Monday Oct. 27

Well lets just say this was probably my worst day at Eastern by far this year! It all started with my biology class. We got our midterm exams back, which I had studied endlessly for for two and a half weeks. I barely slept I was studying so much. When I got my exam back, I thought my heart had stopped and my stomach had exploded; I had failed my exam. This meant that I was failing the class now cause I was just getting by with a D before the exam, because I had failed my first exam due to lack of studying. So I went and talked to the academic adviser for athletes and long story short, I am no longer taking biology this semester. But it didn't stop there! This was supposed to be the week I build up for the Conference Championships at SEMO Saturday. Well I get to practice and my workout was three miles easy straight into 20 minutes on the upper body bike in the training room. When I was finished I iced my hamstring and it was a little sore, but better than it's been. Then coach asked me to come to his office with him. When we sat down he asked me how I was feeling and I told him pretty good, a little sore but it's getting there! Then he told me he wanted me to sit out conference and train for the NCAA regional in three weeks, because he didn't want to take any risks with my hamstring. I was crushed....my main goal of the season had been to make the Conference team. But what my coach said next put a little light on my day. He said that without a doubt that I had earned a spot for Conference, but that he was just worried about me getting injured further, which showed me that he believes in me and he cares about me. So even though it was a horrible day at first, it ended a little better. It showed me that even in the wake of great disaster, God is there to cheer me up! Now I look to Stillwater, OK in three weeks, where I will run my heart out and hopefully come back with a great 10k PR!

Thank you Mom, Dad, and Chelsey for all your support yesterday when I really needed it! I love you all very much!

Run to Win, Run for Him!
Matthew 5:16
Isaiah 40:30&31

Evansville Invitational--10/18/08

Well today was a good day that could have been better had it not been for my hardheadedness! I ran a decent PR race that could have been a great PR race! Since Wednesday nights workout I've had a sore hamstring, and instead of being smart and going to the trainers I kept it to myself and fought the pain today. The start of the race was great...I went through mile one at 4:52 and felt fine through mile two and was a little under ten minutes there. Then the hills started to take affect on my hamstring and by mile three I was hurting bad, but I pushed it out of my head. I tried to stay with two guys from my team who were right in front of me and I did until the last mile when they started to pull away from me! By this point I was in incredible pain, but still I pushed on...the only thing on my mind was PR and earning my spot for conference. When we hit 1/4 mile to go the guys pulled away from me! I reached as deep as I could for a kick, but I just couldn't get on going! I finished 66 out of 239 runners with a season best of 26:16! But at the end I was irate. I was exhausted, but not from how hard I ran; I was exhausted from fighting the pain the whole race and I knew I could have run so much better had I been 100%! But lesson learned...I now know not to ignore an injury in college cause it's a whole different game from high school! My sights are now set on Conference in two weeks at SEMO (South East Missouri State)and hope to go under the twenty six minute barrier! My leg should heal by then, provided I play it smart and take care of myself!

Run to Win, Run for Him
Matthew 5: 16
Isaiah 40: 30-31

Cross Country: Eastern to face conference foes at invite

10/17/2008 - Evansville Invite
Five other Ohio Valley Conference teams to compete in Evansville, Ind., meet
Brandy Provaznik/Staff Reporter

Saturday's Evansville Invitational is going to be a big meet for the Panthers.

Not only is it the last meet before the Ohio Valley Conference Championships, but many OVC schools are going to be competing at Evansville as well.

Eastern freshman Jordan Patterson said it should be an interesting meet because the Panthers haven't really had a lot of opportunities to run against OVC schools so far this season.

Head coach Geoff Masanet said he is excited to see where Eastern stacks up against other teams from the conference.

"For the guys, we need to get out there and get the job done," Masanet said. "We need to earn our spot. I think we are the deepest team in the conference on the guy's side. We just haven't shown it yet."

The Panthers showed their depth on the men's side at the Notre Dame Invitational on Oct. 3. Freshmen Matt Dettloff and Matt Feldhake competed in the open race at Notre Dame because of limited space in the main race, and Masanet said if either had run in the primary race it would have helped Eastern's men's team place better than its 14th place finish.

Masanet said the Panthers have also been lacking confidence so far this season.

"Race day comes around and despite the fact that everything they do day in and day out should tell them 'You can do this' and 'You are ready for this,' a lot of them just aren't thinking that way," Masanet said.

Other OVC schools competing in Saturday's race include Murray State, Austin Peay, Tennessee Tech and Tennessee State.

Southern Illinois Carbondale, which the Panthers have run against two other times this year, will also be competing at Evansville.

