If I trained enough, I could use these running recovery tricks

That's a fairly substantial if in my case - but Running Times has an online article on running recovery tricks that you should look over if you're in the middle of your track season. Some you probably already do, some you won't, and a couple might be worth trying. Not sure if I'm up for liquid nitrogen - and they sound a little hesitant, too. I was a little surprised at the bit about warm-ups doing more to prevent muscle soreness than cool-downs. Since my race pace is a warm-up, I should be pretty darn safe.

Undeberg Invitational, Race Report

Howdy, glad you’re back again. Settle in because a lot happened at the Undeberg Invitational yesterday. I’ve broken the meet down into two parts. I thought it was a terrifically run meet and you can find my comments on that in this post. On to athletes.

The first running event of the day was the women’s 4x200. Colfax won the event in a time of 1:50.49 with a team that has two freshmen and a sophomore. I watched from the first exchange point. The second place team from Ritzville was in the lane next to Colfax. Ever try to get a picture of perpetual motion? The two girls were practically vibrating while they chatted, one bouncing on her toes, the Ritzville runner going side to side instead—until the gun went up and the race started. The Broncos had a lead from the starting split coming into the first exchange, but the Colfax team, with Sarah Kraut leading off, had a series of good exchanges and ran a season PR to edge Ritzville by less than a second while Colville stayed competitive, pulling in third place.

The women’s 3200m was much less competitive as freshman Shania Graham of Republic ran away from fellow freshman Mariah Pena (Medical Lake), winning with a time of 11:56. Heidi Hennings (Ling-Ritzville) stayed close on Pena’s heels, clocking in at 12:37, two seconds behind the freshman, good for third place.

The men’s 3200m, run much later in the day, finished with a terrific sprint between Colville’s Kevin Carpenter and Lakeside’s Ryan Coffman. Carpenter edged by about a half-second, 10:01.27 to 10:01.85. The field was crowded with 32 runners and several more positions were decided with hard finishing kicks. The trio of Cody Alvarez (Othello), TJ Baun (Colville), and Brady Mullikin (Asotin) finished within less than a second and a half between them.

I caught the hurdles this time and watched Ryan Whitmore (Lind-Ritzville) win both the 110m High hurdles as well as the 300m intermediates—avoiding a loss in the intermediates by nearly flinging his body over the last hurdle as he got his feet out of step and missed the approach. He edged Marco Pena (Othello) in both. The longer race was decided by .05 seconds. Luke Walker (Colville) took third in the 300m and sixth in the 110m. Joe Lang (Royal), Shawn Weisner (Pomeroy), and Colton Forman (Kittitas) finished in the top five in the 110m hurdles while Owen Lanning (Waitsburg-Prescott) took fourth in the 300m hurdles with Ben Elliott (Colville) joining his teammate Walker in the top five.

Colfax ran out two women fresh from the 4x200 relay, Bailey Mackleit and Parker Warwick who placed first(16.67 seconds) and fourth respectively in the high hurdles. Allison Wujek (DeSales) was second, Karlee Maioho (Wilbur-Creston) third, and Mara Riley of Seattle Academy fifth.

Mackleit came back to post a season’s-best 48.84 to win the 300m event. Freshman Karlee Maioho moved up to second. The women’s 300m hurdles were dominated by younger athletes as sophomore Jadyn Dandreth (Reardan), freshman Allison Garza (Othello), and another skilled Colfax runner, Olivia Mellor, a sophomore, rounded out the top five.

I missed the 100m sprints as I wandered around the field events.

Pole vaulting turned out to be a bit of an adventure. The Colfax coach Jason Cooper was kind enough to answer some of my questions since I admittedly know very little about the technical aspects of vaulting.

