Running to win

On Monday, October 6, 2013, the third meet of the Independent Middle School League cross-country season took place at La Jolla Shores.  The race was a 1.7 mile out and back course, the runners going a bit past Scripps Pier and then turning around and coming back.  For Zach, this was like a home meet, as he used to go school a few miles away and has raced the course a bunch of times.

Unfortunately, I wasn't at the meet, but my wife snapped the below photo of the start.  The thing I notice first about the picture is that Zach has a big smile on his face, as if to say, "this is going to be fun!"

The start

Zach then took me through the race, explaining the race had a start line about 30 yards wide, marked by two cones. Zach lined up at the cone closet to the water.  His closest competitor choose the cone closer to shore.  This was important, as the race course ran along the water, so his competitor had to run a few more steps west to reach Zach.

Zach got out to a good start, took the pole and kept at least 10' between him and the next racer, as he wanted to take away the ability to draft.  The boys behind ran in a chase group, but did not run in an echelon in order to help cheat the wind, which was blowing sideways to the course.  As the race progressed, Zach cruised along at 70% pace and slowly increased his lead. Zach was running just for the win, as running for time was meaningless, especially on a beach course.

Prior the boys' race, the meet began with the girls heading out first.  Initially, Zach was opposed to this idea, but after the race began he appreciated it.  The reason being that as Zach caught the tail end of the girls, he began to pick them off, one by one.  Each time he passed another girl, he focused on catching the next one. At the end, he sprinted the last couple hundred yards and brought home another gold.      

Bringing home the bacon in the new uniform

San Elijo Hills Running Club