District Track Meet

Natalie wrapped up her 7th grade track season this evening with a successful District meet. As she's done all season, she ran the 1600m and the 800m. In the 1600, she ran a 6:31 (tying her PR), finishing 4th among 7th grade girls, and in the 800, she ran a 3:01 (a 5-second PR), finishing 5th. In both races, she out-kicked other girls to finish where she did. In the 1600, she was in 7th place going into the final 100 meters. She engaged her now patented kick and pulled ahead of 3 other girls before crossing the line. Her finish in the 800 was similar. There were two girls well ahead of her with about 200m to go. One of them took off, but Natalie managed to reel in the other one and barely beat her at the line.

She was pleased with how her season went (as were her Mom and I!) She learned how to pace herself, running her own race and not getting sucked out too fast early on. She ran negative splits in the mile the last 3 meets and in the 800 the last two.

After a little break, she'll run a 5k with me (Run of the Mill, July 7th). She also expressed interest in running in some of the summer All-Comer's track meets (Shoreline Stadium, north of Seattle). She's already looking forward to 8th grade cross-country season, which will be here before we know it.

It's nice to at least have one successful runner in the family!

PR's Dropping Like Flies

Natalie just wrapped up her last track meet before next Thursday's District meet. It was a HUGE success for her. She not only set two new PR's; she crushed them. She ran her best mile by 12 seconds, and her best 800m by 7 seconds. Here's how her season has looked so far:

• Date         1600m     800m
• Apr 25       6:45        3:15
• May 2        6:57        3:14
• May 9        6:43        3:13
• May 16      6:31        3:06

Needless to say, she was excited. In the 1600, she was motivated to beat a fellow teammate who out-kicked her by a second last week. Today, Natalie got her revenge by about two feet at the line. Last week, she let her teammate get too big a lead in the 4th lap. Today, when her friend took off (with about 300m to go), Natalie stayed right with her, then threw down an impressive kick. She ran very nice negative splits in the process: 3:18/3:13. She was still spent by the time the 800 rolled around, yet managed to set a new PR in that race, too.

Consequently, that deconditioned 6:42 mile I ran at the track a couple of weeks ago has been soundly crushed by my 7th grade daughter. I hope I can give her something else to shoot for when I'm able. If she keeps going through high school, my old 5:01 mile may be in jeopardy. I sincerely hope it is!

Bragging, cont'd.

Natalie's third track meet of the season yesterday was a success! Two more PR's for her. She shaved two seconds off her 1600m time, running a smart (i.e. negative splits) 6:43. She continued a steady pattern of running exactly one second faster per week in the 800 (3:13 yesterday, 3:14 last week, 3:15 the first meet). This was on a dirt track, as opposed to her first meet (and previous mile PR) on a rubberized asphalt track. Middle school track season up here is short (only 5 meets), so there's one more regular season meet next week, followed by the District meet. It looks like she'll make it to Districts.

I think I managed to light a bit of a fire under her. I went to the track myself last week to run a mile time-trial. Being unconditioned myself (not a slight to Natalie's times...I just used to be quite a bit faster), I knew I'd run somewhere in the neighborhood of what she's currently running. I managed a 6:42. Yesterday, she came within one second of that time. She hasn't admitted it, but I KNOW she wants to beat her old man. If she does, I'll have to see if I can give her more incentive. Maybe I'll run an 800 to give her something else to shoot for (assuming my old injuries don't take me down first). Unless I can make a full comeback to running, I'll be seeing nothing but the bottoms of her shoes before too long.