Cross Country Time Trial

On November 12th Tyaan's cross country coach held a time trial for Tyaan. She had been running really well in spite of an injury and he wanted her to have one last chance to get her letter on their home course.


She got her leg wrapped and I prayed that she'd make it through one more run without the fracture becoming a break. She was really nervous because she knew it was her last chance to beat the time.

Her coach set up the course and had another girl run with her to help her set her pace. She started really well and hit the first mile mark at about 7 minutes. She needed to finish the 2nd mile in less than 15 to make her time. The closest she came to her letter time previous to this day was 22:45 (1 minute over) and she had a split of 15:30 on the 2nd mile that run.

She hit the 2nd mile at about 14:50 which was great, but she had to keep her pace up to finish in time. It looked like she slowed a little bit early on the 3rd mile so her coach kept yelling encouragements and telling her to hurry up. You could see her pace pick up when he told her to, so it was really helpful to have him pushing her.



She was coming around the last field near the end of the 3 mile course and had a minute left before going over the time limit to letter. I watched the stopwatch count away her time and I knew it was going to be close. I was so worried she was just going to miss it and I knew she would be SO disappointed. She came around the last corner with about 20 seconds left and ran as hard as she could. She crossed the finish line with a time of 21:39, just 6 seconds under the varsity letter time.

It was a stressful 20 minutes for me, but she pulled it off! She ran really really well and now will be an athlete with varsity letters in 3 different sports. Her leg was sore afterward, and she was exhausted (and sick) but I'm very happy that she'll get rewarded for it. And now we can let her leg heal because she started water polo practice in the pool the next day.

Cross Country League Finals

Tyaan had cross country league finals on 11/6. It was on the Mt. SAC course which is a difficult one.

Tyaan had been running with pain in her shins and we'd been treating her for shin splints. While getting it wrapped at school one day the trainer noticed it was sensitive to the touch and told her that it was probably a stress fracture rather than a shin splint. We took her to the doctor and got x-rays and sure enough she's got a stress fracture. Every time she ran on it there was a risk of it becoming a break. She wasn't practicing on it and was doing extra swimming to get the work out in without having to actually run on it. She wanted to run in league finals so she got it wrapped and we hoped for the best.

We were still hoping she'd pull off her letter time even though it was a lot to ask of her running injured on this tough course. She ran really well getting a time of 23:06. It wasn't a letter time, but it was a great time for her on this course and she finished 3rd on her team.




Unfortunately their team didn't finish high enough to qualify for CIF this year, but Tyaan really had a good season in spite of being sick, and then being injured. Her coach was happy with her run for finals and set up a time trial on their home course just for her so she could try for her letter. It was really great of him to do for her (she had missed the previous time trial since she wasn't practicing with the team every day) and he probably wouldn't have if she hadn't run so well this day. And the best news is she didn't leave with a broken leg!

Cross Country Photos

Here are Tyaan's cross country pictures for the 2008 season.

CC League Meet #2

On 10/16 Tyaan had her 2nd (of 3) league meets at Bonelli park. It was the same course she had run on the previous league meet there so I was better able to get to where she would be running past and keep her updated on where she was time-wise.

Tyaan was already having problems with her shin and had it wrapped up pretty well. At just past the 2 mile mark she turned to go up a hill and I couldn't see her for a few minutes. She had one of her teammates right on her and I didn't want her to get passed but it looked like she was hurting and I was worried she'd have to stop. She had been running SO well at that point but I knew her leg was a problem.


As I moved toward the end of the course, but far enough back that I could cheer her on, I watched and waited until I could see her again. I kind of expected the other Chaffey girl to be ahead of her at that point but soon I saw her coming with the other girl not even close behind her. She had run a fantastic race and ended with a time of 22:35, only 50 seconds off of her letter time. This is a more difficult course than their home course and she beat her best time by 10 seconds. I was so impressed and couldn't stop grinning while she was catching her breath. She was really excited when she found out her time and her coach said that they had all done so well he might hold a time trial on their home course to help them qualify for their letter.

