I kept up with them at practice and wanted to see how I’d do next to them at this race.

I ended up taking 4th place and was very happy with my results. My coach told me that my performance was good enough to make it to the next qualifier, which is the USATF Regional Championships. That race is next week. I’m excited.

My cough got pretty bad this week and my mom thinks I have bronchitis. I’m still taking antibiotics and hope to be better ASAP!!

My First GOAL!!!!!!!

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I know this is not as exciting to a lot of kids who score goals easily at every game, but for me soccer has been a really big challenge.

Forget making goals.. I’ve spent all season working on overcoming my fear of getting kicked, hit with the ball in the face, or whatever. It seems like my teammates don’t have that fear. They just get in there and go crazy. They do it so well, too. I have never been really aggressive like that even though I still love playing.

All season long, I’ve been working on trying to be more aggressive. Today was a really fun game. Into the second half, we were tied 0-0 still. No one was able to score. Everyone was getting frustrated because we had a lot of chances.

During an exchange, I had the ball and a great opportunity near the goal. I think I was so excited that I completely missed the ball and kicked the air. Then one of the opposing players got the ball and I chased him down. I got the ball back and set up again. That time I kicked the ball good and scored my very first goal!

It felt so amazing. I was really proud of myself 🙂 The team was so happy- we scored a second goal within minutes after that and ended up winning 2-0.

Some things are easier for some people than for others. This was a big deal for me.

Here is a picture of my goal shot!!

Cross Country… Why not?

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After my 5k race last week, I decided to give cross country another shot. Over the summer I tried a few practice sessions with the San Diego Socal Roadrunners which is a local running club. It was fun but since I was also doing soccer at the time, I decided not to do it.

But now that soccer is coming to an end, I thought about it again and met with the coach to possibly join the team. I didn’t realize, however, that the cross country season is practically over. The coach said that the only races left were two qualifiers for the USATF National Junior Olympics. He was nice and invited me to come to practice anyway.

My first practice was on Tuesday, the same day as the NBC News taping at my school. It was a long day since I was up at 5am, ran 7 miles at school, and then had his practice at 5pm.

The practice was kind of hard for me. I had never done any sort of special warm-up or stretching before running and the team all seemed to know what they were doing. Also, the practice was a series of six 600 meter runs at race pace with very little rest in between. The coach told me to run with certain kids and I did my best. My cough was getting worse but I didn’t want to complain. After the workout, the coach asked me to come back and try to compete in the first national qualifier which is this weekend, on Sunday. I said “okay.”

So far, I don’t know anyone on the team. They have all been together since June and they all know each other. I’m sort of a stranger to them and nobody really talks to me, but it’s okay.

I’ve started taking antibiotics and doubling up on my green smoothies every day to get rid of my cough. I am looking forward to the race and hope to do well.

NBC San Diego Comes to Carrillo Elementary

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Yesterday morning, NBC News San Diego came to my school to highlight our parent-run running club. A lot of runners, including myself, showed up at 5am for the tapings. It was completely black outside and FREEZING!

I have been coughing a bit this week and the cold air kind of made me cough a lot more 🙁 I don’t know if I am coming down with something because I NEVER get sick… Anyway, I was very excited about my school being on the news.

The reporter’s name was Megan Tevrizian. She was really nice and she interviewed a bunch of us to learn more about our running club. She even did a little bit of running with us. This year is is our school’s goal to “Run Around the World.” That is equal to 24,901 miles! I think we can do it for sure.

Our running club is so amazing. I started running when I was 6 because of the running club. The moms that organize it are very supportive and great. I am so thankful for the club because it gave me the chance to realize how much I love run and to be strong and healthy.

Here is a clip of one of the airings:

Carrillo Elementary Running Club in the News

…And some photos:

My First 5K

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This past weekend I competed in my first 5K. That is about 3.1 miles. I had never done it before and thought why not?

The youngest age division was 12-and-under. It was a very different start than when I do the 1-mile races. The start was very very casual. They didn’t give any announcements, just all of a sudden a horn went off and tons and tons of people just started moving. There were a lot of people walking, pushing strollers… I was nowhere near the front and tried to just weave my way through all the people. I knew that my time wouldn’t start until I crossed the starting line, but I was excited to get going.

Once I got past the starting line, I took off. There were so many people to go around. I noticed as I ran by, I overheard several comments. Someone said, “Hey look at that little guy- good job buddy!”

Another man pushing a jogger said to his baby, “Wow look at this kid, I hope you are like that one day.”

Several people just said, “Way to go, kid!”

I thought that was nice.

The track had several cones so I knew exactly which way to run. After each mile, they also had an announcer tell you the gun’s split time. After the first mile, it was 7:50. After the 2nd mile it was 14:25. I came into the finish at 22-something. My official race time was 21:10.

Somewhere during the 3rd mile, I saw someone ahead of me who looked like he could be in my age division. He looked 11 or 12. I decided to try to catch up to him. As I got very close, he saw me and started sprinting away.

I kept increasing my pace and about a minute later I caught up to him again and passed him. I thought he might try to catch back up with me so I kept my pace high but I wasn’t sprinting. He never did catch up. Later, I found out I placed in 2nd and he placed 3rd, 30 seconds after me.

Have you watched Secretariat? I saw it a few weekends ago. I sort of felt like Secretariat during that part. Secretariat comes from behind and then increases his lengths ahead of who he passes. That was such an inspiring movie.

Anyway, I had a blast at the race and hope to try one again soon.

There was a really nice man at the end of the race who said he felt awesome during his entire race and not a single person passed him, until I did. He wanted a picture with me. He was really nice 🙂

A Runner Named Meb

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I just finished reading an article from yesterday’s San Diego Union Tribune. I am interested in it because it talks about a runner, and I love running. The person’s name is Meb Keflezighi. He ran the 5 boroughs of New York and won it. He was the 1st American to win since Alberto Salazar in 1982.

Towards the finish line, he said he felt a sense of relief that he had done it. In his 12th attempt at that distance, he won a marathon. Until then his silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics represented his awesome achievement.

He also did one in New York and one in Boston. He said it was a blessing. He also went to about 20 National Championships!

Meb had a vision for himself before he ran. Before his New York victory, he had not run a good run in Boston and took third. He started getting worse and worse. His appearance fees started dropping.

At the 2008 trials he broke suffering the pain. The sport moved away from Meb. He had a lot of injuries and people started to doubt his ability to do well anymore.

But Meb is not a quitter. He does not take the easy road ever, and challenges don’t affect him. Meb says that he is now fit and is setting a goal on a 10 miles training run in September.

I admire Meb’s passion.

Soccer Rocks!

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I know I talk a lot about running. I also really enjoy playing soccer. This year was my first time playing competitive league. I love being part of a team. My teammates are all great players and I’ve worked really hard to improve my technical skills.

I’ve learned a lot by watching everyone else who are all so talented. While I have played various positions this year, it seems lately I’ve been playing mostly center midfield. It’s been a great learning experience and I would love to score a goal soon!

Happy Halloween from KISS and Tinkerbell

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We had a great Halloween. This year I was a band member from KISS, and my sister was Tinkerbell. This picture was taken at my friend’s house. They decorated their front door very scary!

I went to a very very haunted house on Friday with my friends. Then I spent the night at one of my friend’s houses Friday night.

On Saturday I had a soccer game (we won- yeah!)

Then on Sunday, we went to Sea World for the day. We raced home to make it back in time for trick-or-treating. We ran around 2 different neighborhoods and scored tons of treats 🙂 I hope yours was safe and yummy, too.

Happy Halloween!