The wind, gusting from nearly behind the vaulters, effectively shoving them more quickly into the bar as they elevated. Apparently this is preferable to a side wind which alters the direction of the pole plant and forces the athletes into off-balance, sometimes dangerous take-offs. I’ve joked for years that, over-tall and over-broad as I am, I make a good sail. It’s less funny when you’re balanced 12’ off the ground on a slender rod and hoping that you’re still over the pit.

Coach Cooper’s vaulters are probably looking for better weather, but Sam Daily tied his personal best and won with a vault of 12’00”. A pair of Davenport men tied in height, Tanner Perry tying his PR while his teammate, Austin Zeller set a new one. They were followed by two Pomeroy Pirates, Memo Morfin and Cole Mayfield. All five of the top men either tied or beat their previous bests.

Lakeside dominated on the women’s side, taking the top two spots. Farrahn O’Hara won, clearing 10’06” while Samantha Blake cleared 10’. Scout Cai is another very promising Colfax pole vaulter. She has good speed and elevation but is still developing her technique. Both she and Blake are sophomores. With pole vault such a technical event, I expect to see some fun battles as they both become more skilled.

The women’s 1600m. Wow! Seven of the top ten spots taken by freshmen, led by Madison Ward of St. George’s as she builds on the impressive start to her high school career with a 5:29.86. Felicia Ziemer (Lind-Ritzville) took second while Harley Strope (Reardan) was the only upperclassman to crack the top five. Mariah Pena backed up her strong 3200m with another good performance in this event. Kat Stephenson, running with a tender Achilles’, came close to a PR. Heather Siegel, the St. John-Endicott standout, was solid in sixth. Zoe Robertson (TO-GP) set a PR sneaking past Emily Adams (Waitsburg-Prescott) and teammate Katie Holbrook (a sophomore). Kiara Hoxie held off Robertson and the others to secure seventh. It’s an impressive group of young runners.

Domenic Rehm (Medical Lake) won convincingly with a 4:30. Ryan Coffman (Lakeside) ran a 4:34. Kevin Carpenter a 4:35 and Micah Dingfield (Medical Lake) 4:38. Unlike the women’s side, the men’s race was controlled by upperclassmen. The only freshman to get into the top ten was Thomas Weakland (Asotin) who set a PR with a 4:42.96 as he took seventh.

The head wind didn’t help any of the discus throwers.

Piper Loop (Asotin) continued her winning ways, picking up a first place finish again in discus with a toss of 117’03” and a fourth place with a season-best shot put of 35’07”. Alyssum Reno of Kittitas won the women’s shot put (39’03”).

Jacob Swearingen (Asotin) won both the shot (47’09”) and discus (146’09”) for the men. The competition in the shot put was close with Eli Richardson (Rosalia) heaving a 47’07.25 and James Hopkins (Reardan) keeping pace with a 45’06.5”. Inches separated Austin Oursland (140’09”, Kittitas) and Josh Brown (140’01”, Colfax) as they vied for second in discus.

Moving back to the running events (and no, these aren’t in order!), the men’s 800m race surprised the heck out of me and at least one runner. Brady McKay (Asotin) ran the fourth heat of the race, consistent with his previous efforts. The fastest runners went in Heat 1, the next fastest in 2, etc. Except that Brady apparently didn’t get that particular memo. He roared past me at the 100m mark already with a ten yard lead and I liked his aggression, attacking the race. When he came by again, at 500 meters,  the lead was up to thirty yards.

I talked to him after the 800m, before I realized he had blasted a 13 second PR and taken fourth place overall. He sounded a little stunned at himself and thinks it might be time for him to challenge the 4:51 plateau he’s been stuck at as a miler. I suspect his coach, Tim Gundy, will agree.

St. George’s took the top two spots in the race. Will Tender ran a 2:02 and Nathan Vanox a 2:06. Isaac Mata (DeSales) was next in 2:07.8.

