Claire has had very good runs this year getting her personal best two weeks ago with 22 min 13 seconds in 95 degree plus weather at Berry. It was so hot and dusty I was worried she would not finish, but not only did she finish, she came in third in the JV race beating about 400 other girls from multiple states. She worked hard this summer in training, and she has learned to manage her asthma medication in a disciplined way.

So with the cool weather Saturday morning for the county races, the conditions for a good run were in place. Claire lined up and came out running fast with 160 other JV girls. She and one of her friends were leading everyone at the 1 mile mark. Then at the 2 mile mark, Claire was ahead of her friend by about 20 seconds. And then as she came up on the 3 mile mark, she was so far ahead of everyone, the crowd did not realize Claire was part of the race. It looked like the pack way behind her made up the lead runners, and people were cutting in front of the raceway right in front of Claire. I had to yell “Clear the track! Clear the track!”

It’s hard to describe this, unless you’ve been to these races, but the lead Claire had was almost confusing. Kathy and I couldn’t believe it. Had Claire pushed too hard? Was she going to be able to make it? But every time we saw her in what is basically a twisty-turning figure 8 course, she looked calm and comfortable with her run.

Claire finished with an absolutely amazing time of 20 min 23 sec. (That’s Kathy stepping onto the course to get the shot. And HC friend Bob Williams doing chute duty.) Claire was all smiles and, while breathing hard, very happy with her run. Her coach came over and couldn’t believe it. “You just decided to skip 21?” meaning she wasn’t going to have a personal best in the 21 minute range, skipping right over to it and well into the 20 min range.

To try to comprehend what she did, I made a chart. (Of course I would.)

There were two races: 160 Junior Varsity girls and 140 Varsity girls. I’ve charted the top 50 of both races.

The bright yellow dot is Claire coming in first for the blue-line JV race. Notice the time gap between her and the next runner. The next four runners were all Brookwood girls and *they* had great times!

You do not see that kind of gap between any other two runners, although there is a similar, but smaller gap in the red-line Varsity run. The distance represented by Claire’s first place gap is enormous.

But as big as that gap is, look at the two yellow lines. That is Claire’s previous personal best and her new time. That is a tremendous improvement between two races.

Also notice that if Claire had run in the red-line Varsity race, she would have come in 23rd out of 140 Varsity runners! It so happens, that time put her in the elite top 7 at Brookwood. She is now one of the 7 who, if they all keep their current times up, go to state.

None of us (including Claire) knew she was heading for state in cross country. One team parent asked, “Who is that finishing so far ahead?” Another shouted, “That’s Claire Cashin our champion hurdler!!!”

Who knows where that girl is going next? However, I can tell you, she got all dolled up and looked just fab for home coming that same day. And then on Sunday she did us proud with her first lector duty at Life Teen mass.

And I should mention, she did a lot of this driving herself around. She passed her driver’s test earlier last week. A very busy week. I hope she gets some rest. But poor thing… this is what is on her screen right now. Not sure she likes these charts as much as I like mine. 🙂