Nike Portland Cross Country

 

Hanford takes the top 12 runners to a huge Nike Invite in Portland. They base the times on the Walla Walla meet the previous meet. After that meet, Nathan was #11 so off to Portland we went!! We found out too late he was going, so Jeremy was unable to get time off work. Thankfully, the grandparents were nice enough to come with me. There is no way I could have driven 4 hours there and 4 hours back the very next day knowing the sleeping issues I have. 

Unfortunately, Nathan also has my sleeping issues in hotels. We all drove down Friday night, and neither he nor I slept hardly at all that night. I think I got about 3 hours total. He didn't get much more after showing up in my room at midnight unable to sleep at all. Then, Elizabeth was sleeptalking and doors were slamming in this hotel, and he never sleeps well in hotels on the first night. So he woke up tired and with no energy after 3 hours. 

This race was his worst of the season due to his legs feeling like lead and having no energy after only sleeping only 3 hours when he is used to nearly 10 hours of sleep a night at home. 

For some reason, these pictures posted backwards and I don't really want to redo them. 

After the race pictures in front of the Nike Cross Country photo place. A spike and a swish! 

Coming into the finish line. He ran a 19:43 for 5000 meters so his slowest time of the year. He just had 0 energy or pep after only sleeping 3 hours. He was in the Sophomore Danner D1/D2 race. He placed 83 out of 243 sophomores in this race. There were SO many races and so many kids. It was huge.   The meet was mostly schools from Oregon and California with a few from Washington, Idaho and Colorado. 

There was one other Hanford sophomore in the race so it was just the two of them warming up and cooling down together. There was only one freshman in the JV race so he was all alone! 

Our purple and gold pom poms cheering away! 

The hotel was just a loud place. The walls were thin, the doors slammed very loudly even from way down the hall and the people on top of us got in around 11:00 and then left around 5 and you could hear every footstep they made. Luckily, were WERE on the opposite side of the hotel from the airport. There were tourism helicopters taking off during the day for Mt. Hood and surrounding areas, but luckily there was no air flight noise at night. Just the hotel wasn't great. It was a Comfort Inn in Troutsdale. Nathan did not do well sleeping here. If Nathan makes it back next year, I will at least request a top floor room on the same side of the hotel if possible! 

It was weird being in a hotel without Jeremy. Just us! Very strange! Luckily, we had Papa Norm and Gram right next door. 

Race plan! 

Results of the race. 

Luckily, I had Papa Norm to help with the drive home. I was so sleepy I had to stop driving and actually took a nap while he drove. I am NEVER able to nap in cars unless I am absolutely exhausted so that 3 hours of sleep really wore me out. Thankfully, the grandparents were there. Nathan rode home with us as he was so exhausted too. 

As a side note, Nathan probably would have made it to the meet last year in the top 12 as well, but had covid so did not run the previous 2 meets so it kind of messed everything up. It was great he got the chance this year. We will see about next year! 

Bright Moon

We had a CRAZY bright moon. It lit up the sky and highlighted the clouds like it was nearly daylight! Nathan looked it up and said it was a Harvest Moon. It was beautiful and bright for sure! Of course, the pictures don't do it justice. 

 

Sept 23 Day Camp

 This year, the coaches decided to not have the team run the Connell Invite. Instead, they had a day camp at Leslie Groves and did games and challenges. They split them into 4 groups and each group was run by a senior captain. 

Here are some fun pictures of the team after the day camp. 

Team 1

Team 2 (Nathan's team) He's in the middle with the sunglasses. 

Team 3

Team 4

Nathan Walla Walla Meet

Nathan ran the league meet in Walla Walla last year! He didn't run last year because he was sick with covid. He went his year, and had a great race and a new PR!!! He loved the course and came across super happy and triumphent with his new PR of 18:47.  He said it was best race of the year in terms of feeling good and confident and doing really well. 

Warm ups with Coach A. 

Heading to the start line. 

The Coach took this picture and told them to "look mean and scary" for their opponents. 

And they are off!! 

Nathan ran without sunglasses this meet so it was hard for some people to pick him out like they usually do. It was overcast and kind of dark so it was best for him to leave them off this time around. 

I about had a heart attack when shortly after this photo, I saw him stumble and his ankle turned. He ended up being fine. 

Coming in for the finish. He nearly beat his teammate whom he hadn't beat yet! 

He ran an 18:47 and was 17 out of 191 for JV boys.  A huge new PR for him! He was 4 out of 36 for Hanford JV.  Hanford boys JV got 2nd place (behind Kamiakin of course). 

Fan of the week! I've been forgetting to take pictures of the fans. I really failed this year. 

Fans of the week! 

When we got home, Elizabeth laughed at the picture of the boys being "mean and scary" at the beginning of the race. She got quiet and busy on her phone and before long, came up with this fun little picture. She sent it to Nathan as he was riding the bus home and he said he burst out laughing. Apparently Papa Norm did too when he saw it. Little sisters! 

Wenatchee Invite

 

Nathan ran at the Wenatchee Invite this year! Last year, he was unable to run because he had covid. He had a LOT of fans this week. Jeremy, me, Papa Norm, Gram, Laura, and Great Aunt Maureen and Uncle Craig. 

He ran in the JV Freshman/Sophomore race. Here he is in the middle leading the group stretches for the group of JV boys. 

Working on their strides just before the race. 

Practicing starts

Last minute talk from Coach. 

Waiting for the start. It took forever for some reason. Nathan looks bored. 

Racing his old friend from middle school who is now a Bomber. 

The teams did great overall!  Nathan got a 19:05 which was a 35 second PR in the 5000 meters (3.1 miles).  As you can see from the chart below, the Hanford Freshman/Sophomore boys won 1st place out of all the teams!  The JV Junior/Senior boys also won first place! The Varsity got 3rd place. It was possible they could have also gotten 1st place, but one of our top 2 runners dropped out with a sideache. They ended up getting 3rd place. 

Here are some Nathan statistics for the fun of it. He always thinks he is slow, but he's not at all! He got a 19:05-which is a PR by 30 seconds. I showed him these numbers to show him he's not slow at all. He's just not fast enough to make varsity on a very competitive and deep team. I bet he would run varsity on nearly all the other 41 teams at that race. Our team is just pretty amazing. 

15 out of 250 in the JV Freshman/Sophomore race

27 out of  the total 427 JV runners. 

7 out of 38 Hanford JV runners

If he had run in the varsity race, he would have been 90 out of 179 among varsity runners. 

41 teams were there. 

He has great numbers!