Sunday, September 28, 2008

CVNP - Do we love hills or what!!

Wow... Do we love hills or what!!?? Man, I can't even imagine running the CVNP course, you ALL are my heroes! It seemed like 4.9 kilometers of all up hill! For the difficulty of that course, you all did wonderful! With Abbie out 38.5 seconds from the second place girl and Meredith setting an all new PR. Way to go team.

I tell you one thing, when I watched you all finish down that hill, I could see ALL of you reaching deep down inside and pulling it from the gut. That's the way to do it.

I will tell you one other thing. I saw a friend of mine out there who's son runs for Lake Catholic (Go Cougars... sorry, I graduated from there). He said they were totally unprepared for the amount and difficulty of the hills that CVNP has. He also commented about Perry and how strong they looked. You know what? You need to thank your coaches for that. They train you hard, and I am sure there are time you resent Mr Sarvis or Mr Thomas for making you do hill repeats, and all of that stuff, but it makes you all the more better. Anyone can run on a flat piece of land. It takes a special team to train on insane hills and grow from it.

Also, please take a look at the web site. On the right hand side I have a poll asking for what song you want to see for the legends meet. I will take the number 1 song that wins (and maybe the number 2 song if I need an extra one). If you have any other suggestions, please send them my way.

Next up, the Legends meet. From what I understand, this is a flat course, but that doesn't mean to let up on the intensity of your training.

Running.
No timeouts, no substitutions,
no excuses. The only real sport!



Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Ideas for music

I am starting to run out of ideas for song choices for the slide shows. If you wouldn't mind commenting to this post with some ideas I would greatly appreciate it. Either that or you may e-mail me at johnvnelson@gmail.com

Thanks everyone!

GO HARRIERS!

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Strongsville Invitational

Pain, fear, struggle, "God please let me do it this time", excitement! When I look through my lens every weekend, I see the faces of hundreds of kids and that is what I see on their faces. And you know what? They are all heroes! How many of us can do those things that they do? The practice, the schooling, the homework, the race and everything in between!

This week, I saw so many kids give it their all! Look at the faces, look at the expressions. I know it was warm out, and I know it was a new course, but these kids all looked outstanding today. They all gave it their all. Some did outstanding, some came back from being injured, some were injured, and some were sad. The fact of the matter is, NONE OF YOU should be ashamed of how you did because you made all of us proud. You are AWESOME!!!

And as you are reaching that finish line, and you are saying to yourself "I can't do it! I don't have anything more in me!", reach down deep inside. Look for that fire within and give it more than your all. Cross that finish line in a blaze of glory and let the stands gasp and say you are animals!

Next up, CVNP.... let's run for the hills! See you there!

Pain is Temporary, Pride is forever!!

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Boardman Invitational

Holy mud butt's Batman!!  Wow, was it WET and MUDDY today, but our Harriers did awesome given the circumstances.  There were a few slips and wipe outs, but they all hung in there even during the torrential rain.

This was the type of race that the kids love to have (well, some of them).  Do you remember wanting to go play out in the rain when you were a little kid?  Well, that's what they got to do today.

The course was tight, packed with teams, and almost impossible to navigate due to the muddy conditions.  As each race progressed, the course got worse.  The last Harrier group to race was the girls varsity group and they by far had the worst conditions.  Extremely heavy rains, and a field of mud to run on.  Not the ideal situation to do a PR.  That doesn't matter though, because all the teams had the same circumstances to deal with.

This was a huge race too.  In the boys varsity, there were 39 teams competing.

All in all, you can be proud of your Perry Pirate Harriers.  They did an OUTSTANDING job!!

Next up, Strongsville on Sept. 20th.  I better see you there!

Don’t worry, you’ll pass out before you die






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Monday, September 8, 2008

Walsh Tomahawk Run

Wow! The times just keep on coming down. BJ, Nick and Ally set three new PR's this week, as did a number of the kids on the Perry team. Abbie Clifford had an amazing race for the girls varsity and finished 1st overall and she was a whole minute and one second faster than the 2nd place girl with a time of 18:31.

Ally stepped it up this week too and finished 18th overall with a time of 23:08 in the Open/JV class. Nick broke the 20 minute barrier and finished at 19:46. BJ came so close to breaking the 20 minute barrier but finished at 20:06. We are confident he will achieve his goal at the next meet as he keeps shaving time off each week. C'mon BJ... run like a rabid Pit Bull with AIDS is chasing you. We know you can do it.

It was great to see this week so many kids break out and achieve such great results. Time & time again we saw on these athletes’ faces that they had pushed beyond physical & emotional limits, endured knee-buckling pain and emerged better for having made the effort. Way to go Perry! We are so proud of ALL OF YOU!

Next week the team will be at Boardman.

Trample the dead, hurdle the weak!


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Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Mentor Cardinal Classic

Good morning Harrier fans! The Cross team did an outstanding job this past weekend. The Ladies teams took 2nd, 3rd, and 3rd in the Varsity, JV and Open classes respectively. The guys took 6th, 5th and 8th.

Ally had a great race and shaved 22.58 seconds off of the Berkshire race for a race time of 24:12.47. She was 26th overall and got a ribbon accordingly.

Nick and BJ did good too. Nick drafted off of BJ for almost the entire race, and then the two of them decided to have a sprint for it at the very end. I think because BJ was leading the entire race, Nick had saved up some energy at the end and was able to overtake him. Nick's time was 20:39.04 and BJ's was 20:41.31. The irony of the whole this is last year, BJ and Nick also finished just as close, but BJ came in before Nick. Regardless, they both improved their times considerably this year over last, by reducing their time by 2 1/2 minutes each!! This just goes to show the determination that all these kids have!

At the next meet I think BJ is going to hit his goal of sub 20 minutes!! Let's see you do it BJ... we know you have it in you. Just remember, that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Keep those nice smooth long strides and work your ladder and you will do it.



Way to go Perry!! Next stop, Walsh Jesuit which is down near Stow Ohio. I hope to see you there!

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