9/9 update

Braves,

Hard to believe we are about halfway through the fall season, counting our summer program we are ¾ of the way done. We now have less than a month until the region meet and just over a month until state. We have 3 races remaining before region. Which means most of you have 4 races left in the year, while 14 of you will have 5, assuming we qualify for state at the region meet, which looks like will happen so long as we keep doing what we’ve been doing.

Once again the Murray Invitational was a huge success for our team. Our girls, who finished 13^th last year with around 350 points, were 5^th this year with about 150 points. That is a huge accomplishment, and it shows that our girls are one of the best teams in 5A. Being first in 5A last week, and second in 5A this week in a much larger race shows that we can compete with the best of them.

Our boys also had a strong day finishing one place higher than last year, which as a group is a great accomplishment considering 3 of our top 5 weren’t in the top 5 last year. Another coach pointed out how well we ran with a young group. I sort of forgot how young our team is, and how few seniors we have, because we have been racing like an experienced team all year.

Here is the link to the results: http://murrayinvite.com/results/

As human beings we often mentally set limits on ourselves that do not physically need to be there. These can take the form of excuses. Excuses are often made because we don’t want to accept responsibility of a bad workout or bad race in part because we feel that reflects badly on who we are as individuals and athletes. Maybe we are worried that a bad day is indicative of being a bad athlete, so we make excuses to spare ourselves feeling bad. The mistake is thinking that the outcome is the measure of who you are as the athlete or the person. In truth it is your effort that defines you. There is no need to make excuses for a bad day so long as you know you gave your best on the given day, and every day. Bad days, workouts, or races are going to happen, it’s the nature of the sport. Instead of allowing that the worry you or make excuses, let it motivate you to get back to work the next day. Moving forward, try to eliminate excuses by focusing on your effort rather than the outcome. Great effort each day will lead you to the best possible outcome.

Other mental limits are found in “I can’t” or “I don’t think I can” statements, or general self-doubt expressions. One unique challenge we face in XC is battling each day in practice against the same people, and racing familiar faces any given week. Sometimes this leads us to believe that someone who has typically been ahead of us in practice is automatically going to be ahead of us every day in practice, or someone who has beat us in a few races is guaranteed to beat us the next time. (This can work in reverse thinking that being ahead of someone means you will always beat them as well). This week, try to change the status quo in practice by challenging people who have been ahead of you, both in practices and in races.

This week we will be racing at Layton City park in the Davis District Championships. We will be facing off against every school in our school district (Syracuse, Clearfield, Northridge, Layton, Davis, Farmington, Viewmont, WX), the first 5 are 6A schools, and the other 3 are in our region. This is a great opportunity to see some great competition. The course is 2.75 miles, and is one of my favorite races of the year, because of the small size of the race, with quality competition.

3:30 pm - Junior Varsity Girls

  3:55 pm - Junior Varsity Boys

  4:20 pm - Varsity Girls

  4:45 pm - Varsity Boys

  5:10 pm - Alumni/Parent/Sibling/Friends of XC (2 mile)

  5:30 pm - Awards Ceremony at the Finish Line area

This is the only race of the week, and our next race will be the following Friday 9/21 in SLC.

The team dinner is on TUESDAY this week, due to the race on Wednesday, and will be at Anna Sophia’s home, 953 Eaglepointe Drive, North Salt Lake @ 7 PM. Please bring a side to share or $2 to help offset costs. Thanks to all who have hosted and to those who have gone, these have been fun events.

Thanks for all you do, let’s get back to work Monday and keep getting better.

The athletic director asked that I send the following information to our team. It is about an assembly on Monday evening at 7 PM in the auditorium.

"Especially for Athletes (“E4A”) is a movement designed to inspire athletes, and those with whom they associate, to maximize their athletic potential and to use their talents and social influence to assist and lift others. E4A is seeking to build a culture of athletes focused on changing lives through better use of the attention and influence that accompanies their position.

E4A provides education, training and motivational tools to inspire athletes to focus on doing more, and becoming more than just a great athlete. Schools, teams, youth organizations, and individual athletes are encouraged to become E4A certified and join the growing group of athletes of all ages and skill levels including college and professional athletes in committing to the E4A promise and wearing proudly their Eyes Up-Do the Work wrist band."

You can also visit the website - and view some of the videos that E4A has made in conjunction with this special assembly.