The Race is On, Part 1

Over the next week or two, I'll be blogging about our upcoming season's race schedule. It seems sometimes that we can fall into the habit of "just showing up" and racing, especially in the early season (September) and perhaps lose an opportunity to race and compete at a higher level. So maybe a preview of what's ahead of us will inspire us to greater heights!

Seaside Invitational, September 12. The past couple of seasons we've kept it local at a small grade-level, small-school meet that hasn't produced tremendous competition. The Seaside Invitational (on a Friday, near the beach in Ventura) will be a BANG for our first meet of the year. The flat course and cool beach temperatures brings out many of the top Ventura teams (like Oak Park, Buena and Ventura) along with some of the powers of the state. This season, the #2 girl team in the nation last season, Saugus, will open their season at Seaside and State Finalists and OC power, Trabuco Hills will also be there.

We don't know much about the course yet, but it's at a park near the beach, and maybe this aerial map gives you an idea: Can you spell F.L.A.T.?


View Larger Map

So get excited about the possibilities that await us at the start of the season. We'll be coming out of the gates against some powerhouse programs that yearly train and produce outstanding runners. Though our success at this meet won't make or break the season, we are excited to go up against the best and see where we stand on Day One.

And yes, the meet is held on a Friday, which will allow us to get out of school in the morning hours for the bus ride. We'll return late, stopping for a fine team dinner at some killer location (Coach Peirce is working on it!) and thereby avoid traffic coming back to the IE.

Click here for last year's results and a couple of basic top finishers videos.