More Winter Racing News and Track is Here!

Once again, Pirate runners were spotted at a local trail race this weekend. The Castlewood Cup 15K trail run was full of challenging climbs and shoe stealing mud (ask Sean about that). Despite temps in the upper 20s, the warmth of full sunshine made for very enjoyable running weather and thawing of otherwise frozen trails. The race was not as muddy as the sectional race lat year, but the footing was definitely rough and energy sucking over much of the trail.

Sean Z and Sofia G both made the best of the day capturing age group places. Sean was 1st in the men's 14-19 age group and Sofia was 2nd in the women's 14-19 group. Nice job to our runners for outstanding racing in a tough and long race. I was also racing, so I don't have a lot of pics. However, the Big River Running website promises to post race pics soon and did an excellent job last year. So watch here for more: http://www.bigriverrunning.com/

While I'm on the topic of winter running, I have one other announcement that needs to be made. Please congratulate teammate Jon E. for his age group win of the Marathon Sports Snowball series. That's right, not just one race, but the whole series. Nice Job Jon!

Finally, March is here and with it is Track. Good luck to all of you this season and I'll be sure to make it out to at least a couple meets to cheer you on. The Track season will go fast and I'll be bugging you about XC stuff before you know it. Enjoy the change of venue, variety, and training Track offers to your running career while it lasts. Watch here for Cross Country announcements and season info in May.

Run hard and smile!

Coach F

Mud N Gutz

What do cross country runners do in the winter? This morning 4 pirate runners were spotted racing through the hills and mud of Jefferson Barracks park in the Mud N Gutz 8k cross country race. I think they even enjoyed the goose-bumply temps in the high 30s and the nearly constant rhythm of icy cold rain while they sloshed through spongy fields and mud puddles.

I'd highly recommend putting this race on your calendar next year. Everyone I saw seemed to be having a great time in weather that most people would describe as unfit for outdoor enjoyment. Heck, one runner (not one ours) even successfully proposed to his favorite runner girl as they finished the race. Now that's some running love.
Nice job Pirate runners. Way to "seize the day"!

Olympic Inspiration

The opening ceremony for the 2010 Winter Olympics is this friday. Personally , I look forward to the Winter Olympics as much, if not more, than the summer olympics. The only problem is, much like the summer olympics, the network coverage seems to get on stuck on a few events and all but ignores others. Cross Country is an example of one of those rarely covered sports. Yeah, you know our kindred spirit - winter sport of cross country skiing. These folks are serious fitness monsters and deserve much more air time than they are given by the tele. Since this is a 'cross country ' blog I've come across a cool video clip to share with you. Robel Teklemariam is a cross country skier and Ethiopia's only athlete in the 2010 Winter Olympics. Listen carefully for his source of inspration and also notice how he gets in his aerobic training. Apparently a little thing like a lack of snow doesn't keep a dedicated athlete from training for their sport. Hmmm....is there a lesson here?
Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDKbKvJLUEk

Enjoy your runs! Track season is approaching..
Coach F