Jonny started the 2014 Cross Country season at a home meet today. They ran at Bryn Du Mansion in Granville where there is a long steep hill climb that has to be completed twice on the course. Most of the runners say it’s the hardest course they run all season. On the way to drop Jonny off, I asked him if he had any goals for this race. He said he wanted to beat 17 minutes. That would be a pretty aggressive drop as his best time last season was 17:39 at a much easier course. Last year at Granville was his slowest race of the season with a 19:18, which was also his first 5K race.
Jonny ran in the High School Boys Varsity race that started at 10:00am. By then the weather was starting to get hot and humid with the temps being 77 and the humidity at 70%. At the start he made sure he was in the top quarter, not too fast, but not to get too far back in the pack where you could get stuck behind a slower group. By the time the first 1/2 mile was completed Jonny had positioned himself around the 10th spot. He pretty much kept with that group for the rest of the race.
He ended up in 12th overall out of 144 racers. He finished with a new personal best of 16:52.6 which he beat last years time by 2:26! He didn’t leave much in the tank after this race, but he didn’t hit that wall that some runners run into either. He ran about as perfect of a race as he could for himself. A year makes a big difference! Also he was the first finisher for Granville. I wonder what his goal for the next race is?
Here is some video I shot from this race:
Here is a link to the official race results found on Timerhub.com or you can also look at them on the Aces Running Site.