A Lesson in Never Quitting

Why every second of every mile matters...

From the USATF website:

Stirring performances put Flanagan, Goucher and Yoder Begley on Olympic Team
EUGENE, Ore. - In a race that truly captured the essence of the Olympic Trials, three fast and determined women became the first athletes to qualify for the Olympic Games from Friday's opening day of competition at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Track & Field.
The top three finishers in each event at these Olympic Trials, who have met Olympic performance standards, will earn the ultimate prize of a spot on the Team USA roster for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. The need for that Olympic A standard was writ large in the women's 10,000m, run at 9:20 p.m. on a humid evening.
6.2-mile drama
As she did at the Women's Marathon Olympic Trials April 20 in Boston, Magdalena Lewy-Boulet took the early lead in the 10,000 and paced the field through 10 laps. But 13 minutes into the race, American record holder Shalane Flanagan decided the pace wasn't to her liking and led World Outdoor bronze medalist Kara Goucher and Amy Yoder Begley away from the pack, dropping the pace by nearly 10 seconds per lap, down to 71 for one quick lap.
A Nike Oregon Project athlete who was a two-time NCAA champion and 16-time All-American while at the University of Arkansas, Yoder Begley entered the Olympic Trials lacking the Olympic "A" qualifying standard of 31:45:00 - a time she needed to beat in order to ensure a place on the team. Knowing a ticket to Beijing was on the line, Yoder Begley took the lead with seven laps to go, in pursuit of the A standard. Flanagan and Goucher again took over with three laps to go, and with 300m to go, Flanagan turned on the speed and pulled away to win in 31:34.81, a Hayward Field record, with Goucher second in 31:37.72. But it was Yoder Begley's solo race for third that was most inspiring. Running alone and visibly digging for every available bit of energy, she needed to cover the final 800 meters in 2:20 to beat the 31:45 standard. It took minutes after she crossed the finish line for her time to be displayed on the scoreboard, but when it did, it was cause for celebration. 31 minutes, 43.60 seconds. Yoder Begley made it to Beijing with 1.40 seconds to spare.

Every step in every race should be run with a purpose. You never know what may be on the line.

Great Run Today

Great Run Today

Girls Beach Camp 2008

Girls, the qualifying runs for girls camp are July 9th and 16th at WSU campus. Please put them on your calendar and plan to attend. We leave for camp on 7/23! Looks like we will be able to take the top 7!

Boys Beach Camp

Here's the list for Boys Beach Camp 2008!

Devin Dykes
Peter Dykes
Kyle Kosak
Cody Smith
Ryan Casey
Keanu Hancuff

Good Job everyone for working hard and running fast! We leave Wed. 6/25. I will need signed medical releases from everyone before we go.

Race at Frenchman's Bar

Congradulations to everyone on great races yesterday!

I thought you might be interested to see how much some of you improved in just one week!

Yvonna Harris- PR by 3:14, bringing her time down to 23:25 in one week! Good things ahead I think!

Lucy Lyons- PR by 2:21, down to a blazing 22:20! King's should be worried!

Emily Vis- Took off 1:15, down to 24:52! Keep up the hard work!

Peter Dykes- Came down 37 seconds to a very nice 18:34!

Mark Lyons- Shaved off 25 seconds to get under 18! 17:52 in June! Awesome!

Natalia Harris- Had a great day, taking off 12 seconds to run a 24:291 Keep it up!

Dennis Dykes- Took off 11 seconds, almost breaking 20, with a 20:01 (But you started in the back... if we had chip timing you would have been under!)

Great job to everyone else! These are just the people who ran both weeks, so we can compare times...

PICTURES! :D

I think that Jami should get some pictures of our growing new mascot Trophy on here so we can all see her :] So add that to your list Jami.

So.... How high is the top of Seibler Rd.??

It's 542 ft.  That would be a 500 ft. climb in just over 1 mile.  Good job, Devin, Mark, Kyle, Cody, Jami and Meagan!  Nice run today!