Congratulations, Max!!!
2011 USATF Junior Olympic Cross Country Bantam Boys Champion
There are only 8 more days until the USATF Junior Olympics for Cross Country. Ever since I went to Nationals last year for the first time, I decided I wanted to go back this year and see if I could do better.
So I have been working really really hard not just this Fall, but all year long. In the Spring, I did track to help me with my speed. It was challenging towards the end of the season because I had a lot of heel pain from all of the hard pounding on my feet.
Luckily, taking 3 weeks off in August/ September before starting cross country seemed to help a lot. I also gave up competitive soccer and cut back on all my extra running at school. I stretch my calves a lot and use this bumpy roller ball on the bottom of my feet whenever I sit at my desk to do homework. I haven’t had any problems all season. Yeah!
Now it’s getting down to the final days before the big day. After Regionals, my practices have gotten much much tougher. My coaches are wanting us to “peak” at nationals. I’ve been very focused and I’ve had some amazing workouts that have surprised me. I feel strong and fast! 🙂
My biggest focus right now is on staying healthy and eating right. It’s winter time and a lot of kids are getting sick with colds and bronchitis. I am washing my hands like crazy and dressing super warm for practices. Even when I’m hot I don’t take my long sleeves off. Our practices are at night and the temperature drops a lot. I’m drinking tons of green smoothies and have been on a “candy fast” until after the Championships. And finally, I’m going to sleep early every night.
With only a few more days to go, I am getting more and more excited about the trip. This year the Junior Olympics will be in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It will be my second time to Myrtle Beach this year since I went in July for the USA Youth Outdoor Nationals for Track and Field. Back then it was like 104 degrees and it was just me and my mom- no coaches, no teammates.
This time will be much different.
I have 23 other teammates going to compete as well. I will have 3 coaches. And best of all, I will have some additional family members out there to support me. It’s going to be so fun!!!
Hello everyone!
This is such a fun time of year– one of my favorites. I love Thanksgiving. My family has a Thanksgiving tradition: Every year, we participate in a road race.
Tomorrow is the annual Turkey Trot in Oceanside, CA. I am so excited! I am going to be running 1 mile. My sister is going to be running also. She is running the 1/4 mile because she is only 6 years old.
This is one of my favorite courses because it is really fast and you get to run right along the ocean.
My plan is to have a really fast start so I can get ahead of most kids, then to pace myself but not go too slow, and then sprint to the finish. I think that my plan will be successful.
Before the race I need to be focused, pumped up, get in a good warm-up, and stretch A LOT. I know I will bring my A-game and do very well.
I am also really excited for tomorrow because it is Thanksgiving! I am so thankful for the wonderful, stupendous, and terrific life I have!
I am going to eat a lot of dark meat (my favorite!) from the turkey and I will have lots of yummy fruits! I just can’t wait for the Turkey Trot and Thanksgiving!
Good-bye for now. See ya later!
**Post-Race Update**
Boys 9-10 yrs 1 MILE >> 1st Place << Time: 5:33 *New personal record!
Girls 6 yrs 1/4 MILE >> 2nd Place << Time: 1:47 *New personal record!
Watching this race gives me gOoSeBuMpS. Heather Dorniden is so inspiring.
Her coach once told her, “Sometimes you don’t know if you have a next year or even a tomorrow, so just go out there and run it the best you can.”
Sounds like good advice to me. And that is what she did.
This past weekend was our USATF Cross Country Association race. Throughout this season, I’ve been training with only a few other boys in my Bantam division (ages 9-10 years).
One of the things I like about cross country is that even though it is a very individual sport, there is also a fun team part. At every race, your team earns a rank based on a point scoring system.
The results from the Association race determine whether you and your team will qualify for the Regional race. Then, the results from the Regional race determine whether you can qualify for the Junior Olympic Nationals.
What was really cool was just days before the Association race, I was able to gain 2 more Bantam teammates (who are friends of mine) from my school! They are great athletes and runners and I was so excited to hear that they would compete.
Without any special training at all, they came out on Sunday and ran excellent races. They are troopers because the course was very wet from rains the day before and there is a really tough hill in the middle of the course. They not only had fun, but they also helped my team qualify for Regionals which is next Sunday!
Stay tuned… Hopefully we can advance as a team to Nationals!!!
*Update*
We did qualify for Nationals! Unfortunately, however, not everyone could make it to Myrtle Beach so we will not be able to compete as a team 🙁 Hopefully next year we will have another shot.
For the past 2 weeks, my little sister Mia started coming to our team’s cross country practices. She wanted to try it out and maybe even do a race as a SoCal Roadrunner! As a 6 year old, she would be racing in the Sub-Bantam (7-8 yr olds) division.
I was so excited when she decided to race this weekend. She was really nervous but she figured out how to get through it on her own. She even managed to take 10th place! I’m so proud of her!
Here is a video of her race:
Hello, I am back from Myrtle Beach! More than 2,000 athletes ages 7-18 were there and I had the best time!
It was really hot and humid out there- like 99 degrees. As soon as we got there I did a light mile jog along the beach. I had a big pasta dinner afterwards and then I went straight to bed. I was excited and nervous for my race the next morning.
