3 posts tagged “cross country”
I'm an alumni of Indiana State University. ISU is the yearly host of the NCAA Division I national cross country national championships. This allows for a yearly gathering of the track and cross country alumni. In the beginning we had a Saturday gathering for the people in town for Nationals. It's now a weekend event.
The weekend opens with the Alumni Olympics. The events are Free Throw Shooting, Football Long toss, Football Punt, 300 meter run, 1 game of bowling, a beer chug race, a hot dog eating contest, a 9 ball tourney, and corn hole (bean bag) toss. Top 8 placers get points in that event and totals from each event decide the winner. I finished 8th...I can't seem to finish strong enough in all events to get a shot at the title. My arm hurts from the long toss, I did manage to win the bowling (damn middle distance runners...I got 2nd in the 300).
Saturday night is the Tap Room meet and greet (the orginal event). We had about 50 total people show up. (a few of the current runners were there too). Tomorrow is the Unversity event of the weekend with a formal dinner for alumni celebrating the former coach who preceeding the current coach (McNichols has been here 16 years now). While my class was the one who created the event, it's still great to see everyone. You never know who will make an appearance. Three years ago Shalane Flanagan made an appearance at the event (her mom is an ISU alumni) then smoked the field 2 days later wearing her Carolina Blue.
As an official for the meet I have the Umpire meeting at 1:00 today to pick up my credentials...I love saying that word. It sounds so important...CREDENTIALS. It's amazing to be here this weekend of the year. All the big dogs of runnning are here and the future stars are fighting it out. I'll get some pictures up in the next couple days. Check the race out on-line if you get a chance. There's nothing like a college National Cross Country Championship. Looks like great weather, course looks sharp...I can't wait.
Never say that. We survived the Semi-State and made the state finals... As I stated before we were running without our #3 runner. Ok bad news for the Semi-State but hey that's no big deal, Right? How about 50 meters into the race our #1 runner (18:46 PR) gets tripped. Our number 2 runner falls over her and the rest of the team has to come to a complete stop behind them. Amy went down so hard it ripped her number right off the front of her jersey. The race did not have a recall starter so they didn't call it back. At the 400 meter mark we held 143-150 (out of 152 runners). Amy got up and came all the way back to finish 10th (she got up to 3rd but was to tired to hold it). Our 3-4-5 runner ran the races of their live and really saved the day. They came back to finish 36-41-47. As a coach seeing that happen at the Semi-State after everything these girls have worked for, it was heartbreaking to think they might not be running this week. In the end we got 5th and we were only 29 points out of 3rd (which is where we predicted to finish). That behind us I want your help. Saturday is the State finals (ironically we host the state finals) and the race is at 1:00. We have a team breakfast and then watch a inspirational movie before taking the bus to the race (the bus is only because it's easier in the crowd, the course is not at the high school). So I'm asking for movie suggestions. Remember that these are high school kids and we try to keep it PG (Without Limits is not PG, we've been through that before). With that limitation let me know what you think.
I keep waiting for things to slow down. Hopefully that will happen after next week. Tomorrow is the Semi-State here in Indiana and we are looking to make another trip to the state finals. The girls are finally tapering this week, but we are likely going to be short a runner for tomorrows race. We are losing a 20:05 (5K) girl for this weekend but it is in hopes that she will be able to return to the line up for next week. With 8 girls that can break 21:00 we are still capable of getting out and it's really not worth risking a serious injury for. So our hopes have to be that the taper works and the whole team runs well. Hope everyone is enjoying the fall weather. I'll be getting back to doing some racing of my own in a couple weeks (The workouts are going well) so I'll keep you posted.
