Milesplit Arizona Cross Country Journals
Runner number five is Steve Magnuson. Steve transferred to Ironwood Ridge in January of 2008 and due to transfer rules was unable to compete for the school until January 2009. After the high school season ended Steve's first race was the Nike SW XC Regionals. Two weeks later he traveled to Mt. Sac to compete in the Foot Locker West Regionals were finished 10th, earning a position on the National Team placing 24th. Steve has already won a few invitationals this season and along with being a great runner, he is also a great person with a wonderful attitude.
Steve Magnuson
(Sr., Ironwood Ridge)
Journal Entry #3 (October 31, 2009)
Hip hip hooray! Good news everyone, this journal’s only covering Mt. Sac, so it should be enjoyably short.
Mt. Sac: The weekend started at 7:45a on Friday when the team jumped on the Walnut-bound bus. Luckily I was able to score a very nice three-seat row located near the back that allowed me to sleep the ride away in extreme comfort.
Shortly after arriving at our hotel, we got back on the bus and drove over to the course. The team headed out for a short run and then settled down for a presentation of the Long Green Line, a documentary of York’s 2005 cross-country season. I was really pleased that my team and I got the opportunity to view the film, and kind of get an idea of what it takes to become the best. Following the film and a delicious dinner at a local Italian restaurant, we hit the hay early in preparation for the big day ahead.
Pulling up to Mt. Sac on race day is always a very exciting thing for me. Upon arrival, I was very pleased to find that I was just in time to watch Jessica run her race. Although I did not get the opportunity to discuss how she felt about her performance, I could see that she tried her best and had fun, which makes her a winner in my book. The race previous to mine also made a very interesting spectacle as Arcadia junior Ammar Moussa ran 14:34, missing the junior record by a single second. After the warm-up and all the introductions the race finally got under way. Although the first mile went out very controlled, I could tell my legs felt rather shaky. Discomfort is hard to deal with so early in the race, but I just couldn’t afford to let the day go to waste. I wish there was a good story to tell about those three miles I ran, but it was just a boring story of a boy who failed to put himself into the race. Later in the day, I was able to watch our freshman run very well and win their race. I was very impressed with their performance, and it looks like they are ready for the state meet!
Coming up: Regionals @ Buena 10/31. State @ Cave Creek GC 11/6.
Closing note: Margot Kelly drove all the way out to Walnut, CA and did a wonderful job covering the whole Mt. Sac invitational. Thanks for everything!
Go Heels!
Journal Entry #2 (October 21, 2009)
Photo on right: Steve having a little fun as he crosses the finish line at the Doug Conley Invitational in first place.)
I want to begin my journal by thanking Margot Kelly for everything she does. She puts so much work into this wonderful website. After visiting with her many times she has become a good friend and I look forward to seeing her at all the meets.
It has been quite awhile since I have last written, and so many exciting things have happened! So forgive the length, and enjoy…
Texas Visit: With the weekend off between meets, I decided to take my first official visit to the University of Texas at Austin. I was very fortunate to have my close friend Brian Shrader and my father join me on this trip. We all went into this trip not knowing what to really expect, but Texas did impress. The university really set the bar high and I knew leaving campus that I had a hard decision to make.
Ojo Rojo: It’s hard to say anyone on the team was looking forward to a second trip to Tumbleweed Park. With big meets like Queen Creek and Conley looming in the near future, it’s easy to say the third invite of the season went overlooked in the IRHS training plan. But the team was still able to scrape out a third place finish, and for that we considered the meet a success. I ended up running 16:14 on the 3.2 mile course that day. I was satisfied with the result because the run was more comfortable and 14 seconds faster than the previous visit.
Queen Creek Twilight: Everyone on the team knew October 2 was a big day for Arizona cross country. The rumors of fireworks, dance parties, and a possible hoe-down, got me excited to say the least. It seemed like every time I logged onto the forum, the school entry list grew. With Shrader, Sherod, Munoz, and many others in the race with us, I knew we were going to fly. It wasn’t until I finally arrived at Toka Sticks GC that my fantasies had come true. Mrs. Hardt was right when she posted prior to the race, “It is more than a race... it is an EVENT!!”
While warming up with the team, my spirits were slightly dampened as I trotted across the course. Not only did I discover that there was a last second change to the course that made it only 3 miles, but also that the course was extremely flat and fast. Not that either one makes a huge difference, but if there‘s anything I have ever taken from my past experiences, it’s that fast and flat fail to do my racing style much justice. When the gun went off, a nice little group formed at the front and immediately settled into pace. It was comforting to see that nobody was in a rush to finish the race, which allowed everyone to get quite comfortable. At around two miles I looked around and found myself in a group of 7 or 8 runners with a few shortly behind. With so many runners around me with only a mile to go in the race, I started to get a little antsy. So I took the lead thinking maybe Brian forgot we were racing, and not just out for an easy three. It seemed to work, because it was only two or three seconds before Brian took back his lead. Nothing but hard running happened until about 1K left where Montano (Catalina) tried to run away, but Brian once again snatched back his lead as if he were offended that it was taken in the first place. The last half-mile is history, everyone got stretched out and Brian ran away. My time was a little slower than I wanted, but I knew that it was a solid time for a race that started one mile out.
