USATF Cross Country Junior Olympics – 12/11/10

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Yesss!! I finished my race in 5th place!!!! I was so proud of myself when I finished. When I saw my mom, she hugged me so tight. She was very amazed.

At the start, there were 250 boys lined up all the way across this huge field. I was on the far left with the rest of my teammates. I had a strong start, but there were a lot of boys that were ahead of me when the course narrowed. I just kept my pace strong and cleared my mind.

My coach told us that since this is the last race of the season, that we should be completely exhausted by the end. We should have nothing left. So I ran at my maximum. When I finished I was so tired. I was so tired that I was crying.

My team took 2nd place. We were all very excited. Here are our results.

After the race, my mom and I went straight to Toys R Us and I got to pick out a new yo-yo! This was very exciting because my mom NEVER takes me to Toys R Us.

We went to a special victory dinner with my team and then after that we went to the USATF Awards Ceremonies. I got 2 awards – one for my individual results and the other for my team results. I had such a fun time this weekend and am so happy!

Some more photos from the race.

Even more photos!

Live race footage

Day Before the Races..

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I am here in Alabama and it is the day before my big race. I met a new friend at the airport on the way here. His name is Jack and we ended up sitting together on the plane. He is on the same team as me. I am still meeting a lot of my teammates because I started so late. We had a lot of fun. He brought his DS and we battled each other in Mario Kart, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, and New Super Mario Bros.

This morning I went to the course at Veterans Park and jogged through it to get the feel of it. The start is really wide and then it narrows into a path that goes around a lake. You have to go around the lake twice before you then loop around another section to the finish. After the jog-through, my team practiced several starts.

After our morning at the course, my mom and I went to the Wynfrey Hotel and we bought some sweatshirts for souvenirs. I got a really cool bright yellow sweatshirt 🙂

I have been thinking a lot about tomorrow and I am a little bit nervous. My mom tells me I shouldn’t be, but I am. I bet all the runners are feeling the same way. My mom says to just do my best! And I will.

We ended up going to lunch with Jack’s family. Then we headed over to the Opening Ceremonies at Samford University. It was really fun. They had a big band playing music as we paraded into the stadium. There were 16 regions from across the country. I am from Region 15. Each region had these “Hoover Belles” leading the way. They were girls who were wearing really big dresses and hats.

At the ceremony, the director of the competition spoke. Also, a man named Chris Solinsky spoke. He is an amazing athlete and runner. He gave a speech encouraging all of us to do our best. Afterwards, at the big Pasta Dinner, I got to meet him and get his autograph. It was so cool. I will have to write more about him later.

That’s all for now. I’ll keep you updated.

Off to Hoover, Alabama!

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This weekend I am going to Alabama because I qualified for the USATF National Junior Olympics Cross Country competition. I am very excited and proud of myself.

My goal is to try to come in the top 25 runners. I learned that if you place in the top 25, you achieve All-American honors. I don’t really exactly know what that means, but my mom told me that she was 20 years old when she earned it in tennis. Since I’m 8, I think it would be cool to get it now 🙂

I also hope to complete the race in under 11 minutes. These are very hard goals but I once heard that if you reach for the moon and you fall short, you will land in the stars. I like that. So I want to aim really really high.

I also like the idea of winning a medal, too.

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.