Dayton JV Meet

What a contrast in meets from Undeberg last weekend to the Dayton JV Meet yesterday. Where the Undeberg was efficient and featured 36 teams with fields full of competitors, Dayton was low key, with entire events scratched due to a lack of participants. The biggest difference, though, happened again and again around the track. Coaching.

I listened in as the gentleman running the pit explain: “You’re slowing down at the last two steps. That’s where you need to really be quick, those last three steps.”

Jessica McCain (Asotin)  listened – and PR’d at the event.

Sal Lopez: “You’re opened all the way up before you start your throw. Remember, check the time,” he demonstrated the

sideways scuttle that throwers use to align their bodies while holding the javelin in ready position, “and then, at the end, when you start the actual throw, that’s when you open up.”

The big meets draw some crowds. This one was sparsely attended even by family but these little meets are the ones where we get to see the athletes that will be challenging at District and State levels, especially in the throwing and jumping events.

The potential is there. The shot putters need time to grow into their bodies, time in the weight room. A pair from Waitsburg-Prescott, Mark Montgomery and EJ Oppelt, did very well. So did a pair from Asotin, Conor Martin and Phillip Downey. Three sophomores and a freshman. The top two on the women’s side, Skylar Olsen (DeSales) and Alyssa Hendrickson (WWVA), were freshmen.  I’m not a particularly stout individual but even I added 40 pounds of muscle from my freshman year in high school to my senior year. These youngsters will do the same, more so in the case of the men.

Another difference is the waiting. Undeberg moved at a relentless pace, flight after flight of athletes cycling through the events. Yesterday was more relaxed. For some events, that translated to a fair amount of standing around time. Long jump lines stretched back as the leapers tried to get all their jumps in before their running events.  Running events were slower into the blocks and, in several events, men’s and women’s races were combined.

DeSales ran well in the 1600m – one of the combined events – with Isaac Mata following up a good showing at Undeberg with a sub-5:00 minute mile. Daniel Ness(Desales) outkicked Brady Mulikin (Asotin) over the last three hundred meters to secure second. DeSales also took the top two women’s spots with Anna Ruthven wining.

In the 3200m women’s race, Jade Porubek (St. John-Endicott) won. Jade is a senior that I’ve watched on the cross country course and she isn’t often the fastest woman in the field but there are very few runners that work as hard as she does. It was nice to see her get the win at Dayton.

Jessica McCain encouraged her every time Jade went by the high jump pit – it’s easy to see why Jessica won the sportsmanship award last week at Undeberg. She’s a positive influence out there.

That’s it for the Dayton JV Meet. If I have the opportunity, I’ll be heading over to the Meet of Champions in Lewiston, ID this afternoon. At best, I’ll be late but maybe I can catch the later distance events and some of the relays.

The Union-Bulletin has a good recap.

Follow me on Facebook - I post all these to my author page.

Windy day at the District 9 Meet, Sun and Good Sportsmanship Breaks Through

I had a chance to get to the District 9 meet in Clarkston yesterday, mainly by ignoring my usual activities like work. It wasn't the best weather for a meet-the wind was definitely a factor, gusting to 20 mph-but I'm sure the athletes weren't complaining about the mid-60 temperatures. Almost any of the seniors can rattle off a list of races where the skies soaked them with 35 degree rain, pelted them with hail, or lit up the skyline with lightning. A little wind can be tolerated pretty easily, even a headwind into the home stretch.

I snuck in early, Goldfish in hand for the Asotin gang, and settled into the stands to watch Coach Sal Lopez directing the kids on getting the field events set up. He had them organized and the 'work' ended early, leading to a couple of athletes tossing a football in the infield. Turns out that the girls can throw a pretty tight spiral.

The meet started on schedule with a unique opening by Lucas Johnson, one of the English teachers at Asotin (most of the volunteers were Asotin teachers and parents since they were hosts.) I pestered him, and he agreed to let me print it, so it's below, in its entirety.

“Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome this fine spring day to the district 9 1B/2B track meet. I am the illustrious and ever-humble DJ Johnson, the voice of Panther Athletics. Join me and my melodious voice as I narrate the trials and tribulations of the dozens of talented athletes you see before you today. You can expect to see running in an oval pattern, various dangerous projectiles being hurled (usually in a safe direction) and even those brave souls who hurl THEMSELVES forward in gravity-defying acts of valor. It is my hope that you will make some noise as these athletes battle gladiator-style for  honor, prestige and glory with the ferocity of warriors, but with the respect, sportsmanship, camaraderie and humility that makes the events of track and field all the more special and unique. Give these fine folks a hand!”

Probably a good time to slip in a disclaimer. I'll be doing these posts this year in preparation for setting up a website to do cross country. Essentially, these are practice posts. It took something over a nanosecond but less than ten minutes of the meet to figure out that track and field can't be covered by one person. I didn't get to all the events and, since I'm not yet very good with my new camera, I have some pictures but not many really good ones.

On to racing. The first race was the lady's 4x200m relay. Asotin won the race but the athletes battled for the remaining placements. Pictured are of TO-GP in the yellow unis, with of St. John to the right and WWVA in maroon to the left at the second exchange. It was the first of a host of solid hand-offs. No one dropped a baton or missed a handoff in the transition zone all afternoon.

Field events were going on simultaneously. I missed a lot of these, unfortunately, though I did watch some of the discus (my event in high school) while the women's 3200m race was under way.

The 3200m was a little thin on competitors with Heather Siegel of St. John winning, a result she's familiar with. Several of the Asotin runners that normally participate were spread out in other events. WWVA didn't have a runner in the 3200m, nor did Rosalia. (Rosalia, which used to be part of the TOR - Tekoa, Oakesdale, Rosalia - has formed their own team this year. Garfield and Palouse join Tekoa and Oakesdale to round out their side, hence the TO-GP.) Zoe Robertson of TO-GP took second place.

Men's and women's hurdles came next. I always considered hurdles to be the NASCAR part of a track meet. Lots of speed and grace, with a constant threat of catastrophe lingering. Part of playing around with the camera led to the discovery that head-on pictures of hurdlers  are tough to nail and a good side on picture can be pretty darned good. Even if it was a "what the heck" attempt from the far side of the track. No disasters to record. Walla Walla Valley is very strong in the hurdles with Wesley Hendrickson and Abbie Underhill winning both the high and intermediate hurdles.

Back to discus. Results were announced and Asotin dominated both the men's and women's result. Coach Sal Lopez, a former collegiate thrower proves that he has a knack for imparting the technique to his younger athletes. Dirk Whitmore won with a nice throw of 131'6", edging his teammate Jacob Swearingen. Piper Loop won the women's side with a hurl of 104'10".

Over in the long jump pit, Nate Prior won both the long jump and triple jump on the men's side. The women were split, with Abbie Underhill winning the long jump to complete a trio of first place finishes while Olivia Pakootas of TO-GP edged her out in the triple jump.

TO-GP women javelin throwers came close to matching the standard set by the Asotin discus throwers. Annie Bailey of St. John-Endicott won but the next five placements were all TO-GP. The Asotin men toss javelins nearly as well they do the disc with Dirk Whitmore winning with a throw of 145'3" and the Asotin men taking the top three slots.

The most competitive race of the day took place in the women's 800m. The two young ladies paced each other around the track and jockeyed for the lead coming out of the final turn with Madeline Eggleston swinging wide to pass her sister, Lucy Eggleston. Lucy matched the kick, though and won by a half second. The next finisher, Katarina Stephenson of Asotin, was 17 seconds back of the Eggleston sisters, holding off Katie Holbrook of TO-GP.

The duel between Katarina and Katie was a repeat of the 1600m. Both of these runners are underclassmen so we should have a lot more to look forward to over the next couple of years.  Lucy Eggleston won the 1600m in a time of 5:42.

