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LCC - around for District meet

October 26, 2017 (Afternoon)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: foggy, then sunny and nice!

Comments:
Tired today...but then I realized my malaise is predominantly the Willamette Valley's fourth season: BRUSH PILE BURN SEASON.

UGH! Rather than thick (more acrid) smoke of wildfire, this is light, white (leaf) burn smoke...that inundates (however subtley) the valley. It was strong today -- haze early and late.

Worked in the AM, then home for a meal. Hungry. Hung out, then...solidified my WESTERN STATES ENTRY!

A lot of back-and-forth with Jim Hill of Sporthill. His initial proposal was a little demanding: like 100% exclusive "wear Sporthill Only" deal from now 'til the race! Yeesh! I told him, that sort of deal = "Ted Danson Money"! And it IS!

So when I asked for money, he backed off: he's giving me gear, and requiring I wear it *on race day*, but no requirement of all the time. Just fine.

After some lazing around at home, it was off to Lane CC to watch the kids run the district CC meet. For better or worse, our district is REALLY soft. That's "good" for the kids, but it reinforces both inconsistent coaching and work-focus with the kids.

It as a good day:

- caught up with Gary Smith, one of our track coaches (who's been coaching in some capacity, on and off, at P.Hill for 40 YEARS!). He's still stoked about coaching, and better yet, his heart's in the right place. We get along great.
- chatted with John Poet, a recent P.Hill grad, and the kid that quit the track team last year. It was good to see him; I feel bad about what happened, and that he quit, and I very strongly encouraged him to keep running (as a freshman at LCC) and that I'd help and support him in any way. He's got his challenges, but he's a good kid.

- Girls ran really strong. I hung back and didn't talk to any beforehand (no "coaching"), but did plenty of stride coaching along the double loop, sports complex course that features plenty of flat and fast running amidst some short-steep grunts and turns. The course features a 300m track finish, which is pretty fun. The deets:

--- Maddy ran awesome. She's on her own level in the district now. After running a 47-sec PR in the 3K last week, she beat 2nd place by that margin today. No one was close
--- Jaesa was 3rd and looked wayyy better
--- Daelyn ran really strong, the strongest I've seen her run
--- Sam Ellis...didn't look good. She looks a little like she's running hurt ("stiff", tired)
--- they were only missing a strong 5th. And to be honest a strong fifth = a state title. Rachel, a freshman girl ran with a lot of courage up front initially, but fell off. Her two other teammates (Morgan Ellis and Julia) passed her in the last mile. Then, as the race finished with 300m on the track, there was only one Oak Hill girl in front of them...but neither was able to pass her. The girls wound up losing by ONE point.

After the girls' race, I ran a bit more: a continuous mile+(!) on the course before the boys race.

The boys ran even better:

--- Hunter led start to finish. He ran about 5:00 for the first mile then (either by design, I hope, or fatigue) slowed. Callan wasn't too far behind, but didn't look as good. He just looks like he's "reaching". And tired.
--- On the back end, Ethan and Asher Ruchti were running strong. Ethan (possibly suicidally) was running up with Kyler for a while, then faded. But he was good "bait" for Asher, who reeled him in and passed him to place a strong #5.
--- the MVPs were Kyler and Sam Scheutz. Kyler is a solid guy - so much potential, but still chipping into it. He ran well. But Sam was the huge surprise. He's a soccer player who only trains (& races) sporadically. So when he ran, step for step, with Kyler, it was like a "Duplicate #3". HUGE at this level. They both ran 18:3x.

Boys, as a result, won by a wide margin.

Post-races, I made some rounds, chatting with kids, especially the young ones (Rachel and Asher) who ran with a ton of courage for freshmen. Then I headed out.

Fun day! Only the teeniest chagrin emerged as I was heading out, when they announced Beth as "Coach of the Year". I suppose, riiiight?