9/3
Mama mia!  At's a spicy meatballa!  Come and get it at Bella Navarro's!!!  Let's have pasta dinner together Friday night at the Navarro's home, from 6:30 to 7:30.  We'll give directions on Friday!Arrivaderci, bambinos!

8/30
Hi guys.  I hope you all have a fun Labor Day weekend.  We will see all of you on Tuesday.  Our first meet is the Berry High School Invitational this coming Sat.   Our plans are to meet at the school at 6:45 AM, leave by bus at 7:00 AM, arrive at Berry College at 8:15 AM.  Our races begin at 9:30 with varsity races and end at about 12:15.  If we decide to sent up our tent, I will ask parents to help me with the setup.  We will stop for lunch on the way back and return to KMHS by 2:30 PM.  We hope to see all of your parents at the meet and they are welcome to join us for lunch.  Go Mustangs!

8/21
Hi guys.  We have had 3 great weeks of running and all of you are showing nice improvement.  Here are a few reminders about the next few weeks:
1.  Saturday's practice (8/23) will start at 7:30 AM at the KMHS track.  We will have a work session at about 9:30 so bring your parents, shovels, and rakes!

2.  It's swimming party time this Saturday!!!  Please see the party invitation on the Booster Club link.  I hope to see all of you there!

3.  We will not run as a team on Sat. or Mon. of Labor Day weekend.  We will run Friday after school and I will give you our workout schedule for Sat., Sun., and Mon.

8/10
We had a great work session at our home course Saturday.  Thanks so much to runners and parents for your hard work and dedication. The course looks great!  I want to make several points as we start our second week of practice.

1.  We will run at KMHS for most practices.  We may go to Kennesaw Mt. Park on some Wednesdays.  I will try to get a bus to transport runners to the Burnt Hickory parking area. Students who have cars can drive to practice and transport students whose parents gave them permission to ride with a student.  Parents can pick up their runner at Burnet Hickory at about 5:45 PM.  I will let you know if we will begin this Wed. or next.

2.  Join us for dessert, summer awards, and a Booster Club meeting this coming Thursday, 8/13, at 7:00 PM, in the KMHS cafeteria.

3.  We're still welcoming new runners, so spread the word.  Send new runners to me in room 524.

4.  Please send $150 checks with your runner, made out to Kennesaw Mountain High School Cross Country Booster Club, early this week.

5.  If your runner needs running flats or racing spikes, you can buy them at either Athlete's Foot (across Dallas Highway from The Avenues) or Big Peach (at Ridenours, in the strip center at the light on Barrett Parkway just west of 41).  Both locations will give at least a 15% discount.  Try to go this week and tell them you are from KMHS.

8/5
We've had an excellent beginning two workouts in the significant heat!  To recap our discussions at practice, we will meet at 7:00 AM at KMHS track for Wed. through Sat. of this week.  Don't forget your water bottle each day.  On Sat., bring a steel rake or hoe.  If you have a wheelbarrow and shovel, bring them too.  Parents are also invited to move some dirt. Also, bring a swimming suit and towel if you want to swim at Ms. Hancock's neighborhood pool.  We will "play in the dirt" from about 9-10:30 AM.  Run to the Top, Mustangs!

7/30
Hi guys!  Great news!  Our home cross country course is well underway!  Much progress has been made this week.  The course around the baseball fields has been cleared and they will put in top soil.  They have cleared a new path in the woods that leads down to the back fields at KMHS.  They will put in a bridge across a drainage ditch that leads back over to Big Shanty.  They are also clearing a path around the playground.  Mr. Brumbeloe hopes to have most of the course ready to go by Mon., Aug. 4th.  I am so excited about this new course.  We will be able to host meets at our own home course.  I have created a link to an aerial photo of our proposed course so you can check it out.  Feel free to go over to Big Shanty and see the progress.  Keep running, guys and hit your summer mileage targets!  I will give you one extra day of mileage so you can count Aug. 4th in your totals.  Veterans will run about 10 miles.  I look forward to seeing all of you at 3:40 PM on the track on Monday, Aug. 4th.  RUN TO THE TOP, MUSTANGS!

