Arizona CC Journals - Will Firth

 Milesplit Arizona Cross Country Journals  

Will Firth is having a great start to the 2010 cross country season with 2 big wins so far.  Three weeks ago Will won the Sole Sports Invitational, followed by a win at the Ray Wherely Invite and last weekend he took the title at the George Young Invitational.  Will looks strong as he crosses the line at each race and is looking forward to a great finish to his prep running career.   Keep checking back and discover Will's great sense of humor as he journals about his season.

 

Will Firth

(Sr., Brophy College Prep)

 

Journal Entry #1 (September 22, 2010)

Introduction 

 

 

 Hello fellow Milespliters! I hope you read these words in good health. This is indeed the running journal of Will Firth. Now, perhaps you navigated here by your own will, or perhaps you are here by accident. Whatever the case may be, I hope that you will find me interesting enough to stick around. 

 

(Photo right: Will Firth winning the Sole Sport Invitational with Tommy Williams a few meters behind.)

 

With that being said, I would like to introduce myself. On my birth certificate my name reads: William Joseph Firth IV, however, just recently, on my 18th birthday to be exact, I was given a card by my grandmother explaining how my real name is William Joseph Firth VI, not IV. You can imagine my distress. It is not every day you learn that your whole life has been a lie. However, luckily for you, I long ago began introducing myself as simply, Will Firth, so do not fret over whether you should address me as my birth certificate reads or by my true, recently acquired, identity. I was born right here in the ol’AZ, 18 years ago on the 6th of July and have resided in this hot box ever since.  I am one of the many in the Firth Family’s long standing tradition of sending their boys to Brophy College Preparatory. This year I embark on the final chapter of my high school career, seniors ’11, woohoo!

 

I have not always been the stunningly handsome runner you see around at meets. I used to be the stunningly handsome tennis player you saw at tournaments. You see, I have always been stunningly handsome; it is the running that came later. In my early days I was a tennis player for two reasons. Reason # 1, I was forced into by my mother because she wanted to have someone to play with. Reason # 2, I was just too darn fragile to play any sort of contact sport. So I swung a racket for a few lengthy years, just running cross-country as training for tennis, not taking it very seriously. And then came my freshman year and I realized I actually had a knack for running. I was at a cross road in life, to whack a ball or to run with the wind, what to do? Some of you might have been at a position in your life where you have to choose between two things you love. Well, it was not like that for me. I was ecstatic that I finally found a way to quit tennis for good. So I hung up my racket and thus began my running journey.

 

My first three years of high school running I conquered some great achievements, but, unfortunately, I also had my fair share of disappointments. “A freshman is like a dumb horse,” my coach always says, “they just go out and run without pressure or a care in the world.” This would be me my freshman year. I was still just running as if training for tennis. I did not care how well I did and neither did my coach. I was just a dumb horse. This is part of the immense success I had my first year of high school running. The feeling of doing something you love just because you can is so easy to loose and so hard to get back.  Sophomore year was difficult. With a great first year under my belt I now had expectations looming over my head and I admit the pressure seriously hindered my performance. I was still a horse, but now a horse with the word “WIN” whispered into his ears with every gallop. I knew it was important to plunder on though, and came out my junior year revving to go, determined to make up for the previous letdown. I did well, but was halted to a stop near the end of the season. A virus got to me right at the cross-country state meet and then a sprained ankle before track region. It’s not easy when your mind says, “Go, go, go!” but your body says, “No, no, no.”

 

This brings us up to this recently past summer. I spent the end of May and the first half of June in physical therapy for my ankle. It was not until early July that I started to run again; I was in pitiful shape at that point. I trained hard though, and pressed through the summer. Determined to get back into shape I was putting in a lot more miles than I was used to at that time during the year as well as some gym work, something I have never done before. Towards the end of July I was lucky enough to spend some time training with one of my best friends and teammate, Tommy Williams (The 1600 meter 5A I champion!), in some beautiful Coronado weather before returning home to begin preparing for the school year. Not too long into the start of the year I was told that we were going to be adding a new coach to our team. You can imagine my joy when I found out that it was Brophy running legend Alex Mason! Alex has/is really helping me with the mental aspects of running, something that I have struggled with the past couple years.  He has helped me (and still is helping me) deal with pressures and anxiety, race planning, and just staying relaxed both in and out of a race.

 

So far this season we have had a total of three races and I have been running great! In fact, I’m undefeated! Our most recent race was this past Saturday (September 18) at the George Young Invite where I have had one of my best races to date. I am feeling better and more relaxed this year than ever before and am extremely excited to see what the rest of the season has in store for me!

 

 

Closing note…

 

I don’t really think I am and have always been stunningly handsome. I’ll leave that up for you to decide ;)

 

 

-    Will