Running

[Sciz]

Are there any other competative runners out there?

Right now, I'm in my junior year of cross country. I just had my second meet of the year, and it really showed my team's depth. Out of 150 or so varsity runners in today's race, our varsity had all seven guys get in the top 30, but our number one runner got 14th. We ended up getting third to the sixth ranked school two divisions up and the seventh ranked school one division above us. (We're ranked second in our division) Out of all 20-something schools there, we had seven runners in before any other fifth runners.
Of course, I should mention that I wasn't even in that race. Since our team is so deep, I was in the junior varsity race. I won it by running strategically. I just stuck with the leader for two miles until I took off and ended up taking 10-15 second lead and then managed to hold off a last chance sprint by the other guy. It was pretty cool, even though most people don't realize that it was only a JV race and that I could've been even further ahead if I had tried.

As for an interesting story, my one teammate was trying to stay right next to me as long as he could, and it was pretty interesting. He was constantly talking to himself and other runners. So at the meet this morning, the lead pack of him and me and about 5 other runners ran by, and this really hot girl yelled "Good Job Guys" to us. So my teammate had to yell "Thanks" at her. These two guys looked back at him, and the one yelled at him "Shut up, that's my sister." And that is why you never talk during a race.

So, share stories, results, problems, and other stuff about running.

 

[Metalgross]

I'm running for the first time as a freshman on our school's cross country team, and I'm really enjoying it. Although the team is really new, and there aren't that many runners, I'm still proud to say that I'm running Varsity. Just this afternoon, I ran 19:51 (I'm assuming everyone runs 5K), placing me fourth on my team. I don't really know if that is a good time compared to other people, but compared to the rest of the team (the fastest being ~18:45), I didn't do that bad.

As for interesting stories, on a scrimmage that we had this Wednesday, we ran on an extremely hilly course; up hills, down hills, through creeks (more like soggy sand/gravel, it was filled up), and through a forest. Our coach had said that on the final hill near the end, that other people would cry on it, but I didn't believe him. When we ran it, not only were people crying, but a girl passed our, face-planted, and almost rolled down the hill! Also, at the same race, a kid had a seizure at the one mile point. My friend said that they were giving him CPR, and three ambulances had to drive out into the middle of nowhere. Luckily, no one was hurt.

 

[Vyacheslav]

I play soccer, and our team has a huge emphasis on physical endurance. We've to run miles on miles sometimes, it gets really tedious because i HATE running.

Ironically, I do winter and spring track as well. But I sprint in those.

 

[Bam]

I'm not currently running x-country, but I ran track last year as a freshman and set the freshmen record for the 1600, with a time of 5:23 (I also set the freshmen pole-vaulting record). I don't really like running competitively, but I love to run/bike by myself with some music playing - thoughts and ideas really flow through my head when I do.

 

[Sciz]

Metalgross:
Anything under 20:00 is pretty darn good for a freshman. My first race was 23:02. Now, I'm running just under 19 minutes, and our number one is running around 17:30. Our number 5 is 18:10ish.
That course sounds like fun. I've seen people pass out, but I think most people in my area just start to walk whenever they feel like that. I can only think of one time when a teammate passed out. This one kid passed out on his first race after joining 2 days before. And now, he collapses (but doesn't pass out) after every single race. It's pretty damn annoying.

And while I'm tempted to get after Vyacheslav and BAM_UR_DEAD for not being in cross country, I have to respect that you are doing some running. Personally, I can't run unless I know I'm running so I can kick some ass, eventually...

 

[nomargu46]

I'm a very competitive runner (as far as high school running goes). i recently set our high school's record with a 9:12 time for the 2-mile, which is my best event. i also compete in the mile run but it is secondary to me; my time is always generally between 4:20 and 4:30. in Junior year, hoping to get a scholarship off running to college.

yeah i know its hilarious, i typed 4:20.

 

[Sciz]

Holy crap. I'm not worthy of this thread. Have you ever placed at state or anything? Cause that's damn awesome.

 

[Bam]

I agree, that is amazing.

@ Sciz: I'm not running because I'm in weight lifting and playing tennis right now. As soon as track starts up again, though, I'm off to zip around our park :P.

 

[norulz]

I don't compete on the subject, but I can hold up to 30 minutes of running endurance, which is pretty good since I'm over the normal weight for my height.

 

[FiveKRunner]

This is my senior year of cross country. My best friend and I are captains of the team again this year. I'm the 2nd runner right now but I was beating him by the end of last season, we'll see how this one goes. We've been doing fairly well so far, despite a few of the JV guys being absolute retards and getting some of our runners out of focus before races.

First invitational: we placed 3rd out of 8, narrowly missing 1st and 2nd. Had each runner on our team just gotten one more guy, we would've won it all. I took 9th at this race and 20 medals were given. I had a hard time this race, getting a side stitch early on that slowed me way down.