The men's side was far less competitive with Chandler Teigen winning handily in both the mile and 800m. Asotin  took the top three spots in the 800m and the top four in the  1600m with Thomas Weakland placing second 800m, and Brian Strobel and Spencer Williams taking second and third respectively in the 1600m.

The top three finishers in the 100m, 200m, and 400m for the men followed the same pattern. Eli Richardson of Rosalia won all three, closely followed by Caleb Atkins of Walla Walla Valley. Chasing them in all three races was Jacob Koerperich of Asotin.

The women's races were a little more diverse. Julia Ristau won the 100m while Rebecca Reyes of WWVA took second, beating out her teammate, Rachel Thiel. Sarah Nicholas from Asotin won both the 200m and 400m with Reyes pulling another second in the 200m and Megan McCain from Asotin taking third. Second place in the 400m went to Maddie Bogenrief from TO-GP. Alyssa Hendrickson was third.

The wind made for a tough day high jumping but Olivia Pakootas, state runner-up last season, seemed to be the only one unaffected and slightly limited by gravity as she easily won the high jump to add to her win in the triple jump. Jessica Ford of Rosalia and Rose Debruin (Asotin), competing in the event this year for the first time, rounded out the field.

I somehow managed to miss the men jumping but Connor Madden (Asotin) won with two TO-GP jumpers, Tanner Dingman and Tristan Smith, pulling second and third.

The highlight of the meet, though, didn't occur in any single event. Brady McKay of Asotin raced and won the 3200 meters in 10:46. I checked with him after the race as he was grabbing his knees but he said he was just "a little tired." Understandable. What he did next was more impressive than his race.

He started cheering for his competitors, not just his teammate Brady Mulikin, but all the other athletes in the 3200m. He was loud and enthusiastic, drifting down the track to meet them as they finished. It reminded me of a small snippet from Born to Run by Christopher McDougall who tells the story of Scott Jurek, one of the truly great ultrarunners. Jurek won almost every ultra he ran but would wait at the finish line, wrapped in a sleeping bag in cold weather, to cheer every one of the competitors to the finish. He'd be out there hours after his race ended. It also reminded me of the Asotin coach, Tim Gundy, who I've had the pleasure of joining on a couple of relays teams.

Brady McKay was, whether he knew it or not-and I think not because he looked surprised when I high-fived him for being so classy-was exemplifying sportsmanship. I don't think it crossed his mind to behave any differently.

And he wasn't the only one. I saw a couple of the WWVA ladies doing the same thing. Ditto for a TO-GP runner.

And those were the ones that I saw or heard. I'm betting that others, our of my earshot, acted just as openly, honestly,  and enthusiastically in supporting their fellow athletes.

This is my first effort at writing up a track meet. The plan is to build a website for cross country that will give race reports, course information, and a little bit of recognition for these young athletes throughout the Inland NW. If you like what you see, or have suggestions for making it better, please let me know. Leave a comment or send me an email at thatguy at paulduffau dot com. Just insert the appropriate symbols - many, many thanks. Paul Duffau

Madeline Eggleston, Prep Athlete of the Week

Congratulations to Madeline Eggleston, named the P1FCU Prep Athlete of the Week on KLEW-TV! Great young lady.

Here is the piece that KLEW-TV did on Madeline.

KLEW-TV also has a piece on the first District 9 1b/2b meet of the season. Kudos to both the men's and women's teams for a terrific meet. Pretty dominating performances.

I'm planning on being at a couple meets this year, plus one for the junior high. I'll try to get some more details of the athletes and their performances when I do. Plus pictures.

Snake River Canyon Half Marathon

Working an aid station at the Snake River Canyon Half Marathon in March has become enshrined as a ritual for Asotin Cross Country. Normally it's a warmer ritual, not 29 degrees with a stiff wind. Tough day for the runners and workers alike. The kids at my station - Jessica, Megan, Kyle and Nate - worked hard and were awesomely upbeat with the runners. It was cold enough that ice was freezing back in the cups. Gatorade, too. By the time the first rush was over, our hands were resembling the ice, so I fired up the FJ, turned up the heat, and rotated kids into it. My youngest daughter fired up the iPod and speakers to treat the runners to some classic rock as they came back with the wind.