Madison Ward and Felicia Zeimer sandwiched Shania Graham as freshmen lead the way again. Only one junior (Anna Cook of La Conner) and no seniors placed in the top ten. Ward, Zeimer, Katherine Meyer (Kittitas), Lily Vogt (Seattle Academy), Zoe Robertson (her second of the day), and Katie Holbrook all set personal records at the distance.

Coach Rick Riley of St. George’s took a few minutes to talk to one of the milers, going over the way that Steve Prefontaine would structure his week to build both his base and his speed. Since I was lollygagging in the area watching the high jumpers and javelin throwers, I eavesdropped. Interesting stuff and I thought it pretty neat that a running legend took time out during a busy meet to share his knowledge with the kid.

I think I could write an article on Rick but we’ll save that for the cross country season, I think.

Since I mentioned javelin, did you know that a javelin can rotate 180 degrees when the wind catches it? Bit wild looking. When you catch the wind just right, oh my. One of the gentlemen marking throws had to beat a hasty retreat when a Kittitas thrower, (Austin Oursland. I think) launched one and caught air. Oursland took second to Kolton Cobb of Columbia-Burbank who nailed a throw of 170'.

I went looking for more coverage of the meet but about the only thing I could find was a nice article on the DeSales team in the Union-Bulletin covering the bounty of PR’s their team had.

I caught this young man, Alex Scoggins of Seattle Academy, as he was preparing for his last attempt in the triple jump. He finished third on this attempt

(39'11.5"). Owen Lanning (Waitsburg-Prescott) won the event with a triple jump of 41'00.5" and Kameron Strobel (Colville) took second at 40'10.25".

That'll have to do it for today. As always, I know I didn't get to everybody and I'm sorry-doing what I can. You all are awesome!

All the results and placements for the Undeberg Invitational  were courtesy of Athletic.net. It's a truly awesome resource. And many thanks to the race director - having a program made this whole project easier.

If you want to follow me on my author page, you can find me at Facebook.

(I modified this article to correct a mistake of mine. I called Jacob Swearingen 'Josh' in error. Sorry, Jacob!)

Well-Organized: Undeberg Invitational In Ritzville

Greg Whitmore deserves to be pleased. Race Director at the Undeberg Invitational in Ritzville, his meet may have been one of the smoothest and best organized I’ve been at in years. Every track athlete and coach has a horror story—sometime an entire pantheon of stories—about meets that ran two, three, four hours long with interminable pauses between events. Undeberg proves that a race can be both well-organized and athlete-friendly.

The timing was actually done by computer run by Dennis Sakmann,with volunteers providing backup. The system worked nicely with no apparent glitches even with several very close finishes (at least from a spectator viewpoint.) The starting crew (Bill Cox and Al McBroom were the starters with Jordan Bilodeaux the Marshall) offered clear directions to the fields of runners, mostly in the distance events where lane assignments were not rigid after the first turn or lap, to try and finish from Lane 4 or out so that camera would have the best image to work determine the finishing order. I thought this might give a slight advantage to a late finisher but, after running the numbers (high school geometry for folks interested, Pythagorean’s Theorem, using the top of the straighaway to the finish), decided the difference in distance was negligible.

The crew got runners into the blocks or to the line in good order. I only saw a single false start and, even then, the gentleman who explained it to the athlete was very sympathetic and considerate of the athlete.

Over on the field side, the volunteers kept the systems moving. Two announcers kept the flights on schedule and sounded warnings when jumper or throwers had failed to check in. A bit of observation at the long jump pit and I saw how the announcers knew what was happening in each event.

The young man running the pit would inform the announcers via radio to make the “second call for Flight 4, men’s long jump.” A minute later the same would be repeated over the speakers. It kept the two announcers busy but the whole day ran smoothly as each event sent in the status reports.

The young man gave the jumpers feedback on their takeoffs, especially if they faulted. Not required of the folks at the pit but I’m sure that athletes appreciated the extra input. (The souvenir program listed Dale Anderson, Dustin Kommes, and Rob Reottger as the team there, but they were busy, and I didn’t ask names to attach to the picture.)