"Carbondale is just really good," Masanet said. "They are regionally ranked, on the cusp of nationals and one of the best teams in the Midwest. They are on a whole different level than we are, and we can't let that bring down our confidence. We just need to go out and run our own good, hard, controlled race."

Patterson said he thinks the Panthers need to keep an eye on Carbondale and just not let them get too far out in front.

"I think if we can just get ourselves in a mindset to reel them in," Patterson said. "We can't let them get so far ahead of us. We just need to work on them all through the race, and we should be able to do a little better against them."

Junior Erin O'Grady said everyone knows without really saying it that there is a lot of pressure on how the Panthers do this weekend.

"Our team is really talented and we have a lot of people who are ready to get out there and roll, but we just haven't proved it yet," O'Grady said. "This is our last chance before OVC's to show everyone what we are capable of. We need to get out there and work together and be confident in ourselves and in each other."

Brandy Provaznik can be reached at 581-7944 or at blprovaznik@eiu.edu.

Notre Dame Invitational--10/3/08

Well first off I just wanna say that the Notre Dame campus is incredible...the buildings, the chapel, and especially the sports complexes...if you've never been there, it's worth the trip! But now to talk about the race! I'm not sure what happened to be totally honest! It seemed like I started out great and when I hit mile three the race just went down hill from there...I hit the wall! After the race I was irate...I didn't want to talk to anybody...I sat in deep thought for a good ten minutes or so just rerunning the race in my head trying to find the point where I screwed up! Then I went for the usual 30 minute cooldown with the guys, and the longer we ran the more I thought about the race! By the time we had finished our cooldown I had come to this conclusion.....There will always be walls that need to be broken, it's just a part of the game, but whats more important is how you respond when you don't break through these walls the first time! My goal now is to build from that and prepare for Evansville in two weeks!

Run to Win, Run for Him
Matthew 5:16
Isaiah 40:30-31

SIUC Salukis Invitational--9/27/08

So my last meet was the worst race I've ever had in my life...so to correct it I have worked extremely hard for the last two weeks, I put in about 160-175 miles, and I made it my goal to stick with the upperclassmen for every workout. Well yesterday we ran at the Salukis Invite at SIU Carbondale. Our team performed incredibly considering how hard we've trained the last two weeks. We finished second overall as a team at the meet and several people ran PR's. I myself was in shock after my race. I ran a PR for 8k by almost a minute running 26:38, finishing in 17th place overall, and I was the fourth finisher for our team and was right behind our two and three guys...I was stunned! All my hard work had paid off! Now my focus is on the Notre Dame Invite next Friday. It's said to be a flat and fast course, and this week we're training light so that we can be prepared for a great race!

Mile Repeats--9/17/08

So before practice today I read Ch.40 v.30-31 from the book of Isaiah to try and get me pumped up cause my legs felt like they were shot...and well long story short it ended up being the best workout I've had yet...we did mile repeats on the hardest mile of our XC course! I had 5x1 mile with 5:00 rest in between each one, and my goal pace was 5:00-5:05! We got underway and my first one was a 5:02...perfect! The first rest ended and we started again...my second mile was 5:02...once again perfect! Then came the third mile...4:57...I was pumped, because it didn't feel hard at all! Then came mile four...5:00...once again it felt great as well! Finally came my fifth mile...by this point I was hurting, but I pushed through to stay with the upperclassmen...with about a quarter mile left one of them said, "last one, make it count," so I took off from the pack with everything I had left...4:49...I was stoked, I didn't even pay any attention to how tired I really was cause I was so fired up! It was an awesome night and hopefully a good sign of things to come next weekend!

Isaiah 40
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

EIU Invitational--9/12/08

Well I would have to say that this was the worst race I've ever ran! I've never fallen off pace as badly as I did today! The goal was to start out with a 5:08 to 5:10 first mile, then settle into about a 5:12-5:15 pace from there! Well we got underway and sure enough went through the mile at 5:09...after that it didn't feel like we let up at all...next thing I know we go through mile 2...5:31...I was shocked! After that I expended all my energy trying to get back on pace in mile three...going though in 5:22! Then the rest of the race went down the tube....I went through mile 4 in about 5:29, and I was spent for the final mile finishing with a 5:50 and a total time of 27:31...My goal final time was supposed to be around 26:10! Not to great for my first 8k....but all of the older guys told me not to worry, it's a long season...and the more I think about it...they're right! This is only the beginning of my college career! I've got to except the fact that not all races are going to turn out the way I want them to....and from now on when they don't...I'm not gonna ask questions about what I did wrong, but rather I'm gonna ask myself what I'm gonna do about it to make it right!