Ladies,
It's been hard to get back to the blog over the past week. I could talk about it being a busy time, and it was. I could talk about home life being hectic - it was. I could give a whole lot of valid reasons I haven't posted, but the real reason is I couldn't think what to say.
I failed you.
When things go this wrong, there is only one place to look; the top. I am not upset with any of you, because I think you did your best. I failed to manage the health of this team properly, and there isn't any getting around it. Coulda, shoulda, woulda is all that's left.
In some ways things were a success. Every girl improved this year, some by a great deal. Carrie PR'd as a senior, which is hard for a 4-year runner to do, Baili dropped 90 seconds. Danielle came down a couple minutes. So did Zoe, Kate, Delaney, Molly, Alannah, Payton, Ani, Amber, Katlyn, Ali, and Joslyn. Sara and Chelsey improved by 30 seconds. Typical improvement for an average runner should be around 30-45 seconds from beginning to end. And Madison? She went from "career over" to "limited season with hope for the future". That's big too.
You all worked hard. Maybe you could have done more on the maintenance side at home, but you know, even that's my fault. I should have thrown the ultimatum down harder and faster. Don't take care of your hurts by stretching or ice? You don't run the next meet. You don't properly tend your sore muscles? No practice today. Sooner or later the point would be made. It would have been so easy. It should have been done. Rest assured in the future it will be.
That's it. I don't want to dwell on the negative any more. I will look at the bad only as a means to make effective changes for the positive. Beyond that, I'm not going to beat myself up anymore about it. I strongly advise all of you to do the same thing.
Now what is left is looking forward. First things first - you need to heal. All of you! You need to get healthy enough to tackle your next sport, whatever that is. And if you aren't doing a sport, you should be running or cross-training. You must stay active! I will be running (limited) and biking (a lot!) in the coming weeks, and you are always welcome to join me. A few of us are also looking at Priority Fitness for strength training (they have a $20 per month deal going). Off-season is the perfect time to go after the strength, and it's a nice change of pace. I think the best thing that could happen would be if all of you not engaged in another activity formed a group that met regularly. Get in touch with me if you are interested.
Regional
Tomorrow is Regional, and of course all eyes are on Baili and Danielle. It's a tall order for both, as we have quality teams coming in. Still, it's a great opportunity for both. Listening to Baili talk all week has been fun - she's so hungry for it! Danielle is a little nervous, but that will all go away the second the gun goes off.
We are running the same schedule as Sectional - meet at 10 AM, warm-up starts at 10:30, race at 11:15. If you want to warm-up with the ladies, you are certainly welcome to do so.
See you tomorrow!
It's been hard to get back to the blog over the past week. I could talk about it being a busy time, and it was. I could talk about home life being hectic - it was. I could give a whole lot of valid reasons I haven't posted, but the real reason is I couldn't think what to say.
I failed you.
When things go this wrong, there is only one place to look; the top. I am not upset with any of you, because I think you did your best. I failed to manage the health of this team properly, and there isn't any getting around it. Coulda, shoulda, woulda is all that's left.
In some ways things were a success. Every girl improved this year, some by a great deal. Carrie PR'd as a senior, which is hard for a 4-year runner to do, Baili dropped 90 seconds. Danielle came down a couple minutes. So did Zoe, Kate, Delaney, Molly, Alannah, Payton, Ani, Amber, Katlyn, Ali, and Joslyn. Sara and Chelsey improved by 30 seconds. Typical improvement for an average runner should be around 30-45 seconds from beginning to end. And Madison? She went from "career over" to "limited season with hope for the future". That's big too.
You all worked hard. Maybe you could have done more on the maintenance side at home, but you know, even that's my fault. I should have thrown the ultimatum down harder and faster. Don't take care of your hurts by stretching or ice? You don't run the next meet. You don't properly tend your sore muscles? No practice today. Sooner or later the point would be made. It would have been so easy. It should have been done. Rest assured in the future it will be.
That's it. I don't want to dwell on the negative any more. I will look at the bad only as a means to make effective changes for the positive. Beyond that, I'm not going to beat myself up anymore about it. I strongly advise all of you to do the same thing.
Now what is left is looking forward. First things first - you need to heal. All of you! You need to get healthy enough to tackle your next sport, whatever that is. And if you aren't doing a sport, you should be running or cross-training. You must stay active! I will be running (limited) and biking (a lot!) in the coming weeks, and you are always welcome to join me. A few of us are also looking at Priority Fitness for strength training (they have a $20 per month deal going). Off-season is the perfect time to go after the strength, and it's a nice change of pace. I think the best thing that could happen would be if all of you not engaged in another activity formed a group that met regularly. Get in touch with me if you are interested.
Regional
Tomorrow is Regional, and of course all eyes are on Baili and Danielle. It's a tall order for both, as we have quality teams coming in. Still, it's a great opportunity for both. Listening to Baili talk all week has been fun - she's so hungry for it! Danielle is a little nervous, but that will all go away the second the gun goes off.
We are running the same schedule as Sectional - meet at 10 AM, warm-up starts at 10:30, race at 11:15. If you want to warm-up with the ladies, you are certainly welcome to do so.
See you tomorrow!
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