CC vs Baldwin Park

On 10/8 Chaffey had it's last home cross country meet of the year. We've still got several weeks of season left, but there were only 3 home meets and this was it. So, the goal was to get her letter time while she had the home course advantage.


Tyaan has been running really well but she still had to get her best time ever to letter. We did our best to get her well fed and well rested, although with her busy schedule that's never easy to do. After mutual (which she is expected to attend because of her stake calling) and hours of homework we were lucky to get her to bed at a somewhat decent hour the night before. I made sure she ate a good breakfast that morning (not a usual occurrence at our house) and drank lots of water throughout the day. I bought her racing shoes which are made to be as light as possible and should help her drop some time.


I showed up at the meet and she was dressed and ready...and nervous. She wanted to do really well but she knew it was going to take a lot do get the time she wanted. Her best time on the home course previous to this day was over 24 minutes, so to get the letter time of 21:45 was going to be hard. I was equipped with my stopwatch and ready to hit the spots of the course she had asked me to give her the time at.

They started off and she finished the first mile in just over 6 minutes, which was great. At the second mile mark she was at about 15:30, which was about 30 seconds behind where I thought she should be to get her time. She ran the last mile great but I could see she was tired. She had done a good job with her breathing and didn't cramp up. She ended with a time of 22:45, exactly a minute over the time she needed to letter, but I was so thrilled with how well she did. She improved her best time by 2 minutes which is fantastic. And she's in great shape so there's still hope that she'll get the time on another course before the season is over.

CC at Ontario Christian

I have been slacking at getting these posts done. We don't have a lot going on right now except for cross country. I have other news, but I'll save that for when I get caught up which I'm determined to do quickly.


On 9/30 Tyaan had a cross country meet at Ontario Christian High School. This is a really, really boring course and it was miserably hot. It was 106 when their race started! Tyaan did well. She was pacing herself really well and finished strong. She passed two runners from the other school on the last half mile. She finished 4th from her school and 7thor 8th overall. Her time was 24:57.

Megan's Wings 5k

On 9/26 Tyaan ran a 5k for Megan's Wings. It is a foundation started by her cross country coach after his young daughter (Megan) died of cancer several years ago. This is the 4th annual run and all of the proceeds help pay expenses for families of young cancer patients. They had over 800 people register for the 5k run/walk and the 1k fun run. This is the second time Tyaan has run this event. She ran it 2 years ago as well.



It was a nice day. Perfect in the shade, but quite warm in the sun. They had over 600 people in the 5k and it took a little over an hour to get the last walkers in. For those of you who know the area the event is held at McCarthy park in Upland on 20th and San Antonio. The course is north on San Antonio to 24th, east on 24th to Euclid, down Euclid to 20th and back to the park.


Jon's dad, Don, came to watch her run. He's the best spectator because he cheers louder than I do. Gives lots of good encouragement.


Tyaan finished th 5k in 24:22 which is really good. She finished about 60th overall, 12th girl, and got 1st place for girls in her age group (16-19). She did really well and it was a fun way to spend the morning. We got home, ate lunch, and both slept for most of the afternoon.

She made me proud, as usual!

Cross Country League Meet

Tyaan's first cross country league meet was on 9/23. It was at Bonelli Park and was a pretty tough course. It was hot also. There are 6 schools in their league so about 40 girls ran at the same time. Tyaan had a good time for the course even though she got a pretty bad side cramp and had to slow to a walk for part of the 3rd mile. She made it to the 2 1/4 mile in less than 16 minutes which was great considering the hill they climbed in the first half of the run.


She finished 26th with a time of 23:51. She wasn't really happy because she didn't feel like she did as well as she could have, but she's always hard on herself. They ended up finishing 5th out of the 6 schools because one of their runners wasn't able to finish and Ty wasn't the only one who cramped up. So they'll have to work really hard to place better in the next league meet.