Second invitational: saw us take 4th place, with the 3rd place team beating us by 1 point. A total of 17 teams raced. I again medal, taking 17th when 20 medals were given. This race was a little better despite the heat.

I just missed medaling at an invitational last weekend, running an 18:09, an okay time for me this early in the season. We then had a dual meet on Tuesday that we won, 22-38.

Today's invitational was also hot. Our freshmen and sophomores took 2nd overall (separate races today for top and bottom two grades) and we took 4th, missing 2nd by just 11 points. I took the 12th place medal with an 18:00, not as fast as what I wanted.

Our season outlook looks good. We have 5 races at the two fastest courses in the area towards the end of the season (3 at my home course and two at Fish's home course. Yes, Fish grew up one town away from me). As a team, we're solid. We have 5 kids capable of running under 18 minutes:
My best friend and co-captain
Me
Two sophomores who run together
A kid who also plays football
After that, we have 3 runners that run around 18:40 consistently.

We have alot of depth. We'll probably take 3rd or 4th in our conference and we have an outside shot at making state at regionals (we were moved to a harder regional :/).

Anyway, I hope to have a breakout race soon. I've put in so much effort this season and so many summer miles over this last summer, I will be sorely disappointed if I don't run around 17 flat or dip into the 16s this season.

 

[aramada]

I'm a sophomore and this is my first year doing any real competitive form of running. I play lax in spring and basketball in the winter so i figured running XC would help out a lot. I am on varsity, and usually finish about 30 seconds behind our captains, who run high 17's-low 18's. a good run for me is anything near/under 19 although i'm not familiar on whether that is a great time. We started about a week and a half ago and our first invitational is next tuesday.

 

[Vyacheslav]

Metalgross:
Anything under 20:00 is pretty darn good for a freshman. My first race was 23:02. Now, I'm running just under 19 minutes, and our number one is running around 17:30. Our number 5 is 18:10ish.
That course sounds like fun. I've seen people pass out, but I think most people in my area just start to walk whenever they feel like that. I can only think of one time when a teammate passed out. This one kid passed out on his first race after joining 2 days before. And now, he collapses (but doesn't pass out) after every single race. It's pretty damn annoying.

And while I'm tempted to get after Vyacheslav and BAM_UR_DEAD for not being in cross country, I have to respect that you are doing some running. Personally, I can't run unless I know I'm running so I can kick some ass, eventually...

Heh, I'm just not a distance runner and hell I love soccer far to much to do another sport.

 

[Thorns]

I have flat feet, so I don't do running as a sport, though I enjoy touch footy.

 

[Vineon]

I would have loved to run competitively but I never ran beyond school competitions. I wish I knew what times I could make.

However, to this day, I havent still yet been beaten in a short race, ever, anywhere. Although I've lost long distances I always ended in at least the top 3 in them.

So I can tell myself I am the fastest person in the universe until proven otherwise.

 

[Carl]

My running ramblings:

I ran 3 years of track and 2 years of XC in High School. I started in my sophomore year running the 800m in winter track with embarrassing times like 2:20. Our guy's team for track, especially in the winter, was always weak when I was there so really my times didn't seem as bad as they do to me now. Anyway, I stuck with it and shaved about 10 seconds off of my 800 by the end of the spring season my sophomore year and placed in enough dual meets to earn varsity.

My junior year was my first experience with cross country and higher distance running but I actually probably did better there than in track. I couldn't tell you any of my times from junior year but by senior year I was consistently running in the 16's for the 5k despite taking every summer off. Our XC team was pretty deep both years that I ran, going 6-1 and 7-0 in our conference and then placing 5th in sectionals my junior year. One of the years it was pouring rain at sectionals (I don't remember which one) and it was so muddy that at the start I beefed it face down as soon as the race started which sucked but I still finished with an OK time.

My best year in Track was my senior season when I was running about 2-2:03 for a majority of my 800m races and had a good chance of making the state finals until I was tripped up just after the first lap in my final High School race. I was on pace to hit 1:57-1:58 which would have just squeaked in for 6th place until someone behind me tried to pass me and ended up stepping on my heel. I fell face first and ended up finishing with like a 2:07 or something. I don't even remember I was so pissed that my last race ended like that.

I really wish I had kept up with it looking back. There's no way I would have had the determination or the talent to run competitively here in college but I would still like to be in the same shape I was a few years ago. One of my life goals is to some day compete in a marathon so hopefully I can get myself back into running in the next few months and start working on preparing for a marathon in another year or two.

EDIT: lol I found online records of past meets.. I ran a 2:08 when I got tripped up in my last race.

