Mascenic Team Blog – Week 1
It’s that time of year again – the time to trade in the flip flops for sneakers, the swimsuits for short-shorts, and the glass of lemonade for a bottle of Gatorade. Welcome back to cross-country running.
The Mascenic returnees wasted no time in refamiliarizing themselves with the sport, starting off the week with a ten lap time trial on the track, in order to see where everybody was at with their summer running. Later in the day, we took the freshmen out with us for their first ever run as high schoolers – a nice easy run, so as not to scare them away just yet. The rest of the week consisted of a couple of ‘long’ runs, along with a hill workout incorporating one of our home course’s steepest (but not necessarily most difficult) hills – thus nicknaming the workout ‘Baby Hills’.
The temperature this week allowed for some perfect swimming weather as well, so the team definitely took the time to cool off once or twice at our beloved Bankee Bridge. The freshmen were also briefly introduced to the Nussdorfer Nature Area near our school, which consists of many overgrown trails. We run through them anyways “for the culture,” as Logan insists.
Wrapping up the week, the Mascenic distance program helped organize the Caddyshack 5K, a fundraiser for the Monadnock Community Early Learning Center. The race was run on the Shattuck Golf Course, which also serves as the Conant home course. The race was won by Mascenic alum and, as of Monday, a Fitchburg State Falcon, Jake Movsessian (his name might be familiar as he was Mascenic’s 2016 blogger). He was followed in closely by Mascenic sophomore on the rise, Dakota Somero. Looks like the summer training is paying off.
And so once again here we are – one week down, ten to go until all of our hard work over the next couple of months is put to the test. Let’s find out what this season has in store for us.
–Sam Bilodeau, Mascenic Cross Country
