I'm ashamed to admit that I kind of forgot about my blog after just two posts. That's a little sad, isn't it? In my defense, I'm busier than I am used to with working, coaching, and being a coach's wife. I'm not ready to give up watching some tennis so I've worked hard to make it to as many of the Redskin matches as I can. That wasn't very many, but at least I got my fix until girls season starts in March.

So how is my team doing? Since my post a month ago, I've lost two girls to stress fractures. So half my girls team is in a walking boot. Not cool, but not all completely my fault since I wasn't on the scene until August 1st. Stress fractures don't happen in 3 weeks so I choose to believe they were going to happen regardless of how I worked them. The good news is both girls have made comments about next year so this injury hasn't turned them off to the sport forever! I just might have a full girls team next year! And with a summer of conditioning under their belts, we'll be able to run through the season and see some good drops in times. The girls who aren't limping around have been working hard at dropping their times. The Fairfield course was the first good, fast course the team ran so they saw a significant drop in their times. They both dropped 3 minutes from the previous races. The next race was County Clash which was another fast race. Sadie ran an identical time, whereas Lena fell behind 37 seconds. Still in the 29minute range which is where they wanted to be. Lena was a trooper at West Noble Invite where she was the only female Bruin in the high school race. She fought a side cramp for over half the race and finished just over 30 minutes. Now that Sadie is back, I look forward to what these two will run tonight at Jimtown and at the notoriously fast New Haven Invite on Saturday.

My guys are entertaining, to say the least. Jesse and Noah have dropped time at each race thus far this season which is not an easy feat. Ethan has worked hard in his first two races dropping 33 seconds from his County Clash time to West Noble one week later. Ben is fighting a bug right now so tonight will be all about mental toughness to get through the race and hopefully feel better for a fast New Haven race. Jordan is not ready to let Noah have the 3rd runner position and has fought him off at the finish the last two Saturdays. It is great to have 3 pairs of people running nearly identical times. They always have someone pushing or pulling them in practice and at meets. Austin continues to work hard and this past weekend at West Noble, he dropped 90+ seconds off his PR thus far this season. I don't expect another drop that significant, but I believe he's broken through and is in the next phase of his running.

I have no idea what the course is like at the Ferrettie Baugo County Park, but I have faith my runners will hit the course hard and compete to their best ability.

My goal for the boys team tonight is to show up against ECA and beat Jimtown. You've gotta feel bad for teams you beat 15-50, but that is my goal for the Bruin-Jimmies race tonight.

I'll let you know how we do....

The Chosen Few

Yesterday before we did a dreaded track workout, we each shared about the person/people to whom we are dedicating this cross country season. Since I didn't ask their permission to share on here their individual answers, I'll just give a run down.

We had numerous parents chosen, a couple of grandparents, an uncle, and a best friend. These people were chosen for various reasons and a few of the kids made me cry as they explained the why behind the decision. We'll be getting shirts and putting the names of our person/people on the back instead of our own names.

Yesterday's I was a mean coach and had them blindly choose option A or option B for the practice. Majority went with B - the track workout. The kids were pretty good sports about it. I think a few of the kids were feeling kind of fast. When you run a shorter distance, you can run it faster than you would run it as part of a longer distance. For example: a runner who runs an 8 minute mile averages 2 minutes for each 400. When you only have to run a 400, you can give it a little more and run it in 1:45. For one part, I teamed the 4 girls up so each of them were running 100m. I teamed up 2 of my guys so each was running a 200 and my top 2 runners had to run the full 400. I started 4 kids at the starting line and the girl was able to run all out for that 100 meters and get to her teammate very close to the same time that the other 3 boys were hitting the 100 mark. When she got back to the starting line, she grinned and told me she felt pretty fast for a short moment in time. I like that optimism mixed in with reality. She knows she's not likely to be the fastest 100 meter runner but she ran hard and was able to enjoy the reward of keeping up with the guys. I want to be the kind of coach who understands not all runners are created equal. But ALL runners deserve to have equal moments of joy in races and workouts. My favorite part of Saturday's Hokum Karem was being the person who got to tell one of my girls that she had just run her fastest mile time - possibly ever! She told me that on Tuesday when we did mile repeats, the 8:50something was her fastest and quite possibly the hardest mile she'd ever done. Then Thursday at the Goshen Invite, she ran an 8:49 and it was only slightly easier than on Tuesday. But Saturday's mile seemed kind of easy to her! I love the satisfaction that comes when hard work pays off. I'm eager to see how the kids do today at Bonneyville Mill in Bristol. There is a beast of a hill at the end and at Bethany, we only have mole hills to practice on. I've told the kids they will get a Dilly Bar for each Northridge runner they pass on the hill. I hope I owe each of them a treat by 7pm tonight!

Happy trails!
~K-Love

This fall semester I am coaching Bethany Christian High School's cross country teams. Today starts our fourth week of the season. We're a small team which has its advantages and disadvantages. The guys team has just enough runners (5 full-time) for a team score at meets but our ladies are one shy. We have participated in 2 non-traditional meets thus far. Thursday's scrimmage, hosted by Goshen HS at Shanklin Park, provided a chance to see where we are to start the season. Many of the athletes who ran weren't sure how to feel about their times, but I've encouraged them to see it as a starting point on a slow course. Times should only get faster (if not, I'm doing something wrong!) and the races should start feeling easier. Saturday was a Kokum Karem at Elkhart Christian Academy's course. A Hokum Karem is a partner mile-relay. Partners rotate running a mile until each runner has run 3 miles. I was impressed with the mile times that were run as well as the hard work put in by the runners to run each mile close to the same time. That is something that we will be working on all season- pacing ourselves through each mile of the 3.1 mile race.

Of our nine athletes, I have 1 senior, 2 juniors, 3 sophomores, and 3 freshmen. I also have sophomore team manager.

At Friday's practice I challenged the athletes to think about people who have influenced them so far in their lives. Today at practice I will be asking each of them to share with the team to whom he/she will be dedicating the season. Our season motto will be to "Run Inspired" based on Hebrews 12:1.

NEXT: Tuesday, August 23 5:30pm at Bonneyville Mill Park in Bristol against Northridge, Lakeland, Westview

Feel free to follow the Bruins season and come out to cheer for us if/when possible.

Blessings,
~K-Love