WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2015

I came up with a rough count of 34 turns on our reconfigured course for yesterday's meet.  If you felt your time was slower than anticipated, that was a likely contributor.  But still the results were impressive.  The Boys placed 6 runners among the top 9 finishers, the Girls 5 of 8.  The Boys remain undefeated and the Girls bounced back from a tough loss at Plymouth North.  There is, I think you would all agree, still room for improvement.  Looking ahead to Hingham (while not looking past Quincy/North Quincy) the question that comes to mind is, "How bad do you want it?"  Next week Hingham travels to Plymouth North.  Can the Hingham Girls win and set up a showdown with Whitman-Hanson which hopes to take a piece of the Patriot League crown?  I think it is a distinct possibility.  Will the Hingham Boys remain undefeated?  Yes, in all probability.  But whatever happens next week we must work hard, our hardest, to prepare for the critical Hingham meet and EMass.  We can't let up now.

Game balls . . . A lot of things build good runners.  Genetics, nutrition, focus, sacrifice, practice habits, consistency, desire, and will.  As a coach I am blessed to coach a group of kids with many of these traits.  Two have set themselves apart with their determination and results.  In doing so they have set the bar pretty high for their teammates.  In a sport which necessarily can be described as organized "follow the leader" a game I played as a child, they have become our leaders.  If you follow them every day in practice, in the classroom, and in their daily lives, you'll recognize it too.  Samantha and Lukas, day in - day out, set the standard for Whitman-Hanson Cross Country.  It is not easy running at the front.  Nobody to follow, and on many days, like yesterday, nobody to push you.  It is you versus the terrain. Make the commitment, today, to provide that push.  You may, in time, find yourself at the front of the pack.

Today, again, we meet at 1:45 on the Indoor Track.  The BLACK group will go 40 minutes at an Easy Pace, the RED group 30 minutes.  Core training for 10 minutes back at the track for the RED group.  Both groups stretch together and  that will be it for today.  I sincerely hope many of you will head to the Whitman Middle School to help out with it's XC meet.  I want to be there to support kids I hope will be joining us in the years to come, but I know you make much more of an impact on them than I do.  And today, Abigail Newman (Andrew's sister) makes her debut for Whitman Middle.  Good luck, Abigail!

See you at practice!