Three Ledge Street Runners Qualify for National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships

I wanted to share some wonderful news with our Ledge Street team. Rebecca Skahan, Shane Puleo and Michael Hagen all have qualified with their Nashua PAL bantam teams for the National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships in Reno Nevada on December 12, 2009! First on October 24, 2009, they each ran qualifying races at Nashua North earning their spots on the Nashua PAL Junior Olympic team . On November 15, 2009 they each helped their teams qualify at the New England Championships. Yesterday in Augusta Maine at the Region 1 (all of New England plus upstate New York & New York City) they all ran and helped their teams capture a spot in the Nationals!! I hope you are all still running! We'd like a few more of you to make the PAL team next year! Coach Mike

Three Ledge Street Runners Make Nashua PAL Junior Olympic Team

Rebecca Skahan, Shane Puleo and Michael Hagen of Ledge Street Elementary School tried out on Saturday (in the pouring rain!) and made the Nashua PAL Junior Olympic Cross Country Team!! They will now be representing Nashua PAL in the USATF Junior Olympic Cross Country competition. The first race (New England Chamionship) will be at Freestyle Farm in Amherst, NH on November 15. If their team finishes in the top 3 in New England it will advance to the Region 1 (Northeast US) race at the University of Maine in Augusta. The top 3 teams in Augusta advance to the US Junior Olympic National Cross Country Championships in Reno Nevada in early December. I will try to provide you updates as their season progresses. Above is a picture before Saturday's race.

Pictures from Mrs. Duda and Mrs. Gilman

Pictures from Mrs. Duda and Mrs. Gilman

Even More Pictures!!!

More Pictures!!

More Pictures!

Nashua City Championship Meet

Its been a busy day!! I finally arrived home at 8:30 PM tonight after a long but wonderful day of cross country. I spent the afternoon helping my wife's team at Nashua South. At the same time our meet was going on this morning, my oldest son Anthony was running in a Division 1 NCAA college cross country meet in Indiana for Columbia University running against some of the top college teams in the country. I only mention this because he started out as a Nashua PAL runner just like all of you!!

I'm so proud of our team!! Despite the incredibly frigid early morning temperatures you ran your strongest race of the year.

Here are some of today's highlights:

-We had 15 runners run their fastest times of the year. The top girls and boys are highlighted in yellow in Mrs. Duda's summary.

-Our boys team finished in 11th place...just 23 points from a top 10 team finish despite every runner on our team competing in their first year of cross country.

- Our girls team finished an incredible 6th overall out of 14 teams---there were only 3 public schools in front of us and the girls team beat New Searles, Main Dunstable, Fairgrounds, Broad Street, Dr. Crisp., Mt. Pleasant, and Birch Hill. Some of those teams we beat were double or triple the size of our team!

- We had two runners finish in the top 25 earning All-City Honors: Rebecaa Skahan (11th overall) and Michael Hagen (11th overall). Shane Puleo ran a 25 second personal best today finishing 30th overall--just 3 seconds out of a top 25 finish.

Here are the results: http://www.coolrunning.com/results/09/nh/Oct17_Nashua_set2.shtml

Before I go, thank you for the wonderful picture. It will bring back many happy memories. Thank you also to Mrs. Duda who helped and supported our team this season in so many ways. We could not have accomplished what we did this year without her incredible support. Thank you also to the many parents who helped us at our practices and at our meets. You were all wonderful. Thank you also to Mrs. Valeri, Mrs. Peigh and Ms. Nest as well as the Ledge Street Eagle ....having you at the meet was very special and meant the world to the team!

Last but not least, keep running. Regular exercise should always be an important part of your life along with studying hard at school.

Coach Mike

Final Week of the Season

This is the final week of our season and I want to go over a few things. First, we will practice today at Ledge Street Tuesday (10/13) and Thursday (10/15) at our regular practice times. Thursday will be a fairly light day as we will only be 1 ½ days away from the final meet of the year.

