Monday, May 25, 2009

Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day Weekend means a couple of things:

* The end of track season - it's been great, but it's always great to catch your breath for a month or so until starting back up for XC.

* The start of summer - it's BEAUTIFUL outside. I have to remind myself that school's not over yet and I need to finish strong.

* The Kevin Gatons Memorial 5k - A 5k in honor of Beth's former HS coach who passed away while at the state meet in 2006.

The State Meet was great. Ben & I drove up together Friday morning. I snapped a few photos with my phone, so they're not the best, but they capture the day:

A shot of the grandstand. It always seems like we end up with a beautiful day in Shippensburg for the meet.

Natalie Bower from Latrobe in the Mile Prelims. She won the mile on Saturday, her first PIAA Championship after a decorated XC and Track career. Now, she's off to Penn State to run for the Nittany Lions.

Baldwin's TJ Hobart in the Mile Prelims. He medaled at WPIALS in the 4x800, 4x400, 1600, and 800.

Samantha Schwabenbauer of Keystone HS near Clarion. She's the cousin of Kim's husband, Kyle. Samantha was impressive. At states, she competed in the 100, 300H, 200, and Javelin. That's right, javelin. In fact, she medaled in the jav.


Two from Lebo--Evan Schardt in the 400 and Kayleigh Birks in the 200. Also, our 4x100 girls and 4x400 guys were there.

As for my endeavors today at the Gatons 5k, I ended up with the same time as last year--18:08. This surprised me as I didn't think I was in the same shape as last year coming off the ankle issue back in February & March. I'll take it.

Here's how it played out--mile 1 I went out WAAAAAAAAAY to fast--5:23. Oops. And I thought I was just feeling a little fatigue in my legs because I hadn't run much. Mile 2 (with the hill) was 5:58, and mile 3 was 6:07 with the 0.1 in around 40 seconds. But, all in all a fun day and a good way to lead me into my summer training.

Finally, here's an article about my dad and his kidney donation to Bob. Bob and his wife were over at my parents' house today for Memorial Day. Bob's looking stronger every day. Here's the picture from the article.
Happy Memorial Day to all and thank you to all who have served our country.

2 comments:

m said...

You sure pack a lot into a blog post! Congrats on a fast 5k even though you haven't been training as much.

Wendy said...

Hey and CONGRATS on being 1st male in the 0 and Under category! :o)