Nothing is Over Until We Decide It Is

Many people will have their last official race of the season for Watauga tomorrow.  But that does not mean you are finished for the year.  You are finally in the best shape of your life (so far) and you might as well make the most of it.  There are a lot more chances to see what you can do before we head on into winter track, get out the batons, and start doing relays:

• None of this applies to boys under 18:00 or girls under 21:00.  You are still training for regionals and state, because you might run.  Come every day.  It will be just like cross country practice.
• Everyone really should keep coming to practice, at least two or three times a week.  We’ll miss you, you’ll miss us, the workouts will be so much better with other people to run with.  You know you want to.
• Howard’s Knob run – just plain crazy, this Friday afternoon.  Do not attempt if you are training for regionals.
• 400 time trial – on Tuesday, Oct. 25.  For everyone not on the regional training plan.  See how you compare to the one at the beginning of the year.  There will be some strides to warmup and stuff, but a very quick day.
• 3000 time trial – on Thursday, Oct. 27.  Again, compare to the beginning of the year.  (Sorry – the second week’s times aren’t posted.)  This one will really be a lot faster – you should not miss it.  Also, everyone other than the seven people running regionals will do this, even those who are still in full training.
• Post-season 1600 – If the weather is good, we will run a 1600 (mile) at the end of the week after the state meet.  This will be a short quick workout for people getting ready for FootLocker, and a chance for everyone to have an official time you can use when people ask how fast you can run a mile.
• Post-season 3200 races – There is one hosted by Reagan HS at Wake Forest on Nov. 11.  There is one hosted by Broughton (Raleigh) on Nov. 18.  There is one hosted by Providence Day (Charlotte) on Nov. 19.  The first two are night races, under lights, and if you ran Monday’s workout you saw how nice that can be.  There are usually some very  fast times run at these, but multiple heats so everyone can run.  If a significant number of people who are going to FootLocker can’t make it to this, we will do our own time trial on Nov. 18 or 19.
• FootLocker Southeast Regional – This is the biggie, at McAlpine Park (the Wendy’s course) in Charlotte.  The qualifier for nationals, and they have a total of 12 races, ranging from the best high school runners in 14 states to old people to 10 year olds.  There are separate races for every class for people who don’t want to be in the championship section, and by doing that you get to watch people like Darby and Peter race to go to San Diego.  A lot of people get PR’s at this meet.  Some people get huge PR’s at this meet.  You should plan to go.  It is a lot of fun to run with no stress after 4-6 weeks more training.