Saturday’s City Championship Meet at Nashua North High School:

Here is the race schedule for this Saturday’s meet. Please note that unlike the practice meets girls and boys will run separately:

Girls 2k Race: 8:00 A.M.
Boys 2k Race: 8:30 A.M.
Girls 3k Race: 9:00 A.M.
Boys 3k Race: 9:45 A.M.

We will meet in the same location (near the bleachers by the track) as the practice meets. I would like the girls running the 2k race to arrive by 7:30 A.M. and everyone else no later than 8:00 A.M. We will give you your race number at the meet. Please be sure to bring your Ledge Street XC shirt!! Also, the weather looks quite cold so please dress in layers: A short sleeved shirt with a longer sleeved shirt over it. Gloves and hat are fine but remember that you will warm up quickly. Sweatpants are fine to warm up in but it is unlikely I will want you to wear those during the race. Please bring your own water bottle and refreshments.

Nashua PAL will be requesting a $10 fee/child for the championship race. This fee for Ledge Street is voluntary but it helps defray the cost of the timing service (for all 3 races), insurance etc. If you are not able to pay the $10, we ask that you contribute what you can, up to $10/child. Please note that both Mrs. Duda and I are volunteers and are not paid. Mrs. Duda will be coordinating collection of this money.

Last but certainly not least if you need a ride you must let Mrs. Duda know!! There will be no PAL van and she is in charge of coordinating rides. Her cell# is 557-7235. Her email address is moniqueduda@msn.com. We will be asking some parents to carpool. No child should miss the meet because of the lack of a ride!!Please call me (886-5055) or Mrs. Duda if you have questions.

Today's Steamtown Marathon

Hi Team,

I finished my Steamtown marathon. It was dark and cold when we started the race very early this morning 26.2 miles north of Scranton, Pennsylvania. I ran 3:07:52 and finished 112th out of 1886 runners overall and 4th in my age category.Here are the results: http://runhigh.com/2009%20WEB%20RESULTS/R101109AB.HTML

On Saturday I asked the Steamtown race organizers to donate cool green marathon racing glasses (which I'm wearing above) to every runner on our Ledge Street team...and they said yes! I will give them out this week. Below is a picture taken by my wife after the race with me holding your awesome card...it brought me lots of good luck.

Please be sure to run this weekend!! I'll be sending out details re: this Saturday's meet early this week. We may need some parents to drive other runners who don't have rides. Once I speak to Mrs. Duda re: the logistics of carpooling we will let you know the details. See you Tuesday! Coach Mike

More Pictures From Practice Meet #2

Nashua PAL Practice Meet #2

A great day for Ledge Street today at Practice Meet #2 !! Of the 27 runners competing today for Ledge Street 25 ran personal bests, many by more than a minute!! We also had 3 runners finsh in the top 25 of their races: Cesar Mendoza (23rd), Rebecca Skahan (19th) (top Ledge Street finisher), Michael Hagen (21st). Above are some great pictures taken by Mrs. Duda!

Here are the top 4 most improved runners from the the girls and boys 2k and 3k:

2k Race

Victor Ceballos 13:59 (2:17 improvement)
Haleigh Ashwell 11:26 (1:48 improvement)

3k Race

Larry Lassiter 22:07 (1:53 improvement)
Alexis Desfosses 17:16 (2:18 improvement) Team Most Improved

Here are our top runners from the two races:

2k Girls:
Haleigh Ashwell
Julianna Benoit
Megan Lamprey

2k Boys:
Cesar Mendoza
Owen Duda
Connor Woodward

3k Girls:
Rebecca Skahan
Madeline Duda
Alexis Desfosses

3k Boys:
Michael Hagen
Shane Puleo
Junior Acevedo

We’ll see everyone on Monday. If possible please try to run over the weekend at least once approximately 30 minutes, very easy. You should always have a parent, friend or brother or sister with you, perhaps on a bike when you run. Last but not least, thank you to all our parent volunteers especially Mrs. Duda who once again coordinated the transportation of many of our runners on the PAL team van.

