(Grant with Malachy Schrobligen at the 2011 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships)
Sharing in September
The worst feeling is knowing you are going to a fast course to run, but you see it rain all day and night before your race. This was the case for the First to the Finish meet on the 8th of September. With the course being all muddy from a collegiate meet the night before my 14:41 was very acceptable in my mind. It was not a personal best, but it was a great indication of where I am in my training. My week up to FTTF was a heavy load. Starting off the week with a long run and coming back the next day to rock 1000’s at sub 3:00. Then a few days later doing one mile repeats at a little over five minutes with your days between workouts at a fairly decent breathing pace. I run my weeks during regular season as if there is not a meet at the end of the week.
The other day, 9/11, I had a very low-key meet in Dwight, Illinois. My goal was to do a tempo run at 5:20 pace. I ended up running a 15:59 placing second by one second. Shawn Milhauser from Pontiac earned the first place finish. With 800 meters to go, he started to struggle and I pushed him through the last 800 meters. Not knowing I was going to give him the win, he proceeded to ask me during the race “are you taking it?” I answered him and said, “No you earned it!” Hinting the title of my blog, “Sharing in September.”
This Saturday I am running my favorite race! New Prairie is here and I am very sad it is my last year running it. Last year, I ran a 15:26 which was the third fastest time only behind Mike Fout (Footlocker National Champion) and another Footlocker All-American Finalist. Fout's record is 15:12 and my eye is on that this Saturday. That is all for this week and I shall see y'all in a week!
Over the course of the cross country season MileSplit Illinois will have several of the state's top runners blogging about their training, meets, and various other subjects they want to discuss. So stay tuned and get to know some of your favorite athletes in this series we like to call "In Their Own Words." If you have a question for any of our bloggers or would like to get involved with the site drop me a line at TGrasley@MileSplit.com. Enjoy!
Over the course of the cross country season MileSplit Illinois will have several of the state's top runners blogging about their training, meets, and various other subjects they want to discuss. So stay tuned and get to know some of your favorite athletes in this series we like to call "In Their Own Words." If you have a question for any of our bloggers or would like to get involved with the site drop me a line at TGrasley@MileSplit.com. Enjoy!
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