Week 7

Congrats everyone on another good solid week.  It is tough to push all the way through the summer.  There are camps and activities, family vacations and reunions, and all sorts of other things pulling you away from practice.  But many of you are still getting your runs in and doing great things.
We want to congratulate Jessica Hill again for earning Track and Field Freshman of the Year honors for the entire state! A very well deserved honor for one of the top distance runners in Utah.  Jessica's win also shows a lot about this team... Our team and our friends and supporters really pulled together for Jess.  In the boys vote, it only took 30+ total votes to win.  We voted for Jessica around 3,500 times!  That says a lot about how much we care for each other on this team.

As we get ready for Week 7, a couple important things:

Let's get our minutes recorded!
For Week 5 we only had 19 of you record your minutes and of course that let to our lowest total team minutes for the summer.  We are challenging the team to set a new record with our Week 6 minutes - it was our biggest week of the season, so it should be easy; WE JUST NEED EVERYONE TO GO ENTER YOUR MINUTES... NOW!  And if you have missed any weeks up to now, go enter them in.  Remember, not only is this a requirement for camp, the bigger idea is that recording your minutes and logging your runs are two things that will make you take more responsibility for your own running, thus making you a better runner.
Please enter your Minutes for Week 6 here.

Also, some important info for High Altitude Camp.  On Monday, we we will be compiling the final list of who is going to camp and who has paid (more on that in a minute).  If you aren't going to be at practice for some reason, but are going to camp, make sure the coaches know (email or text us).  We also need to get rides finalized ASAP, so we are looking for parents who can give rides up and/or back from Cedar Mountain on Monday, July 31st and Thursday, Aug. 3rd.  Even if the coaches might have your name already, if you can help, please email or text and let us know what you can do.
Requirements for camp: $90 paid (if you haven't paid yet, we are setting up one more day with the finance office, hopefully this week); be consistently running at least Level 1 workouts (which means you MUST be coming to practice, with just a couple approved exceptions); and you are logging your minutes (so a bunch of you better get caught up on that!).
We are always in the need of large tents for camp, so if you have one let the coaches know.

And we also want to do a big push for everyone coming out to Tues. and Thurs. afternoon practices.  Each of those days we do weights at 3:00 (followed by a captains' message - which are always awesome), and then an optional short run.  Of course, some of you can't make it with afternoon schedules.  But many of you just aren't coming.  Now is the time to gain the strength you gain from weights, and it is the time to start building up a bit of acclimatization to the summer heat that we will have to deal with much more when school starts.

And finally, if you want a race for the 24th (we won't have organized practice that day), there are basically two options (semi-) locally.  Hurricane hosts a 5K which usually costs only a few cans and is a fun, flat and fast course.  Enterprise also has a great race with 5K and 10K distances.  Check either one of them out and get a good fast workout in!

Here's the outline for the week:

Monday - 6:30a long run.  Also making list of all those attending camp.

Tuesday - 7:00a practice followed by Running Club.  Afternoon practice at 3:00; weights, running, and captains' message.

Wednesday - 7:00a practice.

Thursday - 7:00a practice.  Afternoon practice at 3:00; weights and running.

Friday - 7:00a practice at Vernon Worthen Park (middle of St. George).

Saturday - on own or with your own group.

And now a final thought for a short discussion tomorrow:
"It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey the matters, in the end." Ursula K. LeGuin

Oh... we better catch up our Athletes of the Week for the past two weeks.
Jessica Hill, So. - well we already bragged a little about Jess, but she is awesome and has grown tremendously in the past year, and she has such a great attitude about all things in life.
Jenessa Finch, So. - Jenessa also has shown amazing improvement in the past year.  She finished the track season as one of the top Freshman 2 milers in the region and has continued to grow throughout the summer.
Scottie Bushar, Fr. - Scottie has been around our program for many years, and we are very excited for him to finally be a 9th grader.  He has transitioned to hs running very well and we expect big things from him for many years.
Josh Miraglia, Sr. - Josh is a great example of pushing yourself to be your very best.  Despite a very rigorous academic schedule, Josh has been a very dedicated runner and seen great improvements throughout his two seasons with the team.