Have a great weekend! Coach Mike

Upcoming Practice Meet Friday October 2, 2009

On Monday and Tuesday we ran long on both days so if you feel a little sore today, that's ok because most of you are exercising muscles for a much longer time than you have ever done before. This is how you become stronger and fitter! If you want to run on your own Thursday, please go easy and not more than 15-20 minutes, tops. Be sure to have a friend or brother or sister go with you to be safe.

I would like everyone at Nashua North no later than 3:30 PM Friday so we can give you your numbers. We will meet at the same spot we met at the last meet, right near the bleachers near the finish line. Be sure to wear your new Ledge Street shirt!! Mrs. Duda has made the suggestion of wearing your shirt to school Friday which is a great idea! You will be receiving new #'s this week so you don't need to bring your number from the 9/18 race. Please be sure to bring a water bottle and a snack for after the race. I also suggest you try to avoid eating for 2-3 hours before the race if possible. I may be asking for 2-3 parent volunteers to serve as course observers.

Friday afternoon's weather is expected to be cooler than the last meet (high 50's low 60's) so be sure to bring a warm jacket for after the race. Some of you may want to put your shirt over a longer sleeved shirt during the race but I will leave that up to each family. You will warm up very quickly once the race starts so you do not want to overdress, but bring something warm just in case.

Last but not least, if you need a ride to Nashua North the PAL van will be leaving the school at 3:15 PM sharp. Please be at the front of the school to meet Mrs. Duda by 3:00 PM. Also, if you do not plan to go back on the PAL van YOU MUST CHECK IN WITH ME before you leave. Mrs. Duda has to leave right after the 3k race so I will be supervising runners going back to Ledge Street on the PAL van. Mrs. Duda's email is moniqueduda@msn.com

I will not have my camera with me Friday so any parent who takes pictures please feel free to email them to me after the race and I will try to get them up on our team blog. See you Friday!! Coach Mike

Upcoming Meet Friday October 2--Rides on the PAL Van

Can you believe we are ½ way through our season already? This is a reminder that we have another practice meet this Friday, October 2nd @ Nashua High School North. We are to arrive no later than 3:30pm for warm ups. The 2k race (2nd & 3rd graders) will begin at 4:00 P.M. and the 3k race (4th & 5th graders) at 4:45 P.M.

We will once again have the PAL van available for rides to and from Ledge Street School for those runners who do not have transportation. The van will depart promptly at 3:15pm and arrive by 6pm. I need to know by Tuesday who will be riding in the van.

There are over 500 runners plus onlookers at this event. It is imperative that you remind your child to check in and check out with Coach Mike before leaving the event. This is for the safety of our students.

As always we encourage you to join us to cheer on the team. We are so proud of our runners. They are all winners!

Reminder!
NO PRACTICE THIS THURSDAY BECAUSE OF MEET ON FRIDAY

Any questions please contact Monique Duda 557-7235 or moniqueduda@msn.com

Bake Sale to Support Ledge Street Cross Country Uniforms

Many thanks to our parents who contributed to and/or participated in the September 24, 2009 Bake Sale at the PTO Open House!! This event was organized by Monique Duda. The bake sale raised more than $100 to help defray the cost of our 2009 Nashua PAL cross country T-shirts. This will reduce the cost of each shirt for our runners by almost 40%:

Bake sale workers:
Dawn Santeufemio - Caleb's mom
Sugeiry Rohena-Juan's mom
Cathy Gilman- Connor's grandmother
Monique Duda - Madelaine and Owen's mom

XC parent bakers:
Michele Girouard - Alexis's mom
Tracy DeGenova - Jason's mom

Ledge Street parent bakers:
Theresa Sylvester
Robin Dupont
Sheila Sweeny
Jessica Cora
Sheri Siraco
Judi Taylor
Kaitlin Mathison

Ledge Street Cross Country Update

We had a great week of practice! On Monday we earned bonus points (cashed in