What’s really funny is that the twilight meet was only the beginning of my night…
North Carolina: Immediately following the twilight meet, Sherod Hardt, Brian Shrader, and I were rushed to the airport for our official visit to the University of North Carolina. After cutting it close in the terminal, we took off on our 11:30p flight to Atlanta. Once arriving in Atlanta, we had a 3-hour layover (naptime) until our plane took off to Raleigh. From there we rushed over to the football game where UNC was hosting Virginia at 12 noon. The three of us only made it to half-time before we asked permission to go pass out in the hotel room for a couple hours. That combination of events with the addition of the 3-hour time change, pretty much did us in for the rest of the weekend.
However, despite the severe drowsiness, I ended up having an amazing time in Chapel Hill. Coach Watson and the team showed me a really good time, and I had a ton of fun. During my 3-month tenure as a recruit, people would always ask who was on the top of my college list. Most of the time I would just say UNC hesitantly because I really liked a few things about the school, but I really wasn’t sure. Within 24 hours of being on campus, I was absolutely, 100% positive that I needed to be in Chapel Hill. Later in the weekend I was able to have a good conversation with my parents, and to my delight, they felt the same way. We all felt like UNC was everything that we were looking for in a university, and there was no reason to wait any longer to make a decision. As soon as I got home, I called Coach Watson to let him know I wanted to be a part of what he’s doing at UNC.
Doug Conley: After spending the entire week running around telling every living soul that I’m now a Tar Heel, the IRHS cross country team headed out to the Rolling Hills Golf Course for the Doug Conley Invitational. Needless to say, the course lived up to its name and proved to be extremely difficult. After watching the girls’ race, it was obvious that going out hard would pay its price in the end. Needless to say, when the gun went off for the boys’ race, I took my time getting out. The end result was a comfortable first place finish for me. As for the team, we would have liked to do better. We all know that we’re capable of finishing top five in any meet, so the 9th place finish was nothing to celebrate.
Coming Soon: Mt. SAC!! (10/24) I am super excited to see where I stand amongst the best in the west.
Closing Note: Visualization has been a key for me when it comes to reaching my goals. Running can get really tough at times and I need something to keep myself going mentally. It has always been easy for thoughts of slowing or quitting to creep through my mind during an intense workout or a 15 miler, but imagining myself hoisting the Footlocker trophy has always kept me going.
Entry #1 Introduction (September 29, 2009)
When I first sat down to complete this introduction journal entry, I was excited, because everyone knows how easy and fun it is to write about yourself. However, it didn’t take long for me to realize that this is no easy job at all. I went back to read the Milesplit journals by Zach, Tim, and the two Alexes during last track season, and they all set the bar very high for this year’s writers. So as far my journal entries go this year, I’m just going to have to try my best and have fun.
I guess it wouldn’t hurt to begin in the beginning…
Middle school was when I first started to mess around with running. Although there was no training done what so ever, I experienced moderate success in some little races, which I believe strongly contributed to my initial interest in the sport. It was the January of my 8th grade year that I decided that I wanted to take my running to the next level so that I could go into high school ready to contribute. Luckily my dad had run into former Olympic Marathoner Eddy Hellebuyck a couple weeks before at my middle school cross-country meet. I had my dad give Eddy a call and ask him if he would help me out for the next 7 months. From that first meeting in January 2006, my running career has been a blur. With the combination of my rapid improvement and me just having fun, it didn’t take me long at all to fall in love with the sport.
Fast-forward about three years…
Last track season was a disappointment for me. As soon as I got home from Footlocker, I set my bags down and headed out the door to begin my base for track. It was all going swimmingly until my kneecap had me sit a week in January and my Achilles basically forced me to throw away February. From there I went straight into workouts and races. I got pretty excited in the early season because it looked like I was going to make something out of this season after all. After running 9:08 at Arcadia, it looked as if I was still going to reach my only goal of the track season, which was to break 9. But when the flu hit during my region meet, it was just a little too late to recover.
Now to what I am really supposed to be talking about…
I was finally able to take that extended break the doctor ordered (literally). Because I am no fan of cutting short my base period, the last nine weeks I have been strictly sticking to the miles. Last year at this time I was right around 55-60 miles per week with the occasional 65, this year it hasn’t been a huge jump but I’ve consistently been over 70 miles.
Padre: Last weekend our team made the trip up to the Padre Invite in Kiwanas Park. Beside the fact that my legs were completely taken aback because I was having them go faster than a 6:30 mile, it went very smoothly and I was able to get a much needed mark in the sand. What really got me excited though was my team! It became obvious very early that our freshman were going to be studs eventually, but I have to say they have stepped it up quite nicely. They have answered the varsity call, and it looks like we will be in the running for a state crown this year.
Chandler: Year after year, the Chandler meet remains a favorite amongst our team. The first race of the day was for the freshman, and it went very well as we put three in the top ten. In the sophomore race, David Olson really stepped up (even though his training partner and Chandler Invite defending champion John Winfield was out) and took third. The toughest race of the day for us was the junior race, but Alex Odenkirk still ran a personal best, despite knowing that the outcome of the team’s success relied heavily on his performance.
Closing note…
Elite and professional runners will always contribute their success to the “little things”. If you have done the hard work you deserve to run fast, so make sure you give your fitness the chance. Dedicate yourself, eat right, sleep, and don’t be stupid. I hope you are all as excited as I am about the upcoming season. Good luck to everyone!