Primary Girls-2K

I encourage all my kids to do their best always. When you have multiple kid runners ( I have 3) , it never fails that at least one is so - so, while another is a phenom. Rare is the family where all the kids excel at the same sport. If one doesn't take it as seriously as the other, only have them workout together on track days when the less serious one has to run. The serious one will probably beat the less serious one anyway. It might allow the less serious one to focus better, and the more serious one will be too focussed on themselves

you are 100% correct about the no guarantee for future success. Most girls get nailed at puberty. They have trouble adjusting to their new bodies ( or they get injured because of it ).BOOM, no more running. I have tried to encourage other sports in my house to avoid the " one trick pony " syndrome. But, I guess the struggle we parents face is how to foster a love for the sport without putting pressure on the kids, I find trying to role model is not enough. My childactually got worse throughout this season because she let her form go to pot and worried too much about what her sister was doing. Her sister goofs off while she runs and it was a huge distraction. I wonder if any of you multi - running kids families have any tips or suggestions on fostering good running within thee family

Sophia ran AAU and USATF the past two years and preformed stronger...but your only as good as your last race. She complained of being too cold the whole run. You would think after last year's brutal and grim conditions in Kansas I would have better prepared her. She's a spunky little gem and I only hope for a bright future for her. Running is tough. I am happy the Sharks are taking a break. I need it. And a good runner at 8 doesn't really cement a future in it. I only need to look at her two triathlete ironman marathoner uncles to see the long term...one trained with heavy mileage and great success, the other no more than 3-5 miles at the longest. You can probably guess who today has the two artificial hips and who still competes at the age of 71(!) locally and nationally. Its great to see another running family like ours out there. I only wish they lived in Chicago...we need more great runners with the Sharks esp. for my midget son who doesn't have a team and loses his friends to other sports like football and wrestling. I give accolades to all these girls...it was bitter out there and they toughed it out.

Looks like you'll get to see it next year, as the primary boys comes before bantam girls. I am going to miss the primary girls next year for the same reason - a boy in the primaries. Not too happy about that since my primary girl is the reason we do xc in the first place. I guess I didn't do enough research to know both girls had gone under 22 minutes. That is phenominal!! I usually only do enough stats to generate a rough idea on the team score, so I may not get all the individual stats, but thanks for clarifying that with me.

They are both awesome, and next year's race will be great no doubt. My only point is that a longer distance will only help Tiqvah...the same may be true with Sophia and others as well. Actually both Tiqvah and Sophia have broken 22 for a 5K, so they're still going to be pretty evenly matched regardless of the distance. I unfortunately didn't get to see this battle this year because I was getting my son ready for his primary boys race which was right after this one.

Yes children are our most precious resource and all that so I won't bore you with stats, quotes, or analyzing who blew past who...just simply applauding Sophia...she can whoop butt with the best of them!

p.s. I was at the 300m to go mark and Tiqvah blew past Sophia fair and square. It looked like Sophia was making every attempt to catch her, but was being out kicked.

I was doing my usual statistics and Tiqvah and Sophia are extremely tightly matched, hence my comment about next year. I picked Sophia because ofher 22:45 5k. That is undeniably awesome. Tiqvah has run 3k in USATF with great times. I will repeat myself, the Bantam race is going to be very exciting next year. I will usethe quote from the Brocaw Blazers coach " It is about the kids, not about the parents or families ". So let us remind ourselves of the precious treasures we've been given, their amazing talents, and hope they have a lifelong love for running instead of being burnout from pressure.

All the Oury kids run too...Sophia's brothers beat both the Soap boys in Bantam and Midget categories. Sophia mistook the clock near the finish but not at the finish as the end of the line and slowed down. She is monster...and a cutie pie as well.

As someone who sees Tiqvah run all the time, I can pretty safely say that the longer the distance, the better her chances. My son is the same way...too bad he'll be stuck at the 2K distance for another year. All of the many Soap kids run...from ages 5 all the way up through HS.

I was pretty excited about the match this year. Tiqvah proved just a bit tougher, although I was betting on Sophia ( I thought Tiqvah would have trouble in the cold, boy was I wrong! ). We shall see what happens in the longer distance. Everyone who saw this race would agree it was a tightly contested match. I am looking foward to an exciting bantam race next year.

Soap and Soapy (aka Sophia) looks like a great rematch for 2009.
Oury set the pace, Soap got the job done at the finish, tough girl, smart runner.

Sophie Oury ran on two big clumps of ice stuck to her shoes.Girl, your awesome!! Nice job Brocaw "pack", top 5 under 10 minutes. Way to go girls!!!

She had help from that Shark Oury who set the pace for 3/4 of the race.

That's right she is! Jenks America all the way!
-Stephen

That girl Tiqvuh Soap who won is a beast!