Chris Derrick, the senior star from Neuqua Valley (IL), remains undefeated as the regular season nears its completion in Illinois. Chris, who broke no less than six course records thus far, is the obvious favorite to win the Illinois state cross country title. Check out Chris' second journal entry of the year, where he writes about his conference and regional meets, as well as other thoughts on his team.
MileSplit Feature: Chris Derrick Journal - Entry #2
10/22/07
Since my last post we've had a few more races. Thought I'd give a summary on how things went:
Sterling Invitational (10/6) - A real slow day. Temps were in the 80's and humid, and the course was pretty soft. After a year of perfect weather, the conditions were a factor for the first time. I ran reasonably well, as did our team, and we managed to win the meet. The heat started to get to me in the middle of the race, but I put in a surge the last mile and PR'd for the course (14:26).
Conference (10/13) - This was a great meet for our team overall. We won all three races and went 1-2-3 in all of them. The course was great for fast times and spectating that there was an awesome atmosphere surrounding the course, especially around the finish on the track. The atmosphere, combined with the fact that everyone but our top twelve tapered for the race, brought about some awesome performances. The varsity race was last and sitting around watching kids PR like crazy was amazing. I was so floored after the open race that I asked the Lake Park guys [host of the conference] if the course was accurate. They told me it was 2.98 if you took the tangents (later at the awards ceremony it was announced that it was 3.0 down the middle). Either way, the performances across the board were fantastic with twelve guys breaking 16 and another 20 or so below 17. At the varsity level, Aaron Beattie (14:37) and Bryan Winek (14:59) competed really well against some very good runners. My own race was very rewarding, I went out faster than I had all year (4:37-9:28) and then had a great last mie for a new PR (13:57). The last 300m was on the track, and there was a big scoreboard with the race time on the far side. I saw 13:10 when I hit the 300 mark and knew I could break 14 minutes. That, plus the support from the crowd, made the last 300m a really special experience.
Regionals (10/20) - All in all the complete opposite of conference. Only nine teams, slow course, and a really mellow atmosphere. The race itself was uneventful and not very rewarding. As a team the racing mindset really wasn't there, although we had hoped to carry it over from conference. Personally, I felt tired after developing a sinus infection. Fortunately I was able to get some medication and a couple nights of solid rest and am feeling better.
As our team heads toward the end of our season we've been slowly cutting back on the volume of our workload. Our last morning run will be this Wednesday, and our longest workout will be 3.5-3.75 miles of tempo. We've cut back the distance on our medium long run, as well as dropping an interval on our mile repeats. We got some good news today as Jimmy Riddle [Neuqua's #2 runner] has been cleared to work his way back into training. He's been pool running in the morning and biking in the afternoon for 90 minutes of work a day for the past few weeks. He will go very light this week and then get in a tempo or two before the state meet to try and get his running legs back underneath him. Fortunately for us he is a very tough competitor and does a great job of putting aside doubts and racing hard. After last year, when he ran state with bronchitis without telling anyone, I have complete confidence in his ability to perform.
Good luck to all those in the Sectional of Death [Schaumburg Sectional] and happy running.
- Chris Derrick