 

[NC]

I'm in my junior year and I have run varsity cross country and track in both of my previous years. In cross country my best time was 18:24 in the summer between frshman and sophmore years. All of last year I was having problems with my legs/feet so I had a pretty bad season in cross country, but this year I should be btter. I'm hoping/expecting to beat 17:30 by the end of the year.

In track, I had a good season freshman year, but last year I didn't really get motivated to work hard until the end of the year, so I didn't do as well. My best times (all freshman year) are 10:50 for the 3200m, 4:54 for the 1600m, and 2:11 for the 800m (I only ran that once). I don't really know what my goals are for this year since the season is still ~6 months away.

I live in an extremely talented area in Michigan for running and the division A and B state champions for both cross country and track are no more than 20 minutes away from me. The division B cross country champion (Dexter) was rated 7th nationally iirc. Luckily, I go to a smaller schoool so in the Regional and State Finals I don't have to compete against them; I only do in the "not-as-competitive" area meets.

 

[Thunderclasm]

I've never really had time to run cross country for my school's team, due to JROTC and other activities taking up most of my time. The team is in pretty pathetic shape, anyways. However, I do love to run on my own. I'm not spectacular - I usually land between 6 to 7 minutes for a mile, but it's quite an effective and enjoyable way to get exercise. I'm also practicing for the Army ROTC / USMA physical fitness tests, and running is a big part of that.

 

[Lee]

It might sound arrogant, but I'm probably the best runner I know. So much so that my mate recently persuaded me to join a local running club, where after a few weeks the veterans there are wanting me to represent them at national level. Heck, one of them even said I should look towards the Olympics which humbled me a lot.

I've got no times as evidence, but I may start running for this club soon and will hopefully have some success. Got a 5k on 25th October, and I'm told I should be getting under 16 mins.

 

[FiveKRunner]

My running ramblings:
I would still like to be in the same shape I was a few years ago. One of my life goals is to some day compete in a marathon so hopefully I can get myself back into running in the next few months and start working on preparing for a marathon in another year or two.

If you are still in Michigan by the time I graduate, I'd be willing to meet up with you once a week and train with you and then run the same marathon as you. Seriously consider this as I really want to do a marathon after high school.

I live in an extremely talented area in Michigan for running and the division A and B state champions for both cross country and track are no more than 20 minutes away from me. The division B cross country champion (Dexter) was rated 7th nationally iirc. Luckily, I go to a smaller schoool so in the Regional and State Finals I don't have to compete against them; I only do in the "not-as-competitive" area meets.

Are you guys going to the Portage Invite this year? If so, I could meet up with you during the day! PM me some of your meets that you have on the west side of the state, if any.

Also, I don't think that Dexter will win the state championship this year. Fremont is way too strong. Our new coach is actually from Fremont (he was an all-stater, running a 16:02 PR) which makes me very excited to see where he takes our team in the coming years. Expect big things from my hometown in XC in the next few years.

 

[Stefywefy215]

my school has a history of cross country, we were our section champions for 20+ years ain a row and we have won state. We just won division 2 last year and placed 4th at nike nationals last year. Well im not on the team but it is big at my school. I dont know how the odds are for our school this year though, this is in California by the way

 

[The Only]

I started running when I was 16 to lose weight (Was 230 then, I'm 154 now.)

I've been running ever sense, I don't run marathons or run competitively or anything like that, it's just something I love to do and is good for me. I've always liked to see how far I could run and improve.

I enjoy the stamina/endurance running has given me, although I have been slacking off due to the summer heat around here, I still find the time to go for my running adventures. Come winter, I'll be running a whole lot more, I want to break some personal records.

I do regret not joining track/wrestling when I was in High School, but I was fat and out of shape then so it never crossed my mind :( I'm going to check and see if my college has some sort of track or cross country team I could join.

 

[Chill Murray]

My friend got me to join the Cross Country team when I was a junior in high school despite the fact that I had never run in my life. I ended going from a 31:00 5k time to a 23:50. I might not be the fastest guy out on the course (far from it), but I used to love pushing myself to be faster. I got out of it when I was a freshman in college but I'm trying to start running again.

I liked smiling and greeting the people I passed, it would psych them out quite a bit.

 

[Gmax]

I used to be an awesome runner. But then my knees gave way. Since then I've put on 40 Kgs and have given up on running.

 

[Expert Evan]

I used to do Cross Country & Track back in high school and still actively participate in road races even to this date. While injuries and setbacks have slowed me down, I still strive towards making a comeback. Among my accomplishments includes running a marathon almost under 3 hours and doing the Boston Marathon at least one time. I've also had the thrill of winning 1st overall in some races in the past too.

 

[MystiKal]

I'm currently running track for my college. They offered me a scholarship and I took it.

My senior year in high school in track I was running the 100 Meter in 10.8 seconds. My 200 Meter time was 22.1. I went to state all four years, but only got in the top ten my senior year in the 100.