Chip Off the Old Bolck

Well I've waited for a while to post this, but after yesterdy I couldn't wait anymore. I was a pretty good runner in H.S., with PR's of 4:26 for 1600m, 2:01 for 800m and 16:30 for 5K Cross Country. But I think my daughter might end up blowing me out of the water.This is her first year running cross country, and last night she ran her conference meet, and ended up in 4th place overall with a 4K time of 16:23. Her school ended up winning the team title too! She has basically gotten better as the season went on, and really only ran one bad meet where she got a sideache and still ran 16:40. I have deliberately stayed away from trying to coach her, b/c she really loves running and I didn't know how she'd react to her Dad telling her what or how to do something (She's at that age where her dad is really stupid). The only thing I told her before this race was that it was a really hilly course, and don't worry about your time, just think about the place (top 8 finishers were All-Conference). She responded by running a 9 second PR on a way harder course than before!Her coach told my wife last night after the meet that she really thinks the sky is the limit for her (she's a freshman who just turned 14 in June), and said if she gets more serious during practices (she basically goofs around and doesn't really push it during workouts), she could contend at state in the coming years. I do know that girls running ability can change as they develop, and that's another reason I've pretty much decided to stay on the sidelines and let what happens happen.She has one more meet this year for the team (district Sectional meet - very unlikely that she or the team would make it to state), and I'm toying around with the idea of having her run the Junior Olympic CC meet. The State JO meet is two weeks after their season ends, and if she finishes in the top 20 in the 13-14 AG, she would qualify to run in the National meet in Kansas on December 8. Last year only 22 girls ran in the state meet, so she'd almost for sure make the qualifying standard. We talked about it once, b/c she went to Suzy Favor-Hamilton's running camp and she knows Suzy ran the Foot Locker CC championships. She seemed intrigued, but again, I don't want to push it. None of her teammates are likely to run, b/c they'd be in different AGs running different distances and have other committments like basketball, Show Choir, etc. So she'd have to train by herself (running with dad is so not cool...)

As for me, today was the 3rd run, post-marathon. Ran 44 furlongs on my 44th birthday. Felt fine, with no leg soreness and only a little bit of left knee pain.