Another point that I thought interesting, The Undeberg Invitational meet sold sponsorships to community businesses and had giveaways by some of those. A nice idea that shows a lot about the community and the support that the Broncos (the host team) enjoys, as well as help to defray the costs to the teams and the school. The $2 entry for spectators was less than I’ve paid at other, smaller, meets this year and the $2 for the program very reasonable.

Looking forward to coming back next year.

(Next up, the race report. Patience, people, I'm typing as fast as I can. And, if you see a typo, holler and I'll fix it. And you can follow me on my author page at Facebook)

Cover for "Trail of Second Chances"

So, while I'm busy doing the rewrite on Trail of Second Chances, the cover artist that I use, Kit Foster, a bloke that hails from the UK, has out-done himself by coming up with the design for the book. Kit Foster also did the cover for Finishing Kick which earned compliments (but, alas, no awards) from The Book Designer cover design contest.

When I sent an email asking for help on this new project, I sent along the back cover blurb and gave him a rough outline of what I was looking for since this book was different from the last in that it is an adventure story involving young Becca Hawthorne.

Kit came up with a bunch of ideas but one jumped out and, with a bit of tweaking, became:

And the Blurb on the back?

Trail of Second Chances

A high-octane adventure on a wild Montana mountain as one girl finds herself racing for her life against a malignant fire.

 It should have been the highlight of the summer, a training camp for elite runners in the mountains of Montana. Coached by her father, and frustrated by his efforts to hold her back, Becca Hawthorne dreams of competing in the Olympics. She earned her chance to test herself against the best runners in the Pacific Northwest. But now she faces a tougher opponent than even the fastest girl.

An action-filled roller coaster ride that keeps you turning the pages as the fire creeps closer.

I'll keep working on the rewrite. The editor (the same lady that worked with me on Finishing Kick) is waiting for it. It'll take her a couple of weeks to fix all my goofs. One more round of polish, then typesetting.

Expect it July 1, 2014.

PS. The next novel, The Lonesome Mile is started. It'll be done when it's done. No promises on dates until I get way farther along the path.

Kamiah Race Report Rained Out

Apparently the junior high meet was canceled. Instead, I had a pleasant drive in the Idaho countryside. Have to admit, I'm a mite disappointed.

Odds, Ends, and Happy Easter

First, Happy Easter. For those that don't celebrate Easter, Happy Day. I'll be heading out to Kamiah to watch the junior high meet there on Tuesday. Report will follow. Not sure that I'll be able to put in times - I dig them out of Athletic.net but the JHS scores and results don't always seem to show up. Not sure why. Anyhow, we'll do what we can.

Also on Tuesday, I'll be putting up the cover for the latest book, Trail of Second Chances. Could I do that today? Sure, but it's Easter. And the County Fair. And a dozen other things. Tuesday is soon enough.

Saturday I'll be headed to the Mooberry Relays in Spokane. Looking forward to it. Mooberry is a little different and a lot of fun to watch. Probably miss a lot of the Asotin kids since a goodly number of them participate in FFA stuff for the fair. (The Asotin County Fair fair spans two weekends - don't ask be why 'cuz it doesn't make much sense to me either.)

I've put the designers to work on a logo for InlandXC.com. I'll put it up when it's done. Website is coming along - slowly, true, but progress nonetheless. A couple of people have asked how I expect to make money from the site. Funny enough that I laugh. If there were money in it, someone would have done it a while ago. It's part of my clever plot to reduce my taxes by losing money at something I love.

That's it. Got stuff to do and it's a beautiful day out there.

Enjoy it and run gently, friends, those that run.

Why are there so few novels about running?

