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FLRC Newsletter - February/March 2005 |
| Tin Tin Larson (age 10) Goes to Junior Nationals | |
I went to the 2004 USATF National Junior Olympic Cross-Country Championships in Schaumburg, IL, in December 2004 and ran a 3K race. It was very surprising that I had qualified for the Junior Olympics, since I only started running in the summer. I was introduced to running at a fun run that FLRC organized at Buttermilk Falls (Tortoise & Hare Trail Run). Then I started training with IUTC (Ithaca United Track Club). During the fall, I began to love cross-country because it is so fun.
To get to the Junior Olympics, I had to run two qualifying cross-country races, both held on a very hilly and challenging course in Lansing. The first race that I did was the Association meet. That was really easy to pass- because I was the only girl in my age group! At the Regionals, there were 18 girls in the race. I came in eighth place and qualified for the Junior Olympics.
I traveled to Schaumburg by bus with my mom, my coach, and team (plus my teammates' parents). We had a poetry slam on the bus. We would write a poem and read it out loud in front of the team. The judges would grade your poem and if you won you would get a prize. I was too shy to do it, even though I love poetry.
We left Ithaca in the early morning. It was still dark when we left, but it gradually started to get brighter. We got to Chicago near six or seven pm. We stayed at Springhill Suites over night. The next day we went on a field trip to Fermi Lab, an accelerator laboratory. They talked about physics, and I think that no one except the grown-ups really got the stuff they were taking about. In the afternoon, we went to walk the racecourse in Busse Woods Forest Preserve. It was much more flat than the Lansing course. We practiced jumping over a lake of mud and I got wet. The course didn't look pretty at all. I guess I am being spoiled by the prettiness of the landscape here in and around Ithaca.
On race day morning I got up at about seven, pumped, ready, and excited. Once at the race site, I warmed up and started to get nervous. My race was the first of the competition, so that was pretty scary. The start was exciting. There were more than 250 girls in the race, so the starting line was really packed.
When the gun went off everyone started running. I don't think anyone went out running like the wind. But if you were away from the two trees that you had to go through, it would be a bit harder because you had to drift to that spot.
The hardest part of the race was the big lake of mud, which everyone had to jump over. It was about ankle high.
The finish, almost everybody went all out with what they had left in them. You had to really fight because there were a pack of girls going into the finish line together. After the finish there was a crowd of parents looking for their children, so it was a bit hard for me to find my mom. You would start to get really cold because of the winds, but hey, you were in the windy city.
The run was okay though. I enjoyed it out there.
My time was 13:22, which I think was OK, and I placed in the top half, 109 out of 255 finishers. I had a great time and enjoyed myself a lot.
I am really happy that I got to go to the National Junior Olympics. I think all that I had worked on really paid off. It was a great experience!
I must give a lot of thanks to all of the people who helped me get there, especially my parents and family, the FLRC, my coach and team, my mom's colleagues, and all of my friends and teachers who supported me.
This year my goal is to go to Nationals again. I want to try to improve all of my times. Like in the 5K and the mile. I really hope I'll make it.
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