Milesplit Arizona Cross Country Journals
The second runner this week is Brian Shrader from Sinagua. Brian has only been running a short while but he has definitely made his mark on Arizona. With multiple state championships and an 11th place finish at Foot Locker Nationals last year, Brian heads into his senior year with some pretty amazing accomplishments!
Brian Shrader
(Sr., Sinagua)
Journal Entry #3 (November 22, 2009)
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Wow this season has been flying by so fast! With the regional meet and state meet over with it really made me realize how quickly my senior year is going. Luckily I've been able to enjoy my season even though it is probably one of the more stressful and busier ones. Teammates like Dillin Hatch make sure they keep everything fun and make sure I don't get too serious out there!
The first step towards a 3rd State Championship started at the Grand Canyon Region meet at Buffalo Park here in Flagstaff. Anything could have happened, from a bad cramp to dehydration, so I was sure to still be ready for this race. But mostly, my main goal was helping my team. We have (I believe) the hardest region in the state. With Mingus, Page, and Flagstaff, you'll never be short of competition. My main competition was Wilson Cutbirth from Mingus and he ran a great race! I won with Cutbirth in second and my teammate Dillin Hatch in third. So it was up to the rest of my team to get us to the state meet. We all ran a very tough race. No one was looking at us at all and we almost pulled the upset to get to Cave Creek golf course. We missed 3rd place by 1 point. This was really hard for all of us to swallow but we knew we left everything on the course so I couldn't ask more from my team. So my sophomore year we missed state by 1 point, junior year 7 points, and this year 1 point again. We were always so close! But Dillin and I couldn't dwell on how close we were for too long as we had State in 7 days.
As Dillin and I arrived at the state meet the championship atmosphere was immediately evident! Even though it was a big meet we took it as any other race. We did our stretching, our warm up, and our drills and strides. One thing that we knew would be a tough factor for us was the heat. Just the week before we were doing a workout in at the highest 30 degree, white out snow conditions. And now we were about to race in the 90 degree heat. It was also weird for me without Tim Freriks or Sherod Hardt to race. So from the gun I took control of the race. I tried going out comfortable because I knew the heat would come in play eventually. From what I remember I went through the mile in about 4:45, maybe a few seconds slower. I felt great at that point and wasn't working too hard. It was just Jose Luis Munoz from Rio Rico with me and he wasn't about to make it easy for me! I made a bit of a move around the 1.25 mile mark. Jose dropped back a bit and I continued to push the pace. As I crossed the 2 mile mark in 9:45 it made me realize how far I've come. My first ever 3200 I ran 9:44 and here I was going through a 5k at the same pace. I knew it'd be a pretty quick time if I just held pace. The heat did get to me around 2.5 miles so I let the pace slip a bit. I finished in 15:15.89 which was just a split second slower than last year. I'm very happy with the result since last year was the coolest race and Tim Freriks was doing all of the pace work until the very end. So I got a lot of confidence that my fitness is the highest it's ever been! What excited me was seeing Dillin Hatch come in 5th place! He's been putting in a lot of work and it's great to see everything pay off! One thing that my coach noticed was that out of the top 4 teams in 4A-DII, 3 of them came from the Grand Canyon Region. (Mingus 1st, Flagstaff 3rd, Page 4th) This showed us that my team would have fared pretty well if only we could have gotten in!
I wish we could get a format like California where the State Championship is really a race between everyone in the state. We have so many great runners in this state and I don't think any of us actually got to race each other. And like many other people, I think it's ridiculous that we're running races in the hottest part of the day. When we're pushing our bodies to limits in that heat, something's gotta give. But overall it was once again a great meet!
After the meet I went on an official visit to The University of Oregon in Eugene. And wow! I couldn't believe some of the stuff up there! The team was really fun to hang out with and the coaches were really nice too. It was raining the whole time and I think I only saw the sun for a total of 10 minutes the whole time up there! But I had a great time and hopefully I'll be able to choose where I'll be going pretty soon!
For now I'm continuing to train hard for Foot Locker. I won't be racing at NXN SW but I might end up going down there to see some great racing! Congratulations to everyone at the State Meet and good luck to everyone continuing their season! I'll be sure to write another journal to let you guys know how everything is going heading into Foot Locker West.
-Brian
Journal Entry #2 (October 28, 2009)
Hello everyone! First off, I want to say I'm sorry for not writing this in such a long time. Things have been really busy but I'll try to update you on how my season is going and how the recruiting process is looking!