The runners were wonderfully appreciative and sported great attitudes. The leaders didn't slow down long enough to do more than grab water but the middle and trailing packs freely indulged. Many of them probably pushed too hard into the wind and were a bit worn by the time they made it back on the return trip.

I grabbed some pictures of the leaders but after that, it got too busy to pull someone out of the line. I'll post them when I get a chance. In the meantime, I'm awfully proud of the kids for helping out and giving back to their sport.

A side note: great job by Morgan Willson taking second overall in the women's division. It was just a couple of years ago I watched and cheered for her as she won the 2B State Championship. Nicely done, Morgan.

GECKO Turkey Trail Marathon Training Update

Training was been. . . inconsistent, mostly because I'm a weenie in winter. When the weather gets cold and damp, my motivation drops through the floor. I've started compensating for this by mixing things up a bit. First, I'm making more of an effort to get the run done in daylight. That seems to be a big component. The other thing I've done is to hit the gym more. Instead of running on a treadmill, which I truly hate and occasionally do at the house (my treadmill is primarily a walking desk), I mix it up with cycling and stairclimbing. Throw in upper body work and I am getting stronger. I finally have my weight below 180. Starting to add leg lifts now that some of the systems are coming back. Ran in Hells Gate yesterday and, for the first time in a few years, powered up a hill instead of grinding. I had forgotten what that can be like. Exhilarating. I was cooking right along until some knucklehead put up a sign in the middle of the trail - Dog Trial. Shooting in Progress. That torqued me off a bit. Not that they were having a Trial but for putting the sign in the middle of the trail instead of at the junction. Let me know early and I'll grab another route. It would have been a quarter mile of extra walking for the guy. In the meantime, I went off-trail and explored. I didn't realize that Hells Gate was using old Christmas trees for wind-breaks. Should be spectacular the next time there's a fire over there. I'll watch from the porch. .

Lungs still need a lot of work but that always trailed legs so I'm following a pattern I know. Perpetual forward progress

Also had one of those random occurrences that brighten a day. A puppy was running around Hells Gate. His owner, an older dude, was keeping a pretty good eye on him and tried to call him over when they both saw me. The puppy ignored him - he had a new friend that he could run with. Sammy - that was what the owner was calling - leapt and cavorted and stopped for a pet so I grabbed his collar for the guy. He was apologetic and I told him "No worries." What I should have said was, "I'm out here to have fun. So is this little guy and he brings a big smile to my face, so no worries. Maybe even, hey, thanks!" But I tend towards slow-witted some days and I just kept running. I got to keep the smile, though

To counter the Sunday long run blahs, I've moved them to Wednesday afternoon, into a better energy time for me. This week it means an inspection, long run of 10 miles, and then another inspection. Work is busy as heck and I don't know quite why.

In a week, I'll be in Seattle and planning to hit REI for trail shoes. We'll see how that turns out. Open to advice. .

Run  gently, friends.

Starting a new Pacific NW Cross Country News Network?

I was contemplating trying to build a website around Cross Country news in the Pacific Northwest – kind of a one stop, here’s what happened this week at the meets and maybe the occasional feature on a runner. The question is (well, one of the questions, anyhow) would runners and their parents be interested?

The easiest option is just to run it through my author blog but I could create a site dedicated to the idea.

Anybody that has some ideas is free to comment. Share the idea around with runners you know and see what they think.

If you prefer, you can send me an email at that guy at paulduffau.com. Just combine it all, swap the @ into it. You get the idea.

Eventually, I’d like to cover the whole region which means building a network of volunteers to help with the reportage but in the meantime, we could at least spotlight our little corner.

Run gently, friends,

Paul

PS. Somewhere in the midst of all these plans, I need to figure out how to keep making a living.

