9/8/24 - Great Glen
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With the way the weather is every year at Great Glen, you may think Mt. Washington is in the Banana Belt of New Hampshire. I don’t believe that it has ever rained or been anything other than perfectly beautiful weather every year. The only true obstacle of the day is the 6:30 am bus departure, which everyone made on time save our junior speedster, Lily. She is someone who would never miss a meet were it up to her - sprained ankle? She’ll run with a limp. Two sprained ankles? She’ll run with TWO limps! So we know that whatever illness beset her over the weekend she also probably had 4 extra large Asian Elephants sitting on all her limbs to keep her from escaping. With Lily off for the day that opened up a spot in Varsity, which Kendra filled leaving Jessi, Emma, and Raven as the only ones to toe the line for the first race of the day.
Jessi finished strong, cutting a minute and a half off her time from three days earlier and placing 22nd of the 39 runners. Raven and Emma ran together the entire race, with Emma putting together a terrific kick to win the intra-team battle, with both runners taking almost 2 minutes off their first race.
The varsity race was sent off on the trails at 11:15 with 7 complete teams and several incomplete teams, with a field of 60 runners. The girls looked well-rested and composed, each running strong races highlighted by a strong comeback race from Kendra, and a determined race by Reagan who wasted no time in establishing herself as a top-5 runner on the team from the start. Maddy was the top finisher, placing 15th and taking over a minute off her time from Coe-Brown. Reagan breezed across the line next, taking yet another minute-plus off her PR. Let’s go sub-25!! Kendra crossed as our third runner in a great comeback race that earned her the “Awesome Award”, while the winner of Coe-Brown’s Awesome Award, Nicole, was the 4th runner on the team, also taking a minute off her time. Somewhere in the mix around there was the rugged runner of the day, Emily, who took a solid spill about two miles into the race but managed to get up and gut out the last mile on a twisted ankle. Her results were somehow missed on the official sheet, but we know she ran awesome! Keira and Tessa, both a little banged up from practice, were the next to cross, both managing to run under 30 minutes.
Despite being a little beat up and shorthanded, the girls still placed 6th and had a very solid showing. A non-running highlight of the day was a surprise visit from Emmaleigh and Anna (MVXC ‘22), who both made the long drive up to cheer on their former teammates. After a late lunch at Jersey Mikes/Five Guys/Dairy Queen, it was back home to rest, recover, rehydrate, and get ready for our next adventure on Tuesday at Souhegan - the Horse Farm race!