Marvelous Day at the Metro Meet

The weather was cold, but still a great day for a meet!  It's a very exciting day for the Lowe family.

1)  It's Marissa's first meet since her injury (5 weeks)
2)  It's Robert's last meet of the season

The girls are so close - they always huddle up together before a race - they have a great cheer.  I recorded it, but can't seem to get it to stay here.  The girl's Varsity race started right at 1:00 pm.

Marissa was off to a great start.  She didn't get the usual "right up front" start, but she was still way up front.  By the first mile she was 4th in the race!  GO MARISSA!!!  This is so incredible since she is just coming off her injury.

Marissa at the 1 mile mark

Every time we saw Marissa she looked strong, confident and ready for this race.  She has grown so much as a runner.  

At the two mile mark two Manual runners and a Presentation Runner pass her, but just barely - she is right with them.

At the 2 mile mark

Marissa gaining on them

Then the runners disappear for the last mile until the finish.  Marissa came around the corner sprinting ahead of the 2 Manual runners.  She finished so strong!  We were so excited to see her finish in 6th place with a time of 21:12.  This is one second faster than her first race of the year on this same course (21:13).  

Sprinting to the finish

Everyone was so EXCITED for Marissa!  She did better than expect (not that there were any expectations after her FEMUR injury!).  We were all just so happy that she did well, felt great and didn't have any pain.  She said she was sore, but her breathing was great.  I'm so happy.  She and I worked out every day (except Sunday) at the YMCA to help keep her heart rate at 170 and over come the atrophy from being on crutches.

Marissa with her coaches Sykora and Jerry

An extra special treat was that Coach Teresa and Greg Philips were at the race!  Marissa is very close with both of them.  Coach Philips gave Marissa a super big hug!  HE was hoping she'd run under 22 and she did, by a long shot.  They were so excited and happy for her.

Hugs with coach Philips

The Philips are like family, Marissa with Teresa and Greg Philips

After Marissa's race, the Boys Varsity race started at 1:45.  Robert ran in this race.  He got a great start but was on the second line so he had to work hard to get in a good position.  We were racing against St. X and Covington Catholic - two great Catholic teams.

Robert at the 1 mile

Robert is set on a good pace.  He is catching up to some runners on his team - Will Strench is in front of him.   Several teammates didn't run (David Glenn, Richardo Landis, Jan Isenhart, Nathan).

Rounding the corner 

Robert at the 2 mile mark

The runners disappear after the 2 mile mark until they come down the home stretch for the finish.  It was so exciting to see Robert coming - he finished with a new PR (personal record) of 18:36.  That is approximately a 50 second improvement from previous races.  AWESOME!!!

Robert sprinting to the finish

Go ROBERT!!!

The girl's team took 2nd place (without most of our Varsity runners) and the boys team took 3rd place (without all of their varsity runners).

After the meet, Marissa went to Cheddar's with her teammates and coaches, while we treated Robert to lunch at Moe's Mexican.  Everyone had a great day!!!