7/24
Hi guys!  Our first official practice day is less than 2 weeks away.  Here are some important points to remember to get our 2008 cross country season off to a great start.
1.  We will meet on the KMHS track (behind the baseball fields) at 3:40 PM.  Do not be late!
2. Come ready to run.  Bring a water bottle.
3.  Bring your summer workout calendar.  Sign it at the bottom indicating the mileage is accurate.
4.  If you have not turned in your forms, please bring them.  YOU CANNOT RUN WITH US UNTIL YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE PHYSICAL FORM!
5.  Read the Physiology of Running and Team Rules before you come.
6.  We will normally finish practice by 5:45 PM at KMHS or by 6:00 PM at the Park.

Mr. Kelly, our athletic director, and I walked our proposed home course at Big Shanty a few days ago with Mr. Brumbeloe, the Cobb Co. Parks and Recreation director.  He is as excited about the course as we are.  He has committed to developing much of the course for us.  We hope to have large sections of the course available for our practice use within a few weeks.  We hope to do most our our practices there eventually, but until then, we may have to practice at Kennesaw Mtn. Battlefield, especially the first week.  Therefore, please talk to your parents about helping us carpool runners to the Battlefield.  We will need at least 10 drivers.  The Park is creating a schedule for teams next week so we will know then where they have placed us.  In order to keep the number of cars down at the Park, runners and drivers will meet at 3:40 PM at KMHS in the pickup lane at the entrance. Parents can pick up their kids at the Park after practice(location as yet undetermined).  Next week, I will post when and where we will run Tues. through Sun. of week 1.

7/16
Hi guys!  Our first official day of practice is Monday, Aug. 4th.  We will meet on school grounds at 3:40 PM.  The actual location of our first meeting will be announced here.  If you haven't turned in all of your forms, you must do so at our first meeting.  I can email you all the forms except the health form, which you need to get at KMHS off the table near the front door.  I remember seeing a sea of raised hands at our pre-summer meeting when I asked all of you who wanted to be a state champion.  It's easy to raise your hand, it shows real character and heart to work hard for what you truly desire.  Therefore, I assume that all of you will report to our first meeting in the best physical shape of your life, having run hundreds of miles in preparation to help our team be the champions you all want to be!  We will immediately build on our summer running as our workout program shifts to race training.  We will run hard for 1 month before our first competitive race at Berry College.
Cobb Co. Parks and Recreation will be working on developing the northern portion of our home course trail over the next few weeks.  We are going to work on the southern portion.  We will schedule a few work sessions for all of us to level trails, fill in holes, and cut out stumps and roots.  The Booster Club will help organize work sessions, possibly followed by a refreshing swim!  Get excited guys as our 2008 Cross Country season approaches! 

7/10
Yesterday, several of your team mates and I met with a few representatives of Cobb County Parks and Recreation for a follow-up visit about a running course at Big Shanty.  They support our goal of creating a course at the park.  They are prepared to build some needed trails to complete the proposed loop. They also had some modification ideas to make the course even better and more interesting.  They are fully prepared to make this course happen.  I walked the course a few times yesterday and I think you guys will like it.  The course needs a lot of work by us and them and the big question is can we get it done in time to have one or two home meets this fall.  I believe we can make enough progress to use parts of it as a training venue, but I don't think we can have it ready for meets.  The other complication is the new tennis courts being built adjacent to KMHS.  That area will be important to us for running and it is now blocked off by silt fences.  So, our new goal is to work together on the course this fall, use it for training as much as we can, and plan to have it ready for dual meets in the fall of 2009.  As a result, I'll be making some changes to our fall meet schedule.
Ms. Stalling is working on some designs for running shirts and uniforms and they are great!

7/2
Hi guys!  I am back from teaching Summer Earth Studies.  I met with our morning running groups and I am excited about this core of runners that are clearly dedicated to individual and team excellence.  They are committed to our summer program.  The only potential problem I see is the small numbers.  What about you?  If you can't run with them in the morning, can you form a group in the afternoon? Are you running on your own? We have one month before our first team practice.  WE need YOU to be in the best summer shape of your life!  Run to the Top, Mustangs!
Try to run in one race this summer.  You need the training feedback!