By Emerald Briggs
To end last week, we had another Laplume Wars on schedule after our pre-meet run. This time, we split into a boy’s team and a “Girl’s plus Tucker” team. After what seemed like an eternity of playing musical chairs (this week’s “war”), the boy’s team became victorious with Jack winning overall. Also worth mentioning is that Coach LaPlume looped one song the ENTIRE time, “I’m a Little Airplane” by Jonathon Richman & The Modern Lovers. Although a team classic, it was an unusual song choice to loop.
Saturday was the Profile Invitational, our team’s first time attending this meet. After a long bus ride (even longer for Newmarket), we were greeted with “Profile Mountain,” as the Profile team calls it. Even after the encounter with the intimidating hill, our girls toed the line with our usual energy, trying to keep things lighthearted. Helping with this energy was Coach K and her new banner for the team, stating “Saturdays are for the girls.” Ultimately, the girl’s team proved this and won the meet with 27 points; a first for our team since Laconia in 2022. Unexpectedly, we had our 7 girls in before any other team’s 5, showing many great packs out there. Individually, we also had great performances. Emerald won the race overall, setting a new course record and breaking the old one by 45 seconds. Ceili fought her way into a 3rd place finish. Captain Josie destroyed the hill during the race, and Charlotte (11th) stuck strong and she and Addie (10th) finished well together. Also, Josie (16th), Reece (17th), and Sophie (19th) were all well within each other, showing another great pack. Overall, the entire team had a good day.
On the boy’s side, Colin raced to a 2nd place finish after brawling it out with two other boys for most of the race. Also, Wyatt had a great day with Zach, dual-sporter and first-time racer, not too far behind. The boys team placed 2nd. Anyone who placed top 3 in the boys or girls race went home with a medal, cookie, and candy assortment stick (thanks, Profile!). Of course, Pickle Rick cheered us on and this time, Tootsie (the Halle family’s Newfoundland, resembling a bear) was also there to support the team in her matching uniform. The next day was an optional easy run or an off day.
Once again, the LaPlume’s modeled this week to resemble the last. Monday was a long run on River Road, many running longer than they have in potentially months. A majority of people saw many cows, a donkey, and a dead possum (Hey, Mike Smith!). Following DudePlume’s precise instructions, everyone had to go home and eat, then sleep.
Tuesday set out to be a hot day, destroying many people who had already started acclimating to the cooler weather. A few athletes ran the same 2-mile threshold as last week. Everyone else joined us on the super fun Penguin Hill 1ks. Luckily for us, Davio showed up to record for the “Faster” documentary that day and captured many of our wonderful moments dying. It’s also worth noting that Davio got to meet Pickle Rick for the first time. Due to the heat, most everyone either capped the workout at 4 or 6 reps, with Colin running 8. Somehow, we got Davio to start the 6th rep with us, yet he backed out before Penguin Hill. Even then, kudos to him for sprinting with a camera and crocs on. After some snacks, the team went home to rest.
The next day was the day only LaPlume had been waiting for, the surprise workout. He named it “The Coddiwomple” which means “to travel in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination.” He decided to subject us to this type of workout after discovering it on the internet. As the name suggests, it’s a complete surprise for the athletes. We had no idea what distance, rest, or type of rep we would be facing until we finished the last one. He also shocked us with an odd warmup and cooldown of 9 and 12 minutes. He even supplied us with signed copies of the workout because he thought it was so good. After this, the team went to the weight room to lift with Coach Kendra. Thursday was an easy 30-40 minute recovery run.