I was muddling along thinking while sleeping - I do that a lot - when it occurred to me that there was a reason there were so few novels about running. You could spend the next ten years reading books and manuals on every aspect of running from foot strike to hat attire for winter weather and still not exhaust the material available. New books on how to run, how to avoid injury, which shoes (if any) are best, VO2 Max, and the Daniel's Running Formula, which I consider to be the running 'bible' for performance. For us old school runners, Dr. George Sheehan is the runner's philosopher.

The common thread on all those books is an interest in running faster, better, longer, stronger. It's about the act of running rather than runners and, even when we move into biographical territory, as Christopher McDougall did with Born to Run, we tend to follow the running exploits of the runner instead of looking at the whole runner. Mostly, though, people want to run better, so the technical books sell and nobody tries to write novels around running or running themes.

Even John L. Parker's classic Once a Runner is focused on the training and racing aspects. The hero of the story, Quentin Cassidy, stays a one-dimensional character throughout. What Parker does nicely is show the inevitable blowing off of steam by the track team through the goofiness of their indoor Olympics, showing the touch of humanity that the book needed to stay interesting between the bits of running.

Parker originally had to self-publish Once a Runner, long before it was fashionable to do so. For all the success he's had with the novel and the follow-up, Again to Carthage, they've never been blockbuster hits. They're cult favorites for a self-selecting tribe of people that would rather run in the rain than veg on the couch. Or, at least, run first, then veg.

Novels about running are never going to be blockbusters like the Harry Potter series or Twilight. Those are about escapism, slipping into a mythical world. Running is grittier and more real in the sense that they reflect a different choice in this world, instead of offering a different world altogether. (Though I'm open to arguments that our feet can take us to places so pristine and pretty that it feels surrealistic.)

And publishers know that fantasy (not the genre, the concept) sells. Want to take on the Mob as a young lawyer? Read Grisham's The Firm. Want to play Quidditch? Off to Hogwarts you go. Want to know what it's like to love a vampire? Stephanie Meyers has an answer.

All those books were best sellers and made millions of dollars for the publisher. Novels about running would be lucky to break even in the traditional world of publishing.

Fortunately for us, that world is turning upside down right now and all the loose change from the pockets is dropping to the ground. And by loose change, I mean all those ideas and stories that are cool and inspiring and un-mass-marketable that still have an appeal to a core group of people, what Seth Godin calls a 'tribe.'

The barriers to self-publishing are gone and the stigmatism that accompanies it is fading. John L. Parker hand sold his books to running shoe stores and at meets, one book at a time. Today, we have Amazon and Smashwords and a dozen other ways of getting our stories  out to the public.

So, why are there so few novels about running? Because until now, there was no money to be made and, like it or not, that determines what got published. But it's early in a new age of publishing and storytellers have more options.

A some of those storytellers will see their tribe and want to tell its story, all the little facets of it.

And, now they can.

Border Wars Meet - 2B/1A Wash/Idaho

As border wars go, today's version at the Lapwai track was much more amicable than say, Russia and the Ukraine. The athletes competed hard in the  races and field but, true to form for small schools, they mingled and chatted with each other in the infield between events. The annual Border Wars Track Meet drew 11 teams from Idaho and five teams from Washington. Asotin continued its strong early season form, winning both the men's and women's titles this year, though by closer margins than the last couple of meets.

For the men, that was the lone Washington entry in top five teams as Idaho schools Kamiah, Prairie, Logos, and Kendrick filled up the points totals to top the list.

For the women, it was more challenging for the Idaho teams with Prairie, Logos, TO-GP, and St. John-Endicott in the top five.

Racing started with the 3200m for both the men and women.

Thomas Weakland (Asotin), Peter Spencer (Prairie), and Brady McKay (Asotin) led the field out with the Logos team in tow and quickly separated themselves from the rest of the pack.