Other than the heat, everything about the race went pretty much like most of my other races. I had plenty of time for my warm-up and stretching. Then I checked in and waited until our event (1500m) was called to go out to the track.
I was in lane 11 of 12. When the gun went off, everyone took off like lightning. I was almost in last place. This happens with almost all my races. I’m hardly ever in the front at the start of the race. My coach always reminds me to run for my split times and to not worry about where the other runners are.
When we hit the 300m mark I could see the timer and even though I was still behind several runners, I hit my mark exactly where I wanted to which was at 0:56 seconds. Heading into the 2nd lap, I moved into the 1st position and stayed there for the rest of the race. I knew there was someone right behind me so I tried to keep accelerating with each lap and continuing to make my split times. It was hard especially since it was so hot. Luckily I was able to run fast enough to keep him behind me.
I won the race and I was really happy and proud. My time was 4:58.23. Watch it here.
I really missed my little sister, Mia, during this trip. She was very sad to see me leave and I promised her I would bring her back something from Myrtle Beach. The whole weekend I looked and looked for something she would love and I ended up getting her Altoids and a Webkinz puppy dog. Even though you can get them anywhere, not just Myrtle Beach, I just knew that these would make her the happiest.
Mia surprised me, too. When I came home from the airport, I saw a big sign on the garage door that she made. It was so nice. I could tell she spent a lot of time coloring and decorating it. She’s such a great sister 🙂
When I got home, we played some DS games together and then she said she was going to write me a note. So I wrote her one, too. This is what we exchanged:
Last weekend I went to Los Angeles for a Track & Field meet hosted by the LA Jets Youth Track Club. Each year they attract some of the best track and field athletes in the region.
I entered two events: the 1500m and the 800m dash. My first race was the 1500m. Since that distance is what I consider to be “my race”, I did not want to save anything for later. My coach told me to run until I had absolutely nothing left. He said this because he knew that I would be racing against several top runners including a boy who just ran a 5:01 (fastest in the country) the week before.
My fastest time ever was 5:06 and Coach said that if I was going to break the 5-minute mark, it would probably be at this meet.
You can watch the race below (I’m in the yellow tank top): **It was extremely windy (20mph).. so bear with the sound..
It was a surprising race. I was expecting a very close, head-to-head battle and the whole time I thought someone was right behind me. It worked because it got me a new personal record (4:59.42)! 🙂
For my next race (800m), I knew that I would again, be racing against extremely fast runners and that they would be racing in the lanes right next to me! It was an exciting thought and also one that gave me my usual butterflies.
Here is the race below:
I liked this race because it was the first time all season that I was chasing somebody else. I gave it my best and in doing so I made another new personal record (2:30.60)! It was a totally different experience and I had fun.
After my races I usually talk with some of the other competitors and they are all really cool kids who work hard and are kind. He was no different.
This is why I love and appreciate my competitors. Win or lose, they bring out the best in me and help me push myself to new highs!
“Being a runner means you are now “free” to win and lose and live life to its fullest.”
~ Bill Rodgers
Last Friday, Bill Rodgers was in town visiting and I was lucky enough to have a chance to meet him. He won the Boston Marathon and the New York City Marathon four times.
He is 63 years old and still runs almost every day. In fact, he told me he ran 11 miles that morning. That’s almost half a marathon!
I thought he was very nice and encouraging. He told me to keep running smoothly and to enjoy every minute. I appreciated the time he spent talking with me. I hope to experience running a marathon myself one day.
Here is a video of Bill Rodgers during the 1979 Boston Marathon finish where he set a course record, an American record and ran his personal best time of 2:09.27.
This past weekend I ran in the Junior Carlsbad 1 mile race for my 3rd year in a row. I think this might be one of my favorite races. It is so exciting and there are so many kids running.
I love it.
As always, I get my usual nerves right before the race, but then they all disappear as soon as the horn sounds.
At the start, there was a boy running next to me. He got out ahead of me about 10 feet. We were the two leaders of the race. I passed him after our first turn and then managed to lead for the rest of the race. I finished with a time of 5:49.
My little sister also competed this year. She is 6 and she ran in a 1/2 mile race. She gets a little overwhelmed by all the people so I offered to run with her after my race was finished. This made her happy and I had fun running with her, too. She did great! She came in 7th place 🙂
On Sunday, I went back to run in the Carlsbad 5000 for my first time. It was so fun. I saw a LOT of my Roadrunners teammates there along with some other kids from school. This was my third 5K race and I was hoping to beat my previous time of 20:07 from the Bumblebee 5K in December. I felt strong throughout and came in at 19:53. Yeah! I was really proud of myself.
One of the things my mom always asks me is what was going through my head while I was racing. And I always tell her the same thing. I was either humming a song or absolutely NOTHING was going through my head.
At the Junior Carlsbad event, there was a live band of young kids. As we were walking by I heard them perform a cool song that I had never heard before and really liked. I asked my dad what it was and he said it was “Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osbourne. The band singing it was a local band called Zip Zap.
Cool. I immediately decided I wanted to add the song to my iPod.
That ended up being the song going through my head during the races 🙂
Have a listen: