One of these days...

One of these days, we're going to get some great weather for running. Today wasn't horrible, and it was much better than it had been the past few weeks, but that wind was rough and made it hard to run fast times especially towards the end of the meet, and especially for those who had to run the majority of their races alone, without the benefit of others to block the wind.

We had a few people meet season goals and a few people meet there goals for the meet. First off, in the 3200 relay, I told everyone to take it easy and just score the points, and be fresh for their later race. Stuart decided to go out and run a PR 2:41ish split, which is faster than the goal we'd set for him this season. We were simply wanting to get him under 2:50 today and under 2:45 this season. Time for a new goal, Stuart. Everyone else in the relay did exactly as I asked.


In the 3200, we had Dave and Joe run some great races. Dave ran a very smart, controlled race, keeping his pace even and picking people off as they fell off of the fast early pace they set. He had a strong last lap, and ran 10:35. Our goal for the meet had been to run between 10:40 and 11:00, so he more than met that. Dave's time also would have made the PJStar Honor Roll last week. It'll probably be close to see if it makes it this week or not. Joe didn't have the benefit of other people near him to race and was alone for most of the whole race. He still ran nice and even, and got very close to his goal. I actually didn't get an official time for him, but it was very close to 12 minutes, which was his goal. Great job in the nasty wind.

Also Dave, I'm pretty sure Nicole Benson's 3200 today is leading the state right now, so you can say you beat a top state leading runner person:)

In the 800, we asked Dave and Joe to come back. Dave ran a patient race and moved up well on the second lap to finish third in 2:19. Joe ran well at about 2:34. Those were both good races for having just run a hard 3200. Stuart wasn't content to have run a fast leg of the 3200 relay and pushed for a PR again. He didn't quite run faster than earlier, but he still met his meet goal and ran 2:45.

In the 1600, we had Nathan Young, Nathan Smith, Nick and Brandon racing. We were wanting to get Nathan under 5, but the wind had picked up and Limestone's guys made it hard. They sat back and let Nathan block the wind for the first two slow laps, and then started speeding up hard. It was a good race and a fast negative split finish. Nathan raced well and was able to finish right in the pack with Limestone's guys and only missed his goal by 8 seconds. His first half was 2:37 and second was 2:31, which is a good way to finish out a race like that.

Nathan smith wanted to run under 5:30, and did just that, with a 5:25. I didn't get all his splits, but it was a fairly even race, and all the more impressive since he was alone for most of it. We were hoping to get Nick under 5:30 as well, but he missed it by just a little bit, after having run a hard 800 earlier during the relay. Brandon was also very close to running under 6 minutes, with a 6:10 and improved upon his last race.

Finally, in the 4x400 relay, we had a good showing. Dave and Joe came back, after having already raced a hard 3200 and hard 800, and started the relay off, running 60.7 and 67.8, keeping very close to the other Morton Team. Then it was time for the Nathans, who were fresh off of a hard 1600. Nathan Young closed up some on Morton's other team, and ran a 60.4 split. Nathan Smith held his ground and closed a little more, but couldn't quite catch the other team. Nathan ran 58.9. The other Morton team hadn't run a 1600 15 minutes beforehand, or raced 2.5 hard miles during the meet:)

It was a good job, and when we get a nice day, those of you who have been just barely missing your goals, should start knocking them down.

I definitely think it's a good season goal to try and get some of our seniors into the Honor Roll meet. Dave, your 3200 today was very close and might be on it next week. Nathan, the time didn't come today but you were very competitive in that race, and it's going to come soon. To our freshman and sophomores, if you want it, you could be in that place the next two to three years.

I believe just Dave and Nathan Young are the only guys racing on Thursday. Everyone else do the 3x1600 threshold with 1minute rest in between. Jordan and Nathan Smith around 6:20-30, Joe, Nick, Sam and Mark in the 6:30-6:40 range. Remember, these are comfortably hard, so if it feels harder than that, slow down a little.

Also, remember practice on Saturday is early this week, at 8 AM.

Here's a link to the pictures I took during the meet.

Finally, at the top, our pictures of the week, Dave and Nathan leading state champion Nick Holmes down the final homestretch. Also, Nathan Smith, getting ready to chase down another Morton athlete who, by the way, is in an illegal uniform. I didn't notice that until I looked at the picture. Also, Stuart, showing how your face is supposed to look when you finish a hard 800 into the wind.

The best current HS guy in Illinois

Click this link. 'nuff said.

Also, Ryan Hall, who was one of the top guys in the nation from my HS class, ran 2:06:17 today in the London Marathon. Second fastest American marathon ever, and 16th fastest marathoner in the world ever.

Justin Young, a Peoria native, who used to run for Richwoods, ran 2:13 in Rotterdam, which probably ranks him as one of the top 10-15 current American Marathoners.

Meet recap with Metamora and Dunlap

It was a step forward today guys. You may not feel like it, but we definitely improved this week. The weather was much worse, especially for the second half of the meet, and that slowed times down a decent amount. In spite of that, everybody ran pretty much the same times, or even a little faster than they did last week.

4x800 guys, you ran about 12 seconds faster as a team than you did last week. More importantly, you're learning to be in a race, to be competitive. We tried going out a little faster, and it made the second lap hurt more, but you were more competitive because of it.

Nathan Young, you ran well in the 3200. We were hoping to get you under 11 minutes, and you ran 11:01. That's pretty close and you have to figure that nasty weather was worth 5-10 seconds in that race. Your splits were pretty even as well, even though you ended up running by yourself most of the race. When we get you in one with good weather, we'll get that time down some more.

Nick, we fell a little short of our time goal, but once again, the weather was a factor, and you had to run alone most of the race. I'm pretty sure you won the fresh/soph division of the two mile, so you did exactly what we needed. Good job.

Nathan Smith, you missed your goal by a little bit, but you have to realize that weather was worth a few seconds. 2:27 in this weather is at least as good as 2:24 in last weeks weather. You had a rough day, they happen, but you're going to have another good one soon. Awesome job finishing those, because finishing an 800 hard when you were hurting from the beginning is a really tough thing to do.

Mark, you ran a PR of 2:31 in the relay and then came back and ran only a few seconds slower in the 800. Your average got a lot better than last week, and you're improving a little each week out. Good job finding the push at the end of those 800s as well. The second lap hurts and you're learning to run hard through that pain.

Stuart, you did great. We wanted you out in 1:20 and wanted to get you under 2:50. You went out in 1:20 and finished in 2:50, with a great finish. It was a great job. In a few weeks, once we get some more workouts under your belt, you should start running quicker.

Dave, you did another good job. I know it's frustrating to run the same time you ran last week, but, once again (am I sounding like a broken record?) the weather was worth at least a few seconds. I was hoping those guys would be near you to feed off of, but it didn't play out that way. Still you ran well alone, and you pulled him back in when you realized he was fading. We thought you could race with Metamora's top guys and we were right. You were competitive with him. This may have been the same time as last week, but it was an improvement.

Jordan, you ran just a little slower than last week, and you were alone a lot more of the race. Last week, you had guys to feed off of, and it was better weather. You ran a pretty good race considering you came in to the meet saying you felt bad. You won the Frosh/Soph division of the mile, I believe, so that was exactly what the team needed.

Joe, you ran about the same as last week as well. Just like I told everyone else, to run the same time as last week, in worse weather, is still an improvement. We'll find out what you an do in a 3200 next week:)

Sam, you did a great job of sticking it out alone without other runners near you for a while. We were hoping to get you under 6, but, once again, this was not the best day to run fast. We'll get you some good weather and some faster times.

Guys, if you hadn't figured it out by now, I'm not too concerned about the times you ran today. We set some goals, but the conditions were tougher than we expected. You went out there, you tried to meet those goals anyway, and you came pretty close. Metamora and Dunlap are probably better distance teams than the Canton and EP teams we faced last week. But we were much more competitive with them this week than we were last week.

I've talked alot about your individual goals this season. My goals as a coach are to get you to your time goals, and to make our team more competitive with the other teams in the conference. Today we made progress towards both of those goals.

For the rest of the week, everyone stick to the plan I gave you on Saturday. I think one of the things that we can work on is making sure we're doing a proper warmup, so I'm going to focus on that a little this Saturday. I'll see you guys Saturday at 10.

Mark, please print this off and bring it to practice to let people see. Pass it around or read it aloud or something. That's up to you, just try to make sure everyone gets a chance to see/hear it.