Track and Field Blogs - Scott Bauhs

I had more fun at this national championships than I have at any others. The Chico team seemed much more relaxed and we were able to just have a good time all week as well as on race day. We had our lowest point total ever as well as our most All-Americans ever. We also got to tour Pittsburg on Thursday and take over a bowling alley the night after the race.

I'm a firm believer that Cross-Country should cover all surfaces and conditions. I think that the National Championships should rotate all over the country and that the World Championships should take place in every corner of the globe. I think the spirit of Cross-Country is to challenge yourself to every aspect of running whether its a golf course or a mud course. Obviously some people are going to have advantages and disadvantages from course to course but overcoming adversity is what Cross-Country is all about and it is what we train for.

That said, it was really cold in Slippery Rock. My face and feet went numb every time I went outside and it was very hard to breath after a fast start up a hill. I had a great race and did the best I could not to let the cold get to me, but I'm happy I wont have to race in the snow that much.

Winning a Cross-Country title was an amazing experience. It is something that I was hoping to do from the moment I got to Chico and to see it actually happen was almost unbelievable. I can't believe how far I have progressed in my time at Chico and winning the race that I finished 23rd and 29th in my first two years is something really special. To get Third as a team was really cool as well. Angel finally got his Cross-Country All-American, Michael Recovered from a mid-season bout with Mono for a great race, Beau was All-American in his first national Championships and Brendan raced through a hamstring injury and held on to be our 5th runner and run fast enough to get us 3rd place.

So now I guess I'm kind of a pro athlete. Audrey won't let me consider myself pro until I sign a shoe contract because I won't be making a living until that happens but I can make money now. Speaking of shoe contracts, I know a lot of you are really curious to see what brand I will be representing but hold your horses. Right now we are at the beginning stages of the process and the various shoe companies are going to be bidding for my services hopefully in the next few weeks. I don't anticipate announcing what company I will be with until 2009.

But, just because I don't have a shoe contract doesn't mean I won't be racing. I will be running a 5k tomorrow in San Jose against a pretty good field. There is an article on the front page of letsrun dubbing it as an American record attempt. I suppose I'm going to go out there and if a record is in the cards I'm going to go for it but don't be too dissapointed if I fall short... I have no idea how my legs are going to feel after a very hard 10k on Saterday and while I think I was capable of 13:24 or better during the track season, I don't know what that translates to on this road course. Either way its going to be a fun race. My parents are running in the Turkey Trot portion and Pat (Boivin), Jimmy (Elam) and Aisha (Kamala) from Chico are running as well.

On December 13 I will be running Club Cross for the Adidas Transports. The Transports are the closest club to my home town and it will be fun to travel with those guys to Spokane. I started my training for Cross-Country a bit late so I figured that I would try to extend my peak for these races before I took a break and got ready for Track.