Cross Country Meet at Red Hill

Tyaan had a cross country meet on 9/18 at Red Hill Park. She was feeling a bit better than the previous meet but was still kind of stuffy which slowed her down. This park has a long uphill portion that they ran 3 times. Her time was 25:03 which isn't her best, but I thought was great considering the heat and having a head cold.

Cross Country-Home vs Duarte

On 9/15 Tyaan had a cross country meet at their home course. She had a cold making it hard to breathe which led to cramps. She didn't finish as quickly as she would have liked, but she finished. They did win the meet though. Her time was about 25 minutes for the 3 mile course. The goal is 21:45 (I think) to get her varsity letter. I could tell the 3rd mile was hurting her. She had a really great time when she finished the 2nd mile but slowed down and was holding her side for a little while after that. She finished running and looking pretty good although she didn't start sprinting quite as early as she usually does. I was so impressed that she ran in spite of the cold and finished in spite of the pain. She's quite a girl!

I wasn't able to get many pictures because I was helping 'police' a part of the course to make sure they didn't cut one of the corners, but I got a few seconds of video. This is the start of the race and it gives you an idea of how quick they take off. Keep in mind it's a 3 mile course and they try to increase their speed as the miles go by.

Cross Country-Red Hill Invitational

Tyaan had her first cross country event last Thursday. They didn't have all of their varsity runners there so he put the few of them that were there in other races. Tyaan ran in the junior varsity race which was a 2 mile run. She had a fever that day and was coming down with a head cold. She was all stuffed up making it hard to breath when she was running. I gave her an advil as soon as I got there which had dropped the fever down quite a bit by the time she had to run. Luckily the weather was pretty nice that day so it wasn't super hot.


She ran pretty well. She was in 3rd place here, which was the first time I saw her after the main group all took off. She's about to turn left and run up that field, up the hill and around some tennis courts that are beyond the trees. She's probably coming up on the half way point about here.

The following picture is after she ran the upper portion of the park for the second time and is going into the last part of the course. She was still in 3rd at this point but had gained a bit of ground on the girl ahead of her.



This last picture is on the last stretch of the course and she's sprinting. The 2nd place girl is not too far ahead of her and she's sprinting to catch her. Unfortunately she stepped in some mud and finished just a few feet behind her. But she finished 3rd out of all of the schools that were at this invitational. She was the first girl from her school to finish in this race and got a medal which was nice.

And cross country season has begun!

A Varsity Runner

Tyaan's cross country team had a run yesterday to place varsity and jr. varsity runners since their first meet is this week. She made the varsity team. We weren't really surprised she had, but we were happy.

She got her uniform and is ready to run Thursday. It's a league meet and it's some sort of relay which is something new. From what I understand it will still be a 3 mile course but will be split between 2 runners on a team that will each run a half mile and a mile stretch. So I think one will be running, pass a baton to the other, then get it back for their second run, and pass back to the other girl for their second and last run. So they will each run 1.5 miles but in two increments. We'll see how it actually turns out, but it should be fun. And as a league meet there will be runners from all of the schools in their league. There's probably 5 or 6 schools so there will be quite a few. It will be a good start to the season because they will see all of their competition and where they are at as individuals and as a team.

I'm looking forward to it. It's been months since I've gotten to see her compete at something!!

Home from CC camp

Tyaan made it home from camp last Friday. She's all geared up for running and came home with lots of training and information. It sounds like it was a good experience.


Here are a few photos she took of where they were running.

This week she's a runner

Tyaan left for cross country camp yesterday. She's up at Silverwood with her coaches from school and other kids on the team.



I miss her already.

Hopefully she's having a good time, although I don't see how running miles and miles every day in high altitude could be fun. It sounds like they get a lot of opportunity to play at the lake in between running and doing workouts. And it will help her get in shape for season which starts pretty soon.