9/26 Newsletter

A Wild, Wet, and Wonderful Week

This week had it all.  After a weekend sleepover for the girls, that meant some more fun during our Monday neural work, some adventures in the rain on Tuesday and Wednesday, a laughter and delicious food-packed pasta dinner, some phenomenal races, and an end to the week with a continuation of our pickleball tournament.  

A recap of Thursday's meet will be up soon, but you can access photos here.  As for moments from the rest of the week, enjoy the following:

The Week Ahead

With two meets, the week ahead might be one of our busiest of the season.  The loose plan is as follows:
Monday 9/29 (3:30PM-???):  Perryville Meet.  More details below.

Tuesday 9/30 (3:30-5:00PM):  Fun Day/Recovery Run at School.  We'll also recap the Perryville Meet and preview Notre Dame.

Wednesday 10/1 (3:30-5:15PM):  Easy Run/Hill Sprints at Splash Pad 

Thursday 10/2 (3:30-4:45PM):  48-Hour Workout at Course.  A pasta party will follow later in the evening

Friday 10/3 (3:30-4:45PM):  Pre-Race Workout at Course

Saturday 10/4 (7:00AM-???):  Notre Dame Meet.  More details below.

Perryville Meet Preview

2025 marks the fifth year our crosstown friends at PHS have hosted a meet.  We've been there for all of them.  Given the tight spacing of this meet between Fox and Notre Dame, we did choose to give some of our athletes the day off from racing.  But we should hopefully still be able to see some scoring teams and competitive races.  

This year the course has undergone a revamp.  The start and finish will still be in the same location in the tee-ball fields, but a few twists and turns have been removed from the rest of the course.  It should still have plenty of rolling hills, but I would expect some faster times than in the past.

Parking is a little bit of a mess.  Thankfully there is no softball game the same evening, so the gravel lot off State Street should have plenty of space.  As for spectators, the course does loop behind the starting line after the first loop, so those in that area will see athletes three times.  For dedicated fans a few places where runners need support are over by the dog park and back behind where the course comes close to Mary Street.

In terms of competition, it looks like there will be eight schools in attendance.  Among them, Meadow Heights is the only one of note from our district.  Kelly is a team our boys are quite familiar with from our time in Class 2, and Windsor and Seckman bring the large-school strength, especially on the girls side.

Medals will be awarded to the top 25 finishers.  There won't be an awards ceremony, but the PHS seniors will be recognized after the girls races.  Race times are as follows:

Notre Dame Meet Preview

Our Saturday meet at Notre Dame is another we're quite familiar with.  We've raced there most of the last ten years, including multiple times at districts.  Once again we will race a partial squad, but we will try to line up some scoring teams to see how we perform with teams we might see in the postseason.

The Notre Dame course is not the most spectator friendly.  There is a lot of parking, but with nearly 40 teams in attendance, expect large crowds.  Those who don't arrive early often end up parking on the side of the road.
The start and finish are adjacent, but with no loops, those watching will have to do some traveling to see athletes more than twice.  Many people will move from the start over to the stretch across the road where they can see athletes coming down the hill and then back up toward the two mile before heading back over to the finish.  For more dedicated spectators, the areas back behind the baseball and soccer fields can really feel like no-man's land for athletes.

The course has a mixture of flat stretches and some pretty gnarly hills.  Without many sharp turns, athletes can still find significant momentum and run impressive times, especially when the weather cooperates like it looks to this year.

As mentioned earlier, a lot of schools make it to this meet, including several that need to be on our district radar on the boys side, including Oak Ridge, Campbell, and Meadow Heights.  On the girls side it is mainly Campbell.  But we will see some tough teams beyond that.  The home squads at Notre Dame are the favorites for both races, and Jackson always brings strong squads.  And Woodland is the defending Class 2 State Champion on the boys side, so don't count them out.

Medals will be given to the top 25 finishers in each race, and we should have a decent chance of earning a few of those.  Race lineups are as follows:

Practice on 10/10

This summer I was invited to visit the property of Daniel and Susan Sago.  They live out between Brewer and St. Mary, and their land contains a number of trails that they thought would be good for our team to run on.  The trails are a bit rough for faster workouts but would do well for an easy run.  Given our practice/race schedule, October 10 was the first date that worked for a visit.

The plan that Friday is to practice there at 4PM.  Afterwards we will have a team dinner at Salerno's Pizza in Brewer.  This works well as a team bonding experience since we don't have any pasta parties that week.

Practice on 10/31

As was previously announced, districts will be on 11/1 at Oak Ridge.  We did not attend their meet this year (in ended up being rescheduled and wouldn't have worked well anyway), so some of our athletes are not familiar with their course.  We are out of school the day before (10/31), as is Oak Ridge.  I have reached out to the athletic director there, and we have permission to practice on their course that morning.  The plan is for the bus to leave our high school at 9AM.  We will conduct our pre-race workout at the Oak Ridge course and then return.  We should be back before noon.  

I wanted to get this information out as soon as it was confirmed so parents/athletes could plan accordingly.  If at all possible, it would be ideal if all athletes racing at districts could be in attendance.

Course Mowers

​As some of you know, we continue to use the front loop of our course for practice during the remainder of the season.  That means we still need individuals to keep that part of the course mowed.  We would like to have a rotation of mowers to lighten the load on any one person.  If you would like to help with this, please contact Mr. McLain.

Racing in the Cold

It doesn't look like it will happen this coming week, but usually at some point in October we hit some colder races.  Often questions arise about what athletes can/should wear during races as temperatures drop.  The uniform rules state that only the uniform top and shorts are the uniform.  Anything worn underneath that is considered a foundation garment.  That means athletes are permitted to wear long sleeves and/or tights beneath their uniform.  Gloves and sock caps are also permitted.  There are no color requirements/restrictions on these, though solid colors are preferred.  

Every athlete is a little different as to how sensitive they are to the cold.  However, my advice is that athletes should feel a little cold at the starting line.  Once they start racing their body temperature will rise.  If an athlete starts the race feeling comfortable, by the end of the first mile they will likely be feeling hot.  Gloves and sock caps can be removed mid-race, but that isn't possible with undershirts and tights.  When in doubt, I encourage athletes to err on the side of being too cold than the other direction.