Working out with an Elite Athelete....

Tuesday September 28th, 2010 is a day that went down in MY history book. I was able to participate in a work out with Josh Baker, 30 year old working to go to the Olympic trials for the Marathon. I went to meet the group of runners from Fleet Feet that do a regular workout at the Lenoir Rhyne track. This past Saturday I saw Josh Baker at an invitational at Freedom High School, where I placed 6th (17:40 a PR) in the high school 5k championship race. We had a great conversation and he invited me to train with him at the Lenoir Rhyne Track. So this was the day I had been waiting for. It was an explosive work out and it truly hurt. I felt the pain and the excitement all at the same time. I got to see just how much it would take for me to make it to this elite running status. It was great to be so close to a man of this talent. To give you and idea... we did 800 repeats and he kept them in the 2.20 range. Killer.

As I race thought this season I am meeting the goals I have set for myself, but I also see the new goals over the horizon. I am meeting other runners and looking at other running styles and techniques and I am learning that my freshman year of running will be my first real running performance. It has been great to do the invitationals to run the courses, but the road races have allowed me to run with college talent and grow as a runner this season. When I look at the national rankings I know that I want to be hitting the 16's when I am a Freshman and it is within my grasp. Running is all about me all I have to do is dig deep inside to find these "Josh Baker" workouts and strive to make them easier. When I am a junior in high school I fully intend to be putting down runs in the low 14's.

Keep up with my progress and I will keep running. I have also seen allot of cool statements on t-shirts as I run around the country and I am going to spot light them each time I post. The new one is at the top of my site. "trample the WEAK and hurdle the DEAD."

Keep running!!!!!

Cross Country Dreams

Well, it has been a great start to my final school year at Concordia Lutheran School. After my 8th grade year I will go to high school. I had hoped to run cross country my last year at Concordia, but they could not get a team going for my final year. Never the less I have been running and it has been a pretty good year so far. I have been to a few invitationals but I had to run with the middle school program which is okay but I feel like I was running against kids that were to young for me to run against. I LOVE running against the talent that comes out for a road race. Normally, they are all college cross country runners and I have to dig deep to keep up but that is what I like. I love the hurt it causes and yet at the end I find myself right with the pack. You never improve unless you run with faster and better runners. As I race this year I realize that I am approaching my first full race year. It will be a year this December that I ran my first 1/2 marathon. My focus is on 5k's at the moment, but distance running is something I really love. When I do a middle school race they only let us run 1 1/2 miles, which is harder for me because I have to put in a mile or two before the race just to get my legs.

I am going to post my race details in a few weeks. I am proud of myself and realize that I have so much more inside of me and every race I run makes me want the next race that much more. I have my sights set on running cross country my freshman year in high school like no other freshman ever did. Keep me in your prayer and I will keep you posted on my journey as I run.