I’m sure anyone who reads this regularly will already know how States turned out for us. But I’ll give you the rundown anyway. We came in third on the guys’ side and seventh on the girls’. That’s nothing to be TOO proud of, but certainly nothing to be ashamed of. But what we can be proud of, and hold our heads up high about, is the fact that we put it all on the line, and left nothing to chance. We went out and did what we were supposed to. We used what Smith taught us over the past eleven weeks, and ran the best we could. It just so happens that our best just wasn’t as good as some other teams’ best.
Anyone not too familiar with Mascenic might assume that the bus ride home was a long, depressing, shameful journey back. I can assure you it wasn’t. If there’s one thing this team is always going to have, it’s our uncanny ability to lose, get up, dust ourselves off, and keep on training. Because there will always be another time to prove ourselves. Unless you’re a senior. Then that kind of just sucks.
The real upside is that the boys are still going to MOC’s, while three of our girls qualified and are moving 
on as well. MOC’s is usually a good time for Mascenic. You know, when there’s freezing cold rain, your top guy has the bubonic plague, while your top two runners fall down at the start and then one of them face plants onto the cement bridge halfway through the race. It’s not just because it’s about the flattest course you’ll find in New Hampshire. but because MOC’s is really the icing on the cake for us. There’s no real pressure here. All we gotta do is go out, and do some hunting, as Zina would say.
So hopefully we can get seven to race well on Saturday, and go out this season with a bang. Like Smith always says, DROP THE HAAAMMER!
“If you go out to race, and know you’ll lose, there’s no probability involved. You’ll lose. But if you go out knowing you will never give up, you’ll still lose most of the time, but you’ll be in the best position to kick from on that rare day when everything breaks right.”
- Bill Bowerman
