Pre-Preview Post

It's been two long weeks since the PA state championships and the excitement of the fastest state championships in the courses brief history.

It's been cold, windy, rainy. It gets dark earlier. The high of the state championship is gone and it is replaced by a serious low: a month of training before the next meaningful race.

Training by yourself is hard, especially in these conditions. I've been training by myself out here on the island and the only thing that has kept me from staying in on the couch is the weekly thrill of racing.

So thankfully for PA national hopefuls, we have a 2 mile race this week that should give lots of PAs top talent something to look forward to during the cold winter training days.

This is the third time we have had a meet like this contested. Last year's event featured Jaxson Hoey, Tony Russell and Kevin James all in the top 3 spots. Ross Wilson, eventual footlocker finalist, was 4th and Chris Cummings was right behind him in 5th.

The meet also featured other key runners from Malvern Prep, Henderson, and O'Hara.

Two years ago was a truly fantastic race. Contested on the Henderson track, O'Hara and Henderson rekindled their epic rivalry in a 3200m battle that also featured some GFS runners (including future NXN qualifier Sami Aziz).

Aziz beat out Tony Russell 9:14 to 9:16 (lifetime bests for both men at the time). Jim Belfatto ran 9:22 at the start of his coming out party to set the O'Hara school record (which has been broken a bunch of times since).

Think about that, PRs and school records being run in November. Often times I have felt I was in my best 2 mile and maybe even mile shape (and in college 5k shape) during XC rather than track. This race at Henderson, weather permitting, should produce a few more PRs and maybe even some school records once more.

I believe Coach Kelly mentioned that he would give a preliminary entry list tomorrow (Monday) so I will hold off on predictions and in depth preview until tomorrow.

But I will say, I am very excited to finally watch some relevant races and get our first taste of pre nationals post states racing. I am thankful that Coach Kelly is willing to put this together and understands the importance of continuing to keep people motivated during this most difficult time of year.

And I am incredibly proud of all PA athletes who have been willing to sacrifice time in these difficult conditions to train hard in hopes of chasing their dreams and representing their state on the big stage.

Good luck to all. Talk to you tomorrow with some preview action.