Races around Asotin

Time to look at some local races around Asotin. The holidays are over and, if my scale is correct, the damage was minimal - except to the habit of running. Since I have a marathon that I need to be ready for (running, not racing), I need to get it going. The nice thing about marathon training is missing a day won't break you. Trying to do too much, too fast, might. Patience, perseverance, and a good sense of humor will get you to the start line. In the meantime, we have a bunch of local races on the calendar. I'll only probably do two, one as a training run, the other as a benchmark to see where I'm at.

Here are all the races I could find in the area for the late winter/early spring.

Feb. 8 - Sweetheart Run, Lewiston ID - 4 mile run or 2 mile walk, benefits local youth charities.

Feb 15 - Edge of Hell, Lewiston ID - 4 or 8 mile trail run in Hells Gate State Park. Beautiful scenery and one of my favorite areas to run in the Lewis-Clark Valley. If you look across the river, you can see my house.-and most of Asotin.

Feb. 22 - Celebrate Life, Lewiston ID - 7K run, 3K walk, benefits kids with cancer.

Mar. 1 - Snake River Half-marathon, Pullman, WA- 13.1 miles of running beside the Snake River, sponsored by the Palouse Road Runners. No traffic and a course elevation chart that looks like this: ________________. If you run it, I'll be at the 4 miles aid station cheering you on. The rest of the Asotin cross country team will be there along with Coach Tim Gundy, manning the 4 and 6 mile stations.

Mar. 15 - St. Patrick's Day 5/10K, Clarkston WA - Your choice of distance on a fast course. You have to wait for the holiday itself for the green beer.

Mar 21/22 - Snake River Triathlon, Lewiston ID, The swim is Friday, the evening before the ride/run. Check the website for details. The race is put on by Lewis-Clark State College's Cross Country program. Mike Collins, the coach, does a great job of organizing the event and it is chip-timed.

Mar 22 - Hells Canyon Adventure Run and Ultra, Idaho - A self-supported run of either 15 or 28 miles depending on which version you choose. 100 percent on trails in Hells Canyon. This is the one on my list as a training run.

Mar 30 - WSU 100K Relay/Solo, Pullman WA - Got some friends? Grab them, put together a team and have some fun with a relay. If you don't have friends crazy enough to join you, you can always run it as an Ultra. I heard a rumor that since this is the 25 Anniversary, the Palouse Road Runners are planning  25 percent weather. We'll see how that goes.

Apr. 5 -  Mike Jensen Memorial 5K, Lewiston ID -  Another charity run, this time for grieving children.

Apr. 18 - Twilight 5K, Lewiston ID - Another of Coach Collins events, it's a fast, flat course on the levee. This will be my "where-am-I-at?" race as I get ready for the marathon in Colorado.

Apr. 26 - Seaport River Run, Clarkston WA - I'd put up a link but the City of Lewiston hasn't posted it yet that I can find.

Apr. 26 - St. John Hog Jog, St John WA - I haven't done this one and maybe it's time I headed up. 2 and 5 mile options in one of my favorite little towns. Also the chief competitors for Asotin Cross Country girls and really nice kids.

So that gets us into later spring. Pick a couple and have some fun.

Turkey Track Trail Run, Week 1

It's time to ask forgiveness from the trail gods for my hubris. A friend asked if I wanted to do a marathon with him. The race? The XTERRA Turkey Track Trail Run, 26.2 miles of mostly single track at 8,000 feet of altitude in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. I haven't run a marathon in seven years, haven't sun more than twenty miles a week in more than a year, haven't been healthy for more than four months (I have gout and it's definitely a pain but improving), and haven't a goal in the world other than enjoying my regained ability to cover ground at a slow lope.

Naturally, I said yes.

I needed something to inspire me. I've done marathons and dealt with crowds and overpriced expos. I've done ultras and discovered how wonderful Vaseline can be and that I can run with sore feet for an awfully long time. I've solo-run trails in the Seven Devils, turning 30 or 35 miles in a day, just for the sense of awe-and I plan to do so again. But none of that was getting be past fitness-runner status and that was okay. I like being fit.

