Mckee is a senior at Kents Hill School where she has been a standout XC runner, winning the NEPSTA Division IV Championship title in 2014. She has a 5k personal best of 18:59.40, follow her this fall as she looks to stay healthy and run fast.
Hey all! For those of you who don't know me, my name is Anne McKee and I run for Kents Hill School. As a senior (gasp!) this year, I thought it might be fun to start this blog to catalogue training, races, and various other senior year endeavors.
Running is something very special to me, as I have spent much of my life on the roads and trails. After discovering ball sports were not really (well, not at all!) my thing after elementary school, I decided to follow in the footsteps of my family and many relatives and join the cross country team. From that year on, I grew to fall in love with the sport. There is something about the countless miles, race day jitters, and overwhelming team camaraderie that makes cross country simply amazing. Although track has its own special perks, it will never come close to how much I cherish XC. Not to mention the fantastic running community Maine has!
This summer has been fairly busy for me as I have attended a few music camps for violin. I've been playing violin for just over 13 years now and am as passionate about music as I am about running. For a few weeks in July, I was at a music camp in Vermont, where I could run all along beautiful country roads around a lake and through mountain valleys. Extremely hilly, but well worth it considering the gorgeous landscapes. I'll also be going off next week to Green Mountain Running Camp for my third year! It is always fantastic to be surrounded by hundreds of kids who love cross country.
Needless to say, I'm pretty pumped for the season! My summer training has been going very well. I've gotten up to just around 45-50 miles a week while doing a bunch of double days. If any of you haven't tried them, they're the best way to build mileage and you feel really great! Along with regular base building miles, I've been doing quite a few tempo runs, hill workouts, track work for turnover, and some longer runs. Summer road races have also been a blast and really great workouts. I love the way they bring people of all ages and abilities out - it's really an amazing thing to see people finish the race and meet their goals! Because I nordic ski in the winter, strength and conditioning for the winter is vital in the summer, so I have been spending quite a few hours in the weight room and on roller skis. Although balancing the two sports is difficult, it is well worth it as I love to do both!
Running on the cross country at Kents Hill is a little different than other schools, as my school isn't allowed to compete in states or regionals or conference meets (sob, sob). Instead, we compete in a very small private school league with Hyde, Gould, Seacoast Christian, and Hebron. Although it is limited in numbers (our championship meet was no more than 30 girls), it gives us the opportunity to race in some out of state invitationals like Manchester Invitational in NH and Brown Invitational in RI (even flatter than Belfast!). We also have our own version of New Englands which is usually out of state as well, racing against a ton of private schools from all over the East coast. And of course, we compete in Festival of Champions every year, always a highlight! Since there are many boarding students at my school (I am a day student), we don't start our preseason till the beginning of September, which is quite a long time if you ask me! I can't wait to get the team back together. We look to have a really strong girls team this year and are looking to defend our New England Prep title.
After a disappointing season plagued with injury last year, I'm looking to redeem myself this year! As cross country is much about place rather than time, I'd really like to perform well in the big meets. Timewise, I'd really like to go deeper in the 18s, maybe even sub-18:30. But above all, I want to finish each race with no regrets. Yes, sounds cliche, but there is quite a bit of truth in it. Whether it be sticking with the leaders up a big hill, passing people on the homestretch, or even controlling my first mile (so it's not like a minute faster than I should be going!), I want to be both smart and gutsy in my tactics. I firmly believe that a major part of racing and running in general is mental. In order to reach an ambitious goal, you must push yourself harder than what is seemingly imaginable.
Here's a favorite quote from one of the all-time greats, Sir Roger Bannister.
"The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful will win." -Sir Roger Bannister
Happy summer running everyone See you on the trails!
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