Will Kelly Christensen return to recapture his title? Unlikely, with Ares Reading racing Footlocker!)
There are only a handful of nights a Colorado cross country coach loses sleep, and one of them is the night before the high school state championships.
There are likely a few throughout the season after a runner gets injured, or perhaps the night before regionals if they're worried about their squad making it State, or the night before NXR, NXN, or Footlocker.
But there's one night that a Coach actually has to carefully plan their dinner meal in the same way their runners do. It's the one night they'll likely be meticulously tallying their fluid intake. It's the one night that perhaps instead of anxiously tossing and turning all night for their runners, it's for them.
They'll stay awake throughout the night worrying about that last interval the other day and if it was too fast. My hamstring does feel a little tight... They'll worry that they're undertrained. Two weeks of running every day is enough, right? They'll worry that they may indeed embarrass themselves in the morning. I'll never hear the end of it if I get lapped...
And that night is reserved for Friday night - the night before the Fastest Coach in the State Race. There's likely to be an abundance of pasta, water, or other beverages, and an anti-acid to cap the night. Because this time tomorrow we'll have our State Champions.
Here are a few details for tomorrow morning provided by Benjamin Hershelman...
- If you have never been to Lyons High School, here is a link to the google map directions. Plan to park in the south parking lot. Plan to leave your dogs at home. Mark and company will start arriving at 8:00. Everyone else will trickle in after that.
- The race costs $5. After we cover our costs, we split the winnings between the mens and women's champions and masters (40+) mens and women's champions. It is best if we don't all show up with a $20 and then hope someone can break it, so if you can, stop at the ATM today and then go buy a clif bar or stroop waffle to break that bad boy ahead of the race.
- The race begins at 9:30. The race is self timed, but not self scored. Devin Rourke, our dear colleague from Centaurus who is currently grappling with a leg injury will help pull tags at the finish line so we can score this thing. We will score both classification vs. classification AND #teamColorado versus #teamTransplant.
- If you have not run on the Lyons XC course before, there is something wrong with you. It is (in my opinion) by FAR the best XC course in the state. Now that I am done judging you, here is a course map.
- Pull an old JV Jersey out of the equipment closet and race in it tomorrow.
- After the race ends... and we are all feeling extra triumphant, we will go into the school to do awards, eat donuts & bagels, drink coffee, and watch Foot Locker nationals.
- Finally... It is not too late to join the fun, so make sure that you lay an extra layer of guilt on your assistant coach or other coaching friends to show up in the morning. Someone is gonna show up and run 16:10, but the rest of us are going to run very age group appropriate times and have fun. Feel free to forward this on to anyone appropriate.