Follow North Yarmouth Academy senior Hannah Austin during her senior xc season. Austin was the Class C state xc runner-up a year ago, and returns as the individual favorite to win the Class C title this fall. While she is small in stature she certainly makes up for with her grit & determination on the course.
Hello everyone! I hope you are all enjoying your last couple weeks of summer! I don’t know about you, but I thought it seemed to go by a little too fast! It seems like only a week or two ago that school got out and I was finishing up my last couple track meets of junior year!
My summer started off great with a PR at the New England Championships for outdoor track. This meet was a great experience. Not only were there awesome tye-dye t-shirts and comfy sweatshirts (both of which I bought!), it was amazing getting to race against some of the best girls in New England! Even though I was in the slow heat and seeded last, I was still up against some really talented girls. My main goals for the race were to run a new best time and to place better than I was seeded. I met both goals, and overall ran a race I was really happy with, so it was a great way to end my track season! After New Englands, I took about a week and a half completely off from running. Though it felt nice to take a little break, I was more than ready to get back into running by the end of it! Most of my summer training involved easy running and gradually increasing my weekly mileage. I also went to two cross country camps, the Slovenski Cross Country Camp and Acadia Running Camp, both of which were tons of fun! I got to run and hang out with some of the best runners in Maine, which was awesome! In addition, both camps were in beautiful locations. The Slovenski Camp was right on Panther Pond in Raymond, and the Acadia Camp was on Mount Desert Island! Aside from running, there were other fun activities that we did at the camps, such as swimming and various games. It was great to be able to run with other people; aside from the camps I did most of my summer running alone. I also ran the Beach to Beacon 10k for the first time, which was really fun, though I didn’t like the long bathroom lines or the crowded starting line! There were a lot of other Maine runners who were also running the race, and it was cool to race with them. Aside from running related summer activities, I went on a few family trips and had an exhausting job for three weeks of the summer, which were thankfully spread out. Though my summer was pretty busy, I was able to get in almost all of the training I needed to, which I am happy about!
This all seemed to pass in a blur and now preseason is starting! It was nice to see the members of my team again, some of whom I hadn’t seen since school ended. We went on an easy 3.5 mile run around my school. Afterwards, we ate cheesecake brownies that I made! We’re probably going to have around 10 girls this season, which may seem small to many people, but it’s a good number considering the size of our school! Besides, I feel like a smaller team of runners grows closer together throughout the cross country season than a larger team would! I am really excited to spend lots of time with my team this season, they are an amazing group of girls!
It is hard for me to believe that I’m entering my senior year of high school running, that I only have one more year left, and one more season of cross country as a high-schooler. Though I had success during my junior cross country season, there were definitely many disappointments as well, as I know there may have been for everyone at one time or another. I feel like I have learned from this however, and I’m ready to make my senior year of cross country my best, most memorable cross country season yet! This season, I would really love to keep improving on my 5k time, run many races I can be proud of, and above all, have fun! I want to look back on this season knowing that I put in the absolute best effort I could, and had a great time doing it!
Hopefully all of you runners reading this had a great first day of preseason, and that you’re all excited for upcoming cross country season, it’s going to be awesome!
~ Hannah