My first big meet and test was the Queen Creek Twilight Invitational. I was really excited about this meet not only for the competition but also because of the race being at night and of the amazing atmosphere! I knew this would be a fun race with Steve Magnuson, Sherod Hardt, Jose Luis Munoz, Ryan Yazzie, among others. Going into the race I really wanted to get a fast time and of course get the win. The course was really flat so I knew there would be a lot of people in the front and it wouldn't be easy to string out the pack. At the start I got out hard to get in good position and I stayed relaxed for as long as I could. The Catalina Foothills Dylan Souza and Rex Woodbury took charge of the pace and I tucked in right behind them. Then at about the mile mark I shared the lead with Sherod and we continued to run pretty relaxed. At about this time I started to really realize how hard it was to see at some points during the night race! I looked at the shadows and there was still a big group and no one seemed to be very tired. I especially knew everyone was doing fine when Steve started making jokes with Sherod that, "Now that it's dark, let's get Shrader's achilles!". That sure makes you feel good when you're trying to run a fast hard 3 mile and at mile 2 Steve is still joking! A move that really surprised me was from Alejandro Montano about 1000 meters out. I knew it was a strong move so I went with him and I made my move with about 900 or 800 meters out. From there I just held form and ran about 14:24 which I was really happy with! I strongly suggest people go to this meet in the future. It was definitely a memorable experience!
I also ran the Thunderbird Invitational which was a fun meet once again. I took it out what seemed was a pretty good pace. Being from Flagstaff where it's in the 60's everyday, the 100 degree weather put it's toll on me! I ran comfortably the entire time and was happy with the result and how I felt. I sure hope the weather will be cooler for State in a couple of weeks!
I am being careful with not over-racing this year because I know it's a long season! I've been training really hard and have been getting in great shape! I am really looking forward to getting in another fast race and seeing where my fitness level is at. One good thing about not racing every weekend is that it keeps you very excited for races. I'm having a lot of fun at every meet and through the journey towards Foot Locker!
The recruiting process is going well for me too. I have gone on visits to The University of Texas and The University of North Carolina so far. Both of these were really fun trips! With how I liked the colleges, teams, and coaches they're setting this up to be a very tough decision! After the State meet I am going on a visit to The University of Oregon, which I am very excited about! I am also still going to visit The University of Arizona and possibly others. This is going to be a very difficult choice but I really hope I'll get that gut feeling and know where I'm supposed to be.
With the State meet coming up I'm sure everyone is getting excited. There is nothing like the atmosphere of a championship meet! It will be fun going for my 3rd State Championship but it will definitely be different than from the past two years when I had Tim Freriks and Sherod to race. The competition is still there with Jose Luis Munoz and Alejandro Montano though so I know they are going to be putting up a tough fight. It's weird that it's my last Cross Country meet in a Sinagua uniform! I hope that everyone has fun in these last weeks of Cross Country! So good luck to everyone! I will hopefully see you guys there!
Entry #1 Introduction (September 21, 2009)
Hello everyone, I'm Brian Shrader and I'm a senior at Sinagua High School up in Flagstaff Arizona. I was born and for the most part raised in Flagstaff. Growing up I always loved playing sports. I played them all; baseball, basketball, football, soccer, you name it I probably tried it. I was always pretty good at everything but never stood out at all. After playing football in the fall of my freshman year I decided to give track a try in the spring instead of baseball. It turns out that was a very good decision! Not only did I have a natural talent for running, but I absolutely fell in love with it. I was completely new to the sport and was learning everyday. This is my third year of running cross country and I've never been more excited about running!
Over the summer I got back to the basics and really just had fun running everyday! My coach, Bo Reed, taught me that there are times to train and there are times to simply run. So whenever I could I would ditch the watch and run free. It sounds funny, but running without worrying about time, pace, or distance might be one of the most enjoyable experiences. These are the times that you are reminded of why you run. Flagstaff is one of the best places you could ever imagine for a runner. Endless soft trails, highs of mid 80's, oh and 7000 feet altitude! I'm spoiled growing up here because it can't get much better than this!
Going into the season and my first race I was really excited. My only goal for the Peaks Invitational was to run controlled in the beginning and push it hard towards the end. I guess we were just trying to see what kind of shape I was in. I was hoping to get under 17 minutes (The course is pretty hilly and put in the 7000 ft elevation and it's as hard of a course as you can find). During the race I felt awesome! I've never felt that controlled and strong in such an early meet. I ran 16:12 and I was ecstatic! Billy Orman and Jorge Martinez also both got under 17 minutes and that is such an accomplishment on that course! The fans at the meet were awesome too. They cheered for us the whole time and it was one of the more crowded and loud cross country meets I've been to in Arizona! Some people even asked for my autograph and a picture which was new to me. I really felt privileged to do that for anyone! It's really nice to have fans wherever I go in the state and for people to cheer me on. I couldn't thank you guys more!
So it looks like this is going to be a great year for Arizona distance runners! All over the state there are awesome runners running really fast times. If we all keep working hard and stay healthy I have no doubt that we can have numerous runners at Nationals. I'm having a great beginning to my senior season and I'm having a lot of fun on the way! I hope all of you have fun on the journey too. Good luck to everyone with their running and school! I'm looking forward to seeing what this season has in store for Arizona!
- Brian