SUNDAY - September 4, 2016

Members of Boys Team headed to the hills of World's End

One of the worst feelings I've had lately was investing time watching a Red Sox game, thinking E-Rod was going to pitch a no hitter, only to see him lose it with 2 outs in the 8th.  To add insult to injury, the Red Sox lost the game in the 9th.  People wonder why I've been a Yankee fan since 1961!  But one team never lets me down.  Yesterday, while some of our Boys (pictured above) headed to World's End at 7:00AM to run hills, almost everybody else was preparing for a 9:00AM practice with Coach Berens.  I was very pleased with the turnout when I arrived back at the school.  Coach Berens let me know some, if not many of you, indicated you were sore and perhaps a bit tired.  The coaches understand that as each of us has been there ourselves once or twice through the years.  We also know that this is

sort of a "rite of passage" for those who want to become good runners.  For those who have run in years past, you all knew these days would come.  Some trained hard during the summer in anticipation of the workload.  Others chose to wait until August 25th to get started.  Forewarned is forearmed.  Perhaps you'll remember this and change it up next summer.  For those new to running, Hang in there.  These days will pass, the pain will subside, and running will become as pain free as walking. We are watching closely and asking questions every day to insure you remain healthy.  Unfortunately, the "pre-season" for those who did not run during the summer is a mere 11 practices.  Wednesday we travel to Quincy to face a much improved Quincy/N. Quincy team.  The coaches are impressed with what you've shown thus far.  There is a lot of young talent on this team on both the Boys and Girls side.  The truth is we only have a handful of Seniors and while we expect to be competitive this year, we know the future is very bright because of you.  Competing in this sport is absolutely one of the most rewarding experiences you'll ever have.  But you'll need determination, consistency and patience.  Your best is yet to come.

Every one of you has worked hard over the last week and a half, but we wanted to acknowledge our practice players of the week.  On the Boys side, this acknowledgment goes to someone new to sports, but who has already proven something to us, and hopefully to himself.  Caleb Parkinson is an athlete, there is no doubt about it.  Out of the Girls team is someone new to the school.  While she has not run since 6th Grade XC, Grace Borski, who finished at the very back of the pack on our 2 Mile evaluation run, was on the track for strides with the 60 minute kids on Friday.  Great efforts, Caleb and Grace!

Tomorrow (Monday) we practice at 9:00AM.  A check of the weather indicates we may have some rain toward the middle to the end of practice, but a nice temperature of 65 degrees.  We WILL have practice.  We hope you enjoyed your day off, but its back to work in the morning.  You'll have a VERY easy day on Tuesday.  Almost like another day off really.  Most of you have given us 10 days . . . in another 10 any discomfort should be gone.  Keep at it . . .