The Switch Has Been Flipped

For the past year Coach Bandy and I have told Jake to believe in his God-given abilities and to run with confidence at the front instead of trying to catch up from behind. Over the past three meets I have talked with him about not running with others and making them chase and little by little he has taken this approach and posting better and better results.





Today was his conference meet at Nixa; a course he traditional has ran some of his faster times, but this afternoon the mist/drizzle was steady and the course was getting a hair sloppy. Jake and I didn't talk a whole lot this morning, but the one thing he referenced was taking it to the others and make them chase and that, my readers, is exactly what he did!
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Here's a little background on the Central Ozarks Conference breakdown; a couple years ago the COC added a handful of schools and split into big/small school divisions due to the likes of Branson/Ozark/Nixa/Carthage... growing at such pace making them significantly bigger than other rural teams (Bolivar, Reeds Springs, Springfield Catholic...). XC used to run each division separate, but this year they decided to run them together (all at once) making this a large race.
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Jake jumped straight from the gun to the lead group of three running a 5:04 first mile. My initial thought was he might be a hair too fast, but I looked at his face as he passed and he looked in control and not pressing too much (sweet, it was going to be a fun race). Throughout the race he looked aggressive and confident and once or twice when he dropped the pace he quickly recovered and made timely surges. He was mixed with a pretty good group of big school runners for most of the race, but trailed off a little at the end. The guy in 1st (overall and small school) had a decent gap on Jake going into the last mile (and that would not change). Rounding the last corner to the finish I glanced at the finishing clock and it was still in the mid-16s; holy crap he was on fire (I knew he was on a good day but was not expecting this...). He powered to the finish in 2nd place (and 8th overall) at 17:00; a PR by 38 seconds!!!! As you can imagine Deb and I (along with my brother, mom, and dad) were going nuts. All-Conference baby!



The boy 'flipped the switch' like we had never seen before. It was like watching an entirely different runner; one who believed in himself and the training he received. He not only is believing, but now he knows he belongs in the front group; huge mental step.
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Jake wore a goofy smile and hardly touched the ground the rest of the meet. Awesome, just freaking AWESOME. Another bright spot is that Jake was the only Junior of the top three; next year looks promising. He's got 2 1/2 weeks before districts with no meets between now and then; coach has a great lead up to districts (which is at Bolivar).


The following photo dump provided my Marla Kemp (thanks):