State Qualifying Meet

Today was the Section 3 State Qualifying Meet. Alex ran in the 1000 meter and the 4x800 relay. He was seeded 5th in the 1000 meter, out of 6. (Only 6 kids qualified to even run today.) 

It was a crazy race. Alex seemed to get stuck on the outside. I think he ran twice as far as everyone else. And then there was the issue with the kid in the black FM uniform. If he hadn't caused interference to another runner (and basically try to push him out of the way), Alex would not have made it to States. He came in 4th overall, thanks to the disqualification of the FM kid. And the interesting thing, he won't be running the 1000 meter at States, he'll be competing in the Intersectional Medley Relay. They take the 4th place runner in the 300, 600, 1000 and 1600, and they form a relay. So he'll be "teammates" with some of his regular competitors now. I think it's kind of a neat thing, and an extra way for some of the kids to get to run at States! He's pretty excited about it.

The 4x800 relay had a nice showing today as well. They came in 2nd place. But sadly, only the 1st place team gets to go to States. I think they'll get them next year!

States will be Saturday, March 2nd at Cornell. So we've got 2 more weeks of practice! (And Spring Track starts March 11... so no rest for the weary!)

Sunrise and Other Things

This is what we woke to yesterday morning, after a Friday full of snow. I think we got a foot of new snow. Not that it was forecasted, it just sort of happened. You have to love Lake Effect! It's been nice (but cold) since.

Indoor Track League Championships was this past week. I posted photos on Facebook. I didn't post this one. This was the finish. Alex actually came in 3rd overall in the Section, but the 2 in front of him (including the one he almost passed here), were in a different League. So they didn't really count. I think they helped him run faster though! He'll be running head-to-head with them this week. He needs to cut a half second off his time to get to the State Qualifying meet. That's his goal for this week. 

Meanwhile, he's running the Couch Potato 5k this morning. It's 4 degrees out. Hoping it at least warms up to 10 or 15 by race time. I'm going to have to wear a serious amount of layers to even watch!