A young woman named Sarah Baxter recently ran one of the greatest races ever. It’s written up here; I’d recommend the article linked in this one, too. On a very tough 3-mile cross-country course, she broke an 11-year-old record by 16 seconds (she ran 16:00). That’s impressive, but the second-place finisher, in a very strong field, came in 1:08 behind her. Young Ms Baxter is undefeated in high school. This is impressive, but even more so since she’s grown 10 inches in that time. She was undefeated as a 4’ 8" freshman.
If she doesn’t burn out or get horribly injured, I bet she’ll set every distance running record there is.
I’ll be running in the Harrisburgh PA marathon in two weeks. In the last 30 years I’ve made a complete transformation, having been a sprinter of some local repute in my youth. I’m lucky now to come in the top 60% at any distance from 5k to 26.2 miles.
Good luck in Harrisbourgh then! I’ve been running the marathon distance too, but just for myself, not at the level of official events. Unfortunately I didn’t have the time to keep at the training, but I still do some shorter runs now and then…
Hey Chas,
Great post and an incredible performance by young Ms. Baxter. I ran CC for four years in high school, lettering all four years. My high school team would often run practices with then UCONN CC Team Coach Bob Kennedy and his practice sessions were often grueling / demanding. I ran primarily to get in good shape for basketball season. This background gives me some perspective of how incredible Ms.Baxter’s performance really is. To perform at such record shattering time is a combination of both incredible inner drive and the right physiological and morphological structure to carry her perfect frame such distances in such an amazing time.
Ms.Baxter is surely a talented and gifted phenom as a distance runner and barring no injuries to set her back, her running career will only be limited by the aging process, but she clearly has lot’s of time before that becomes a considerable limiting factor. Baxter has an incredible running career ahead of her. You go Sarah Baxter! I just picture this young lady tearing down the course leaving the trail behind her burned and smoking. The time lad between her and her nearest competitor is really telling at how great she surely is.. NICE WORK SARAH BAXTER!!!
Also, good luck to you Chas in your Marathon. Did you ever run against any of the O’Keefe or Fitzsimmons in CC while competing in Connecticut? Powerhouse runners at E.O. Smith back in the day.
. Are you running too, chas?
I just picture this young lady tearing down the course leaving the trail behind her burned and smoking. The time lad between her and her nearest competitor is really telling at how great she surely is.. NICE WORK SARAH BAXTER!!! 
