Lakota East sophomore, Dustin Horter, participated in and was highlighted in our Saucony Flo Summer Training Blog. Saucony Flo Summer Training Blog. We do not often have the opportunity to blog during the XC and track seasons, but Dustin has agreed to provide us with his thoughts on his races on a weekly basis throughout this season. In this, the ninth of the series, Dustin comments on his race in the Troy Regionals on 10/31/15. Dustin won the D1, boys race in a time of record time of 15:23.50 qulaifying as an individual to the State Meet.
Thoughts on the Race at Troy Regionals- October 31st, 2015
The Troy course was ready to go and athletes were already running races by the time the Lakota East guy's team arrived on the scene. We got to our tent and made our way to the course to see our girls take off. They had a very successful season and ended it on a fine note. It was our time to run though and we had business to take care of. We warmed up a mile and a half, stretched, did drills, and got to the race. The gun went off and immediately I saw my good friend Birdsall shoot out of the crowd with another good friend, Steven Jones, not too far behind. Within a quarter of a mile, I had caught Birdsall and started to create a gap between myself and the pack including Birdsall, Jones, and the Mason guys. I took the first mile out in 4:40; this was a traditional split from the past two weeks. I slowed down on the second mile to about a 9:45 two mile split which was a tad off from past weeks, but I kept rumbling though, and by now I had executed what I wanted to do perfectly. I made my way up the toughest hill on the course and then proceeded downhill and back up another. This course was by far the hilliest course I've run on this year, so I was content with a 15:23 finish. I stood at the line to greet Jones, Birdsall, and then the other competitors. Everyone had a great race, including my teammates. East guys came short of state but this Regionals just made us hungrier for next year, as we will be having 6 of our 7 varsity members back for next year. I was moving on to State so it was different for me. I decided to take Vince Galioto, the lone senior on varsity, with me to State. It should be a very fun time for the both of us up there, and I definitely look forward to the race.
Special Moment: The special moment of the week comes from a bunch of the guys from different teams who came up to me after the race telling me they read my blog on a weekly basis and enjoyed that I run for God. It's nice to get that feedback from runners, telling me they enjoy what I'm doing and are somewhat influenced as a runner and a believer by my blogs. I love to hear things like and I love to meet and talk to friendly competition off the course!
