I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
The New England Championship went well for many people. I achieved my goal by coming in the top 25! I was happy with 13th and my time of 16:17. I do; however, think I could have ran faster and placed higher if I had gone out slower. Last year at the New England meet, I got boxed in and had to jog for a portion of the race. I didn’t want to leave any chance of me getting boxed. So, I ran very hard from the start and I moved up to the front. I think I was in 4th and 5th for a little bit. After a first mile in 4:50, I was passed by ten or so people. I knew I was slowing down throughout the race, but I never fell back past 15th. In the final stretch I out sprinted two guys and barely kept a ton of people behind me.
Since I opted out of doing the Footlocker race a second time (I wanted to end my xc career on a high note and the drive is very long), high school xc is over for me. As I think back over the four years, my team championships, individual triumphs, and many cool people I have met come to mind. I am glad to be an xc runner from the state of Maine. It was an awesome four years.
“You have to wonder at times what you’re doing out there. Over the years, I’ve given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement.” I think this quote by Steve Prefontaine is a huge reason of why distance running is a great sport to partake in. On those cold championship mornings we celebrate the hard work and dedication of all athletes. Training harder and smarter combined with racing harder and smarter will allow athletes to improve. Improving and running PRs are probably the greatest parts of cross country in my mind.
As for the future, I have applied to Colby College ED1 and hope to attend (obviously). I urge all of you MaineXC followers to get a jump start on the college search and apply early! I am excited to see where seniors end up heading off to.
A big thank you to my mom and dad for putting up with me all these years, you should thank yours too. Also, thanks to other family, teammates, friends, and the running community.
Congrats to Matt M. Footlocker, Nationals is a huge deal!
Chase Brown
