# How to make HS Cross Country fun!



## gpimages (Sep 9, 2008)

First you tell the kids we are going on a beach trip to the beautiful Oregon Coast!






Once you get there you tell the team the workout for the day
involves running along the beach.....and oh yes, also up a very
small sand dune!





Most members of the team were required (at the end of a grueling workout)
to run up the dune 3 times.
The pain on the way up...
















At the top







These 4 guys are among the best distance runners in the State






Not a bad view from the top.....





Finally a cool down jog along the beach







All these were shot with D200 and 80-200 f2.8

C&C is appreciated.


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## boo9radley (Sep 9, 2008)

High School cross country is awesome, and doesn't need any help to be fun. What was the "grueling workout" they did before this hill?


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## gpimages (Sep 10, 2008)

boo9radley said:


> High School cross country is awesome, and doesn't need any help to be fun. What was the "grueling workout" they did before this hill?



The kids ran a 2 mile warm-up run followed by 4 timed 800 meter runs at race pace through deep sand so they had already run 4 miles before they ran the dune. Three times up and down the dune is one mile then they ran a 1 mile cool down run.


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## skieur (Sep 10, 2008)

Wow, lucky guys and girls!  In Canada cross country is most often through mud caused by frost still coming out of the ground in the Spring.  I will always remember a girl on the team I coached, come up to me and say how bad the mud was.  She looked perfectly clean until she turned around.  Mud was caked big time from the back of her head to the bottom of her shoes and everywhere in between.

skieur


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## gpimages (Sep 10, 2008)

skieur said:


> Wow, lucky guys and girls!  In Canada cross country is most often through mud caused by frost still coming out of the ground in the Spring.  I will always remember a girl on the team I coached, come up to me and say how bad the mud was.  She looked perfectly clean until she turned around.  Mud was caked big time from the back of her head to the bottom of her shoes and everywhere in between.
> 
> skieur



Mud?? Do you mean mud like this? 





Here is the link to the album
http://gpimages.smugmug.com/gallery/3571508_4n28j


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## skieur (Sep 10, 2008)

gpimages said:


> Mud?? Do you mean mud like this?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
Great shot! :thumbup:

skieur


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## Ejazzle (Sep 15, 2008)

i hate running so much. 

at football practice, i see those cross country kids run by and i just wonder how they do it. i hate running the sprints and stuff for football, its the worst part. But i cant imagine running the whole entire practice and thats it, 

great shots BTW! i would hate to run up that dune, or on the beach.
the girl in #4 looks like shes having fun! 

great shots of the coastline! 

My hs mascot is the "worriors" also. 

gpimages, that looks like a dirty girl.


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## gpimages (Sep 16, 2008)

Thanks for the kinds words Ejazzle, distance runners are definitely a different breed of athlete. These kids just love to run!


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## jlbrew3 (Sep 16, 2008)

Nice shots, I like the angles/perspective


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## MarcusM (Sep 16, 2008)

Ejazzle said:


> i hate running so much.



I used to feel the exact same way - I was in football in HS also and hated running. Now I love it and am training for my first marathon. It's all about the breathing - try to focus on your breathing, while taking deep, steady breaths to fill up your entire lungs and steady exhales, rather than the fast, rapid breathing where you feel like you're out of breath. That was my problem, but they never taught us how to breathe while running - I didn't figure it out until after HS on my own. Give it a shot and see if it works!

Sorry for hijacking the thread, nice shots. It looks like a lot of fun. I like the first shot with the different levels of light as the horizon extends into the distance.


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## boo9radley (Sep 16, 2008)

high school cross country is as much fun as you can expect to have. great stuff.


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## Ptyler22 (Sep 17, 2008)

I am glad my team doesn't have a hill thaaat big around here to make run up. We have some prettty big ones though, lots of them too.


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