Ladies,
I said last night was the last of the really hard stuff (other than races) for the rest of the season, and I meant it. Tonight's 5-miler was as easy as they get. True, we had a couple of hills, but c'mon, it was easy. Tomorrow we run only 3 miles, and if you will be on time and start on time, you should easily be done by 4 o'clock. I would have my parents there no later than 4:15 for sure.
You all stayed for the Middle School Invite, and I'm sure glad you did. Did you see all those girls that ran with us this summer? They did great! Be proud of them and yourselves; you had a hand in their success! You are their mentors and role models, and you were great to them this summer. That's the way it's all supposed to work.
Of course individually it's always fun to watch the rivalries... Autumn and Chelsea and Danielle and the new blonde girl from OMS only Joslyn knows (but can't remember her name). Blonde girl beat Autumn who beat Chelsea who beat Danielle... I think... it's all a blur now... and they all congratulated each other afterward. I like that a lot. They all know that some day they will all be teammates, so it's all good.
I would be remiss if I didn't specifically point out Ramirez. Coming out of the woods in the second half of the race it looked as if the Batchelor kids had her number. She wasn't blown out, she was actually starting to move up again, but it was going to be tough. It was looking like third at best. Next thing you know, she's plowing up the hill the second time alone, and winning! Unbelievable for anyone but Jennifer. There was only one girl left to give any chase, and it was weakly attempted at that. In the end it was all Ramirez.
Of course later we found out the two girls ahead took the wrong turn at the bottom of the hill. Apparently they continued on after the turn. Jennifer yelled, they didn't listen, and that was that. Ramirez was upset about it, felt like she cheated them, and somehow that lessened her victory.
Nonsense.
I had a chance to talk to Jennifer after that. "Jennifer, you had a great race." says I. "You don't have any apologies to make, you did nothing wrong. It's up to the runners and the coaches to know the course. You did what you had to do." Her response, "Yeah, but..."
"Yeah but NOTHING" I interrupted. "If it were a soccer game and a keeper left the goal and you had the ball in front of the net, would you wait until she got back in there before you shot?"
Jennifer giggled. "No!" The truth was obvious.
"Well then, why would you do it here?" I finished.
I explained to her specifically why it was a great race, even if the victory in part came because of the mistakes of the other two runners: it's always that way on some level. Runners with less talent often beat more talented runners. If you don't use your head and your heart when you compete, you have made a mistake someone else can and will exploit. It's that moment I've talked about all season, that opportunity, and you have to take it, because it is so fleeting.
This was something else I pointed out to her... she didn't win tonight just because they went the wrong way. None of that would have mattered if she hadn't been so tough, hated losing so much, that she didn't give up as soon as the girls first broke from her. Jennifer never gave up. Maybe they would beat her, but she wasn't going to let it be easy. She fought every step of the way, and because of that was in a position to capitalize when the moment came. In a weird way, to me, this win was much sweeter because it tested Jennifer's character, and because she is such a special competitor, she got her win.
We could all learn a lesson from that.
I said last night was the last of the really hard stuff (other than races) for the rest of the season, and I meant it. Tonight's 5-miler was as easy as they get. True, we had a couple of hills, but c'mon, it was easy. Tomorrow we run only 3 miles, and if you will be on time and start on time, you should easily be done by 4 o'clock. I would have my parents there no later than 4:15 for sure.
You all stayed for the Middle School Invite, and I'm sure glad you did. Did you see all those girls that ran with us this summer? They did great! Be proud of them and yourselves; you had a hand in their success! You are their mentors and role models, and you were great to them this summer. That's the way it's all supposed to work.
Of course individually it's always fun to watch the rivalries... Autumn and Chelsea and Danielle and the new blonde girl from OMS only Joslyn knows (but can't remember her name). Blonde girl beat Autumn who beat Chelsea who beat Danielle... I think... it's all a blur now... and they all congratulated each other afterward. I like that a lot. They all know that some day they will all be teammates, so it's all good.
I would be remiss if I didn't specifically point out Ramirez. Coming out of the woods in the second half of the race it looked as if the Batchelor kids had her number. She wasn't blown out, she was actually starting to move up again, but it was going to be tough. It was looking like third at best. Next thing you know, she's plowing up the hill the second time alone, and winning! Unbelievable for anyone but Jennifer. There was only one girl left to give any chase, and it was weakly attempted at that. In the end it was all Ramirez.
Of course later we found out the two girls ahead took the wrong turn at the bottom of the hill. Apparently they continued on after the turn. Jennifer yelled, they didn't listen, and that was that. Ramirez was upset about it, felt like she cheated them, and somehow that lessened her victory.
Nonsense.
I had a chance to talk to Jennifer after that. "Jennifer, you had a great race." says I. "You don't have any apologies to make, you did nothing wrong. It's up to the runners and the coaches to know the course. You did what you had to do." Her response, "Yeah, but..."
"Yeah but NOTHING" I interrupted. "If it were a soccer game and a keeper left the goal and you had the ball in front of the net, would you wait until she got back in there before you shot?"
Jennifer giggled. "No!" The truth was obvious.
"Well then, why would you do it here?" I finished.
This was something else I pointed out to her... she didn't win tonight just because they went the wrong way. None of that would have mattered if she hadn't been so tough, hated losing so much, that she didn't give up as soon as the girls first broke from her. Jennifer never gave up. Maybe they would beat her, but she wasn't going to let it be easy. She fought every step of the way, and because of that was in a position to capitalize when the moment came. In a weird way, to me, this win was much sweeter because it tested Jennifer's character, and because she is such a special competitor, she got her win.
We could all learn a lesson from that.
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