Saturday September 1st, 2012: The Grace Tiger’s cross-country runners ran in the Hope Invitational.  Ridge Teft ran an impressive 30:17 for the 8k.  His mile pace was 6:06 and his place was 48th.  Richard Mooney ran his first race ever (not including the Mud Run) and ran the 8k in 33:16.  That’s a mile pace of 6:42!  Unfortunantly, the course loops and repeats many parts, so Tyler Rigg ended up taking a wrong turn and did not get an official finish time.  For the women Elisabeth Pedersen ran her first ever race (not including the Mud Run).  She did the 5k in 29:19.  The Tigers are looking forward to a great season!  Team results for the men were: 1st place Hope 39.  2nd Albion 41. 3rd Cornerstone 65 and 4th Muskegon Community College 91.  Grace did not receive a team score as they had only 3 runners.

Once again Grace initiated the cross-country team by running the Mud Run held at Kentwood Community Church.  There were two individual races and one team race.  Grace runners ran in the individual race along with over 3600 other individuals.  Tyler Rigg placed 3rd in his age group and 61st over all.  Richard Mooney placed 12 in his age group and 218th over-all.  Their times for this 5k which included walls to climb, slip and slides on hill sides, sand dunes, mud swamps, barrels to jump and many more challenges were: Tyler 33:24, and Richard 38:58.  Unfortunately because of the large numbers, Elizabeth Pedersen was told she was done after the first of her two laps, so she did not get to finish the race.

The cross season officially kicked off today for the 2012-2013 school year.  Running for the Tigers this year are Tyler Rigg, Richard Mooney, Ridge Teft and Elizabeth Pedersen.  The Tigers are looking forward to a great season together.  Coach Stowers has shared a focus verse with them: Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.”  As she said the verse, her team chimed in and quoted it too.  This verse reminds us that He has directed our path to this season together, and we are thankful for his plans for us.

The cross country team will be purchasing new Adidas sweats this year!  Look for the new look and style.

There is still time to jump on board with Grace Cross Country.  All new incoming Grace students attend a wild, informative, and amazing Grace Adventures retreat before school starts.  If you are participating in a fall sport you have the opportunity to head to Grace Adventures on August 9th with all of the other fall sports participants.  This very week, Coach Stowers spoke with transfer student Richard Mooney.  He is coming to Grace from Ohio, and is planning to run cross and go to Grace Adventures on August 9th.  You can too!  Only 3 weeks until practice begins, so be sure to get all the preseason training in you can during these 3 weeks.  See you soon!

Are you going on vacation this summer and worried that your training may suffer?  Vacation is actually a great time to train.  Running in a new city, with new surroundings can be very motivating.  Finding new trails, routes and points of interest can keep your run interesting.  If you are worried about getting lost, there are a few things you can do to try to avoid this.  First off, you might want to stick to a straight out and back course instead of making several turns and trying to complete a loop of some sort.  Secondly, make sure you know where you are staying in case you have to stop and ask for directions.  You can also study a map of the area to get a general idea of how things are laid out.  As you run take time to notice interesting things that you may want to go back and visit later.  Maybe you will spot a nice park, restaurant or historical point to check out.  Since it is summer time, you might want to run first thing in the morning or later at night to avoid some of the heat.  This also might be nice for the others that are on your trip with you, since it is less likely to interfere with the plans of the day.  Before and/or after your run, be sure to do your usual stretching and throw in some crunches and pushups to round out the routine.  As always, drink lots of water, eat healthy and get your rest.  But above all, enjoy yourself!  Who knows, running on vacation could become one of your favorite past times.

Nehemiah was leading the Jews in the rebuilding of the walls around Jerusalem after some of them returned from exile in Babylon.  Some of the neighboring nations were ridiculing them and opposing their work.  Nehemiah 4: 8-9 “They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it.  But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.”  Nehemiah did two things.  He prayed and he posted a guard.  What happened?  Read the rest of  Nehemiah.  Not only did they work hard, building with one hand, holding their weapon in the other, guarding night and day, helping their neighbor if they were in need, but they also had a great revival.  They had a long meeting, reading from the Bible for hours and recommitting themselves to the Lord.  So if opposition comes, take courage from Nehemiah’s example, pray and work for what you are trying to achieve.

Summer is well underway,  and summer training should be as well.  The school year is over, track season is over.  It is time for that summer job, summer fun and summer training.  Summer is a good time to lay the foundation for a great cross-country season.  The foundation should include endurance, strength and overall health and fitness.  Endurance is accomplished through starting where you are and gradually increasing your distances and frequencies for your runs.  If you are only running 3-4 miles, that is o.k.  Just don’t stay there all summer.  Gradually throw in some longer runs.  Just 1-2 more miles, more days for an ever increasing weekly mileage total.

Strength comes from incorporating some resistance training and some tempo runs.  If you don’t have access to a gym, simple push-ups, crunches and cross training can increase your overall strength.  One or two tempo runs with short to medium bursts of speed or longer sustained quicker runs can build your strength without burning you out.

Over-all health and fitness comes from taking care of yourself on a daily basis.  Eat right.  You know that fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins and plenty of water is good for you, so that is what you should consume.  Avoid too much sugar, fat, caffeine….  Also get your rest.  Your body needs to rebuild and is still developing stronger muscles and organs.  This doesn’t happen without sleep time.

Stay active, healthy and do what is good.  Increase your mileage and speed.  Cross-train and enjoy the beautiful summer weather.

Jacob Fisher, a recent graduate of Sandra Day O’Connor High School in Glendale, Arizona, will be attending Grace next fall and is planning on joining the cross-country team.  Jacob is originally from Branson, Missouri.  He is planning on studying pastoral ministries.  He attends Grace Bible Church of Phoenix, Arizona.  He did not run cross-country in high school but runs all the time and is looking forward to competing on the team.

Did you know that you can play a sport and earn a PE credit all at the same time at Grace?  If you would like to sign up for a PE credit for your sports participation, you can!  Just let your academic adviser or Linda Siler know.  For example, Liz Pedersen, a junior at Grace is running cross next fall and has signed up for cross as a PE credit.  Liz is a human services major and a junior at Grace.  She grew up in Freemont, and home-schooled.  She was not involved in high school sports, but she loves to run, and is going out for cross and receiving a PE credit all at the same time!