Hale Distance Updates!

For this track season, I have been focusing my messages within the weekly letters.  I'd like to check back in here on our blog for this week!

We had eleven boys volunteer this afternoon at the Healthy Kids Running Group which took place at Nathan Hale.  This event will continue for the next 4 Sundays from 2:45 p.m. to about 4:00 p.m.  I'd love to continue getting our guys involved if they can as it is a great way to promote running as the amazing sport that it is.  There were many younger kindergarten to 2nd grade boys and girls running in the group, but as the ages went up there was less involvement.  I attribute some of that to youth sports coaches using running as a punishment and creating a distaste for kids growing up.  I'm hoping that culture continues to shift and that coaches can realize that running is a part of most every sport.  What adults promote will have an influence over kids, so we need youth coaches to start promoting running as a healthy, fun and rewarding activity rather than as a punishment which it most certainly never should be.  (Unless you want a bunch of lazy athletes).

On Sunday morning, we had 5 of our boys come to my house for a Sunday morning practice this week as we had taken off Saturday this week.  Two of these guys, Joshua and Bradley, raced to personal bests in a very fun Friday night meet down in Mount Prospect, Illinois.  Joshua took 4th in the 3200 with a 9:41 and Bradley ran 4:47 in the 1600 under the lights.  The meet was centered around the kids and was an amazing environment with music bumping and great competition.  We definitely look to bring some of that excitement and those ideas to home meets we host.  I'm already looking ahead at our Betz Meet in cross country and we have a lot of exciting new features being added to that meet to make it an amazing experience for the kids and parents!  But kudos to the boys attending the Sunday long run or getting in runs on their own.  As I have mentioned often, the consistency with purpose brings about amazing progress and improvement.  

Last Tuesday we had an awesome quad meet where we had unlimited entries.  I threw a ton of boys into the 1600!  For many, it was a learning process as it was either their first or second ever 1600.  We took away a lot of valuable lessons, including bringing purpose to everything.  We did not have our best focus on Monday as a squad last week, so we talked about our mantra of "Everyone matters.  Everything matters.".  We look to grow and learn from our experiences and bring that focus and caring for what we do as well as for who we do this with.

On Thursday we had a quick turn around for the freshmen as they participated in a freshmen only invitational at Kettle Moraine.  Our track and field team won this invitational behind some awesome performances and support of one another!  The freshmen on our squad are a huge part of what we accomplish as a team, and age is not a limit on what can be achieved.  We expect all are boys to be varsity guys if they bring the right attitude and purpose to each day.  

Through any highs and lows, it's important to remember outcomes are always in our best interest.  In some way, every outcome can make us a better person.  We continue to control what we can, and learn from lows and build off of highs.  In sport/life we will encounter barriers, doubts and setbacks.  We will also experience great triumphs, wins and success.  In both cases, we get back to work the next day and continue our journey.

As we enter the final month of the 2019 season, make sure we are taking care of ourselves.  Be respectful and focused in school, while maintaining a healthy diet and getting at least 8 hours of sleep daily.  Practice is only 2 hours of each day, so it's up to each of us to choose how we spend the other 22 hours.  Keep working hard, having fun and setting no limits.  Be loving and mission orientated.  Everyone matters.  Everything matters.  

Make it a great day!

-Mach