McKay led the first two laps before his teammate took over. Weakland ran strong for the next five laps as Spencer stayed right off his shoulder. The Logos runners, Sage Pratt and Jonny Handel, closed on, then passed, McKay on the fourth lap. An experienced junior, Spencer waited until the backstretch of the gun lap to make his move, a powerful surge to open space between him and the freshman from Asotin. Spencer won handily with a 10:05. Logos placed three runners in the top six as sophomore Josiah Anderson finished with a solid performance behind McKay.

Lucy Eggleston made short work of the women's 3200m race, carving out a large lead early and pushing hard through the finish. Heather Siegel (St. John-Endicott) took second and Katarina Stephenson (Asotin) took third.

Unlike Wednesday, I managed to catch more of the field events, including the women's pole vaulting. Megan McCain of Asotin was competing for the first time while Skylar Smith (Pomeroy) easily won the vault, clearing 8'00".

Mike Martinez (Asotin) won the men's side, hitting 11' while Trey Pfefferkorn and Clayton Stamper (both from Clearwater Valley) placed second and third. Pomeroy locked in the next two spots with solid vaults from Memo Morphin and Cole Mayfield.

Mayfield took third in the high jump as well, tied in height but not attempts, with Kristian Carpenter of Nezperce. Darcy Stamper of TO_GP won going away. Not switching to the flop until the bar got to 5'0", Stamper skipped the jump at 6'0", coming back to clear 6'2" before moving on to his other events. A well-rounded field athlete, Stamper took fifth in the discus and shot put. Olivia Pakootas continued her winning ways in the women's high jump. Pearl Blachly of Pomeroy took second and Erica Johnson of Logos, third.

The points from sprints was spread out across the field. The men's 200m had ten teams represented in the top ten positions with Lucas Arnzen (Prairie) dropping below 24 seconds for the top spot. Nearly as splintered, the 100m featured six different teams in the top ten with Arnzen winning here as well in a time of 11.74 seconds.

The women's 800m showed that history can repeat itself, only faster. The Eggleston sisters again dueled to the finish. Madeline moved to take the lead from Lucy at the 200m mark  and opened up a two step gap. Lucy covered the move though and, again on the last straightaway, eked out first place, this time by .37 seconds.

Chandler Teigen started with the rest of the field for the 800m. That was the last time anybody stayed close as he dominated the 800m with a 1:58.64. Logos continued its srong showing in the distance events by picking up second and fifth places while Nezperce picked up third and Asotin filled the gaps in the top six with Brian Strobel crossing in fourth and Spencer Williams in sixth.

The 1600m followed a similar line. Teigen ran a 4:31, 13 seconds ahead of Peter Spencer of Prairie. Thomas Weakland (Asotin) and Brian Strobel ran well and the Asotin distance crew did a significant job of helping to secure the team win.

The relays reflected the strengths of the Prairie and Logos women's teams as they split the relays. The Logos women, in particular, seemed to function well in the passing zones with crisp exchanges. They won the 4x100m and the medley. Prairie took the 4x200m and 4x400m relays.

Kamiah held the lead dog position in three of four relays. St. John-Endicott edged them in the medley but, even then, they gathered in the second place finish. If the Asotin strengths are the distance and throwing events, Kamiah counters in the sprints, relays and general competence in the field events.

Logos men grind away in the running events with solid team work. They don't win the events but they place well and accumulate points.

Prairie, on the other hand, relies on the speed of Lucas Arnzen (100m, 200m, 400m winner), the endurance of Peter Spencer (3200m winner, 1600m second), and the jumping ability of Parker Whipple (1st triple jump, 3rd long jump.)

The TO-GP team has a pair of terrific leapers in Pakootas and Stamper and a cadre of young racers in the distance events that just need a little time and seasoning to learn how to race.

And, speaking of  athletes to watch as they learn to race, Chaye Uptmor from Prairie is a young lady who has the potential to develop into a very solid middle-distance runner. She was only three seconds behind the Egglestons in the 800m. Not shabby for a freshman.

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

First Draft, Trail of Second Chances Done.

