We had a great XC course (the only one I ever ran that was better was the McCallie school course in Chattanooga). It involved running up a good hill through woods with double track along a ridge and then single track about 1 mile from the finish that opened up into a field for the last 500m or so.
As the school expanded the course was pretty much obliterated... pretty sad the day I went out to run it and could not find the trail to the ridge.
Jumped in the Alumni meet once with no running whatever soever for months. My quads were the sorest they have ever been and that lasted for about 3 days after I ran. It was unreal I couldn't walk up my stairs. There were were 3 to 4 50 meter climbs or so and that just tore them up. I ran like 23 mins
Hurt so good!!
A couple of years ago, a buddy and I went over to Mt Sac to run the course there.
It was not our home course, but we had done it plenty when we were in HS.
Of course when we were in HS XC was 2 miles.
Needless to say we did NOT match our times from back then.
Fun tho...
High School XC course has been flattened and paved over.
kvothe wrote:
My hs didn't have a home meet. Is it common for schools to have their own xc courses? I could probably run some of the xc course we competed on faster than I ran in high school, if I could remember the courses.
It was rare for a high school in my experience, although I'm from a state with pretty small schools. Most of our meets were on golf courses, parks, or XC courses for local universities.
Our home meets were at the local D1 university's XC course. It was a very nice course but difficult, lots of hills.
trappist wrote:
Every year I take a trip to Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, NY and run/walk the 2.5 mile high school course (I'm 70 years old) that I ran in the 60s for Chaminade. The Catholic High School Athletic Association (CHSAA) runs an annual Alumni Race in November in conjunction with their Intersectional Championships.
I've run the Van Cortlandt Alumni Race too and it was great being out there 39 years after I first ran it. The start of the race was altered slightly but once up in the hills, the memories come alive. Elbowing young ladies along the way was also a different experience from the old days! My 16:16 was slower than HS but I was one of the faster 'old' guys at 52. Hope to run again this year.
I went back 7 years after graduating and ran the course in an Alumni race. In high school I was a borderline varsity guy (always finishing between 7th and 9th on the team). I had a lot of success in college. Anyways I went out and won the alumni race. Beat all the current kids on the team as well as all the alumni. It was a great feliing of accomplishment. I won it by like 200m too. Many of the guys on the team who used to beat me were there.
Sadly it's not possible. The land that was used as the Cross Country course for my high school, and a number of other Northwest suburban Chicago schools, was all sold off in the 90's. The wide open fields that surrounded Union Oil's corporate headquarters in Schaumburg created some interesting layouts and it was not uncommon to see two or three different schools hosting dual meets at the same time there on a Tuesday or Thursday afternoon in the fall. Now its all stores and parking lots. Still tons of great memories even if they did "pave paradise".
My home course was 2.5 miles my first three years. My senior year we ran 5k but I honestly don't remember where the extra was added. The course record at the time of my last 2.5 mile race was 13:21. I got in a dual with another kid that was usually much faster than me but I stayed with him and pulled beside him with a quarter to go but he pulled away to finish in 13:05 to my 13:07. One mile of the course was on private land (owned by father of a teammate who was a senior when I was a freshman). That was the hilliest part of the course. On a flat golf course a couple weeks later I ran 12:28 as our course was one of the tougher in the area. I always thought that was an advantage.
To answer the OP, at any time in my life after that day, I could not have run faster on that course as I was often injured .
I live a half mile from the school so I run parts of the old course and parts of the new course occasionally.
I do a lot of the same road loops I did in high school 35 years ago. Amazing how many of them that used to be gravel are paved now.
info wrote:
In high school, my best time on our 3 mile course was a 14:59, achieved in a tough competitive race. I was so happy to break 15 for the first and only time to date. The course was flat and consisted of road, dirt track, grass, and a fair amount of turns. This was in the 80's. The school/coach would host fun runs in the Summer on the same course and I ran it a few different times, ranging form 14:45 to 15:20. In the early 90's I ran it in my peak years, at time when I was in good shape, and a 13:54 solo. That felt good and I still think its the only sub-14 performance, who knows, I havnt been back or known whats happening at my HS for nearly 15 years now
Anyhow, the difference was that from high school to just out of college, I continued to train and build up my strength and mileage base... And now I'm old and struggle to stay injury free and would be happy to be a minute slower than my high school time.
And you GPS'd it and 3.0 was actually 2.7 miles?
Still sub 14 is a stretch but congrats.
RIP: D3 All-American Frank Csorba - who ran 13:56 in March - dead
RENATO can you talk about the preparation of Emile Cairess 2:06
Rest in Peace Adrian Lehmann - 2:11 Swiss marathoner. Dies of heart attack.
Running for Bowerman Track Club used to be cool now its embarrassing
I think Letesenbet Gidey might be trying to break 14 this Saturday
Hats off to my dad. He just ran a 1:42 Half Marathon and turns 75 in 2 months!