But something was missing.

Excitement.

I don't run just to rack miles or add to a marathon total. The Marathon Maniacs run aiming for totals, 3 marathons in 16 days, or 31 marathons in 365 days. Impressive, yes, but no more inspiring than the accumulation of blackened toe nails. Like the folks that keep track of their consecutive days running, the type that say "Oh, I haven't missed a day in eleven years, six months, thirteen days and," a pause to check the Timex, "seventeen hours."

I'm not that Type A.

I also don't like crowds so Chicago or New York are not in the plans. I got my fill of crowds at a couple of Rock 'n Rolls in San Diego. Dodging people for the first fifteen miles (do people lie or what to get into the first corrals - I always give a realistic appraisal of speed and ALWAYS end up passing a butt-load of slow-pokes. It's rude.)

I've done a lot on trails and, given an option, would never run on pavement again. A trail marathon is new but only because I haven't raced one before.

The exciting part isn't the race-it's that I plan on running with a partner. Most of the time, my running buddies are faster than me. If you've seen me run, it's perfectly understandable. In this case, we're pretty evenly matched. And, because I'm coming back from such a long way, I'm more interested in running than racing. (Though I checked the age group results, but only once - it's a habit!)

We'll be training separately since he's in Colorado and it's a bit far to travel just for the weekend long run. We'll follow different plans. I've been here before and I know what works for me. Lots of miles, a bit of speed, steady progressions. I've got time for two full cycles on the speed work - mostly tempo and enough striders to knock the burrs off my form and clean it up. Gradual ramp up on the long run, lots of them, one every two weeks so the legs can recover in between. It's all sitting in a spreadsheet.

Life will happen between now and race day so the schedule will get blown up at least once. Adapt and survive and get to the start line.

After that, it's all good.

Holiday Fun Runs

Yep, Christmas is coming, so it's that time of year: the holiday fun run in frigid temperatures and, for the more adventurous, costumes. The Asotin Cross Country team is sponsoring the Joy to the World Run on December 21st. Last year, it was the End of the World run but apparently the Mayans were wrong. It's a 2- and 5-mile fun run that starts and finishes at the Asotin track. You can download an entry form here --> JTTWFunRun13 As an added bonus - and a surprise to the Race Director, Tim Gundy, since I didn't bring this up to him yet - I will be sponsoring a "Best Costume Award" which is probably a $15 gift certificate to Tri-State Sports.

There are other relatively local holiday fun runs as well:

The Seaport Striders have their Santa Run this Saturday, December 7th, at Swallows Nest Park in Clarkston. Entry form --> 2013santarun. They also have their annual New Year's Day Hangover Run - which I have never run but not due to hangovers. Entry form

Want something more challenging? How about a winter 50K. Pullman is holding one on the 14th (though you don't have to do the whole thing). Pullman Winter Ultras. Kindly, they include this informational notice. IMPORTANT: The Pullman Winter Ultra Series is a no-fee, low-key, no-support, slip-on-ice, freeze-your-toes-off, drink-a-beer-afterward-or-during, fun-run-style event.

If anybody knows of other fun runs at the holidays around here, let me know. Colfax used to have one (the Santa Run, where I dressed up like a reindeer with a couple of friends and pulled Sara around on a sleigh. Lance had to wear the red nose.)

Up on the Palouse Divider, they used to run the Mangy Moose 5K and 10K but that disappeared a couple of years ago, unfortunately.

Run gently, folks, and bundle up. It's a mite nippy out there (single digits this morning) and a white Christmas looking more likely by the day. Perfect for trying out new running gear that Santa brings.

Yesterday I watched a girl run the best race of her life - and cry.

Both the girls and boys teams qualified at the District meet last week and lined up yesterday to compete against the best runners in the State of Washington at the State Cross Country Championship in Pasco, Washington. For me, it marked the end of an era. I had no children of my own racing for the first time in nearly a decade but, for a decade, we've made the trek west. We did it again yesterday.