Done. First draft 65,056 words. Lots to fix, especially in the early chapters but Trail of Second Chances is a book. In a month, out to beta readers.

Is your measuring stick too tall? or are you just using the wrong one?

I introduced my granddaughter (one of them, at least) to Lindsay Stirling and Pentatonix a little bit ago. At 18 months, she's a little young to find the music or videos herself, but that's what grandpa is around for - that, and engaging a little brain with occasional weirdness. She gets that both acts are very cool and dances that little toddler dance, bopping up and down when I put them on. My daughter hadn't heard of Pentatonix yet so she looked them up on Wikipedia from her phone.

And went into a minor case of shock.

They are younger than she is. Not by much but they are and, as she read about how they got started, she kept marveling at how young they were to have already become so accomplished. The core of the group (Kristi, Mitch, and Scott) started together in high school. After two of three graduated, they split, Kristi for Oklahoma and the Musical Theater program, Scott for USC and the Popular Music program.

Then life took an odd a cappella turn that ended up with the trio getting back together to win The Sing-off, a show that I had never heard of, dedicated to a cappella singing. By rule, competitors had to have at least four singers. The call went out to Mitch, who skipped his high school graduation to make the first addition. Avi, the bass, was recruited from the local scene in L.A. and Kevin was spotted on YouTube when a cellobxxing video of his went viral.

They ended up winning season three of The Sing-Off, a contract from Sony, and set a goal of a goal of the group becoming the first mainstream a cappella group in recent times.

Pentatonix is well on their way.

Back to my daughter and the psychic jolt from discovering that these already accomplished musicians are younger than she is. I'm pretty sure that she was measuring herself to them and feeling a tad discouraged.

She shouldn't but she's making a pretty common mistake. Young people often do. Old people like me make different mistakes. Welcome to being human.

Her mistake? She's using the wrong measuring stick.

Her accomplishments won't land her a recording contract but they are still accomplishments.

She's in school, working on a degree in Electrical Engineering. She worked at an ammunition manufacturer until her hubby got his degree. She stopped working when they discovered that birth control is 99.999 percent effective.

She went back to school anyway (she hadn't really left, part-time in school while working full-time) and changed majors to the EE. Dug in and started to do the hard work of becoming an engineer while raising a daughter. She has an advisor who is terrific (though the institution is NOT very family friendly!) who understands that this life will be balanced.

Which is good, because she's growing another human. If everything runs to plan, the next baby will arrive right before the fall semester but after summer school (yep, she's taking extra classes - and thinking double major.)

She a determined young lady, and stubborn. All my girls have some moxie, each in their own way.

Sometimes they get a little sideways though, and pick up the wrong measuring stick. They have to chart their own courses. Each is on a different path. One is a stay-at-home mom for now, until the kids are grown. One is pursuing a difficult degree - there are darn few women engineers. One is already on working to be an independent business woman.

Separate paths, just as Kristi and Scott choose when they dropped out of school to chase a dream. By a conventional measuring stick, the two Pentatonix singers were taking an enormous gamble because performing is such an uncertain venture.

Sometimes my girls need a reminder, but they get to choose their own lives, to define their own successes, and live with their mistakes. It all goes together.

And when you take measure of your life so far - make sure the measuring stick is the right size and shape. I have no illusions that my writing will ever be mentioned in the same breath as Hemingway or Fitzgerald or Vonnegut. It won't be a remunerative as Lee Childs or Grisham. But I have a few people that I want to write for, even if I don't make money from it.

Likewise, I won't ever be an electrical engineer. That daughter has already surpassed me in mathematics. The youngest is likely to be very, very good at her ventures because she's smart, and caring, and tough as heck when she needs to be. The eldest? Different dreams. She's already a great mom with great kids. When the kids are bigger, she'll probably return to school and work on becoming a great teacher, her early dream. Or she may choose a different path, now.

For each path, I have one piece of advice.

Make sure your measuring stick fits you.