Addie is a great goal setter. She joined track with the determination to be a champion. After her first meet she decided she should easily be able to run a 6 minute mile because her male training partner was running a 5:48 and she beats him regularly. The 6 minute time proved harder than she thought. Track is entirely different from cross country. Namely the scenery never changes especially when Addie charges to the front of the pack and then stays there the rest of the race she's not pushed. This proved to be a problem when her second meet registered the same exact time as her first.
We called an accomplished distance runner and got training and race tips from him. He spent a half hour talking to this girl he did not know. He willingly shared what he had learned from years of training and racing. She worked to implement his suggestions and shaved off 4 seconds. Weather plagued the meets and practices they had at least one of each cancelled. She also decided to try the shot put as their team had no girls in field events and were lacking easy points to add to their team score.
She continued to prepare and was ready and nervous for the district meet. Nerves are a real challenge for some of us, she seems to have the stomach issues from my side. This effects her ability and desire to fuel up for her long races, this in turn causes her to be out of energy after the first mile and she as another 3/4 to go. I insisted she eat yesterday and tried to get her fueled up. After not eating for a while I think it made her stomach work too hard and thus she had tummy cramps the rest of the races.
Running the mile proves to be her strongest race. Look at those muscles. She is a tough competitor.
After a half hour the 800 was ready to start. That is the hardest race to run too long to sprint to short to coast speed in reserve for two laps.
The short girl in maroon drafted Addie the first lap then sling shotted around her for the second and beat her. the first time this season she has been beat. That is hard for Addie but she was ok with it she gave her all and that's all you can do. We watched her run the 400 it was disappointing she was out of gas and finished near the back. Her shot put was a PR of 24' which is 4 feet farther than she has thrown before. She placed 8th her teammate placed 3rd.
We headed for home and she sent me this text
She was pretty excited to be on the brink of the 6 minute mile!
And when the dust had settled and all had been run the small team of 6 tough girls placed 2nd to the much larger schools.
This may be their last meet all together softball is a huge draw and is played at the same time. That's really unfortunate as these ladies could be state contenders in just a few years and state winners at some point. Alas we shall see what will come in the future.
For now we will savor this moment and enjoy the job well done. Life is good!
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