Hello again DistancePreps readers,

I am writing this blog to you as I ride along on my way to the State Championship Meet in Tallahassee, Florida. I am travelling with my coach and a good friend and teammate.

A lot of things have happened during the XC season since I last wrote a blog.  I attended the Manatee County Championship meet at GT Bray Park in Bradenton, Florida on October 27th and I was able to defend my last year’s county champ title.

I was surprised and honored to also receive the 26th Annual Bill O’Brien award at the awards ceremony. This is my second season being awarded the Bill O’ Brien Award which is given to both a male and female “Area's Best Cross Country Runner”.

Kristin Zarrella of Lakewood Ranch also received this award at the County Meet.

After the County Meet I went on to run the 3A District 9 meet the following week at Dover Horse Trails in Brandon, Florida. Last season I managed to win the boys race for districts and so I was hoping to defend my title this season. I succeeded !

Coming off of two wins I started to feel like my old self again.  After competing in several races where I didn’t do as well as I thought I would, and as well as I thought I could, I felt like I was stuck in a funk. Now I am feeling alot more like my old self.  My training runs have been on mark and feeling good, and my times seem to be improving.

My 3A Region 3 meet, held in Estero, Florida was a week and a half after my district meet.  I had heard this was a tough course with at least one good hill.  I knew there was going to be very tough competition. The 3A Region 3 is always tough.

I prepared by taking some longer runs on hills and focusing on being ready to tackle what the region course would hold.  I felt great the days before, but when I woke up race morning I discovered that my runny nose and cough had struck again. Not sure what happened, but as the morning went on it seemed to improve a little. When the gun went off, it didn’t seem to matter how I felt before that, all I was thinking about then was running strong and counting the places to be sure I secured an advancing position. I finished the race in 8th place with a time of 16:58.  I was very happy with qualifying, and I was even pretty satisfied with my time on the tough course.

Now I am on my way to State Championship, and I am feeling excited and positive about having another good race. I haven’t yet reached my goal of breaking 16:00, but maybe I will in the Finals.

After the State meet I’m looking forward to competing at the Foot Locker South Regionals in Charlotte, North Carolina on November 24th for the first time.  I wish all the state qualifying teams and runners the best of luck at finals, and I hope everyone has fun and a great race!