The girls ran first, at 10:00 under a single patch of clear sky, the only one of the day. At the previous editions of the Championship, I sped from point to point to cheer on the team and, specifically, daughters. This year, I camped at the two mile mark, out past no-mans-land and cheered.

One girl suffered from a lingering cold but the team ran well, competed hard and took fourth place in the State. The race for placement was almost impossibly tight. A single point separated the second through fourth place finishes.

The boys team faired better, placing second overall with Chandler Teigen just missing the course 2B record. Given some serious competition, the record probably would have fallen. It will next year. All boys ran well, confident and aggressive and proud. And they deserved their place on the podium.

But the lasting memory that I carry away isn't the girls or boys on the podium, the freshmen running so well, or Chandler running away from the field.

It was of a single girl, a team captain, a senior, holding onto her dad and in tears, not from disappointment - at that point they didn't know the scores - but because it was over. A team that she has been a part of for four years, the relationship with a coach that she admires, the memories of the girls she competed against resolved into a single moment - and was over.

Sometimes the kids don't realize how special their teammates and their competition is. But some, a few, they indeed realize that an important marker just passed, one that can never be recalled except in memories.

I coached this young lady five years ago and the images from that time still make me smile. At least one element of her will eventually make it into a book of mine - one of my favorite memories of coaching, a little waif of a girl with steady, wise eyes and a question.

Last year, I held my daughter while she cried, and I had no words other than 'I love you' and 'I am so proud of you.' I said the same things to another daughter on her final high school race, though it took her two years to understand fully.

So yesterday, I watched athletes run with beauty and grace, with strength and heart, flying towards that finish line. For one moment, I saw a scene of beauty, family, friends, teammates, bound up in one hug and some tears.

Asotin - District Champions

Asotin girls cross country went to Plantes Ferry with a girl banged up, two recovering, and high hopes - and came home district champions. It was a crowded field and St. Johns/Endicott, their rivals all season, gave them a great race but it came down to the number five runners - Asotin's was a bit stronger than St. Johns' - and the difference was a trophy. A reminder that cross country is a team sport scored by individuals.

The Asotin boys finished third in a very close race with Tri-Cities Prep and NW Christian-Colbert. It's measure of how far Coach Tim Gundy has brought the program that the boys were disappointed. Expect them to come out at State and battle for the lead.

Congrats to both teams. See you next week in Pasco . . .

George Creek in Asotin

Saturday was a fun run where I took a chance by leaping off onto the George Creek Trail in Asotin County without a real clear idea of where I would end up - or how long it would take to cover the ground back to the house.

There are two trail heads on the WDFW Land website. I used the second one, the Rockpile Parking Area. Directions are easy enough  to follow:

Rockpile Parking Area:  From Asotin, drive west up Asotin Creek Road and take a left on Cloverland Grade Road.  Follow Cloverland Grade road up to the ridge top where the agricultural fields begin.  Go approximately 5 miles to WDFW parking area on left side of road.

Once there, it was a matter of sliding through the gate to the abandoned jeep trail (this was very steep with a lot of loose rubble and overgrown) to the canyon floor. On the way down, you're guaranteed to get soggy shoes from a natural spring set to flow into watering tanks for horses. The overflow runs right across the trail.

Once I hit the canyon floor, there are multiple trails, some headed further up the canyon and the one I wanted, headed back down.  The trail at this end is single track - it doesn't really widen for about 4 miles.

The trail follows Rockpile creek until it reaches George Creek. Rockpile was pretty much dry with a couple of soggy spots - I hope I can get out here in the spring when the creeks should all be full and the wildflowers in full bloom. As it was, there was typical desert sage and scrub grasses.

The first canyon intersection branched left toward home and right towards....I dunno. That will be an exploration when I have a little more base endurance. Saturday, I rolled left, scattering a herd of deer that were grazing on the lower meadows. Last I saw of them, they were cresting the steppe on the far side of the canyon.

The trail widens into a jeep track and then a dirt road as you get closer to the lower farms closer to town. It looks like there is a major effort by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to create a sustainable watershed. From the tracks, it appears that they brought in heavy equipment to clear some brush and set logs to restrain debris flowing downstream under flood conditions. A bit further down, I found the backhoe clearing the creek bed to prepare a new bridge system.

The operator looked a little shocked to see me jogging down the trail - I get the impression that few people ever head out to George Creek despite its proximity to Asotin - but shut down the rig long enough for me to ford the creek- the third time I soaked my feet.

From there, it was an easy run to George Creek road, mostly gravel and a right turn onto Asotin Creek Road as I wound my way back to the house.

All in all, a nice intermediate run, maybe 12-13 miles long, and mostly in the solitude of the canyon.

Long runs for Junior High School

Defining long runs for junior high school athletes can drive a coach slightly batty. At one end of the spectrum, you have the kids that are natural runners and, in some cases, already ran on a regular basis before the cross country season started. The other end of that spectrum is occupied by the kids that are doing this for the first time and for whom a jog around the block may be the furthest they've ever run.

In Asotin, even with a very young team - we have no eighth grade girls and the boys team has only two- we have both, just as every school does. A difference for us is that some of our seventh graders were with us last year and bought into running - and baseball for the boys.

So we've adopted two strategies. The first was to take the strongest of the experienced runners and let them run with the high school team on the easy days for the high school. Even that is a bit much for them but an occasional dose - and exposure to the work ethic that our high school athletes have - is meaningful for them.

The other strategy we used yesterday is to let the kids segregate into groups - for the most part, we let them self-select - and each coach plus a volunteer, my daughter Sara, took a group out. Different paces, different distances, different goals.

For the speedy Gonzalez's, it was about 4.5 miles at 9 minute pace. Some of the kids bit off a touch more than they could chew and eased into the park at the end at a walk. One kid, feeling a twinge, wisely did the same after 3.5 miles.

I ran with the middle group. These were mostly kids that are new to running (one was an eighth grade boy that I wanted in the group for some leadership) and we discovered all sorts of things on a 3.25 mile jaunt at 'Coach Paul' pace. One girl noticed another constantly speeding up and then stopping to walk - understandable as she is a sprinter on the track team. Pacing is new to her but I was tickled that I wasn't the one that pointed it out to her but a teammate did. One of the sixth grade boys had never run this far so he got a PR on distance - it certainly won't be his last.

The final group, led by Sara, was on a mission: Run without walking. It doesn't seem like an ambitious goal for athletes but for kids that have no base of running, learning that they can do this is huge. The emphasis is not speed but perseverance. For most, it was a success.

Since we're dealing with young athletes, we don't do many long runs and, obviously, what is a long run to the kids now will someday be a short easy day. When we plan long runs for junior high athletes we take the long view and make sure that we give them just enough of a challenge to help them develop and not so much that we kill the run or injury the runner.

Because, in the long run, we want them to be runners for life.

No Dogs Allowed - Asotin District Policy

Stitch, our dog, apparently followed Kelly Brady, neighbor and teacher, to school yesterday here in Asotin. For those that don't know us, we live directly across from Asotin's school. I don't break it down by Asotin High School, Middle School, Elementary School because they're all housed in the same group of buildings. The entire district is smaller that some graduating classes at city schools. We like it that way.

Anyway, somebody (...er, sorry sweetie!) left a door to the front open, so Stitch went exploring. From what we can gather, he grazed on the grass in front before playing in traffic - thank goodness for a small town! - but got bored so he followed a friend right into class. Algebra I apparently. Mrs. Brady, according to reports from the youngest daughter, has never had this particular experience. Neither had the students and they were begging to be allowed to fire up their phones and take pictures.

The principal was not at all amused.

Sadly, they didn't even offer an assessment to see if he was ready for Algebra I.Stitch the gone got sent home from school, making him the first in the family (I think - my mother will correct the record if I am wrong.)