By Emerald Briggs
While school wasn’t in session on Monday, the Newfound team still met at the track that day. As LaPlume said, this was kind of another Coddiwomple-style workout. First, running Penguin Hill from one gate to the other and jogging to the track (running on the inside grass, not the actual track) to run a 200m cruise followed by a 300m cruise, then repeat the 200 and 300 cruises, next another Penguin Hill rep, and finally finishing it with 2×200. It was an interesting creation courtesy of Coach LaPlume.
On Tuesday, we were told to run a 30-40 minute easy run with four 200m float-fly-float strides. Everyone was surprised on this day because Evan, an old team captain, was visiting from college. He put down the ultimate frisbee and picked up the running shoes again for a day. The next day was an easy pre-meet and a perfect day to visit our shrines.
We made the trip down to Merrimack Valley for the Capital Area Classic meet on Thursday. The first race of the afternoon was the combined JV race. We had a few runners participating in this race. Lizzie placed 20th, the top runner for Newfound in this race. Next came Loukas, Matthew, and then Sawyer. Next, in typical Cap Area fashion, the boy’s varsity raced. Colin finished 7th, bringing home a medal. Wyatt also was awarded a ribbon for placing 24th. Jack was next for the boys and then Jacoby and Tucker. The boys placed 7th overall. Taking our spot next to MV’s team, the varsity girls lined up ready to run the mostly flat (except for the ravine) course. Once again not at full strength, with Emerald running but not full-out racing, we wanted to have a steady day. The girls ended up 5th. At this meet top 30 received ribbons, so Ceili (22nd) and Emerald (23rd) each brought home a ribbon. Continuing this year’s pattern, Addie (33rd) and Charlotte (34th) finished in a nice pair. Captain Josie and Sophie finished within 35 seconds of each other, so once again great to see! Reece had a nice race as well, looking strong the entire time. After a night of rest, Friday was an easy recovery.
Securing a bus, the team piled on and headed to Derryfield Park for our annual preview and potluck. We ran the first 2 miles of the course as a warm-up, showing the newbies the course and viewing the new changes for returners. After, we started our workout. We began at mile two-ish at the bottom of the first big hill and ran easy on all the uphills and then hard on the downs, finishing at the stop sign coming down the road. We ran the last mile-ish of the course easy as a cooldown and then ran 2-4 200m sprints toward the finish. Of course, being careful not to actually cross the finish line. After working out, the team headed toward the gazebo where the food waited for us. Everyone, families included, crammed into the gazebo and shared a post-run lunch. After eating, the team moved toward the playground after taking our traditional jumping picture. After messing around in the park, we had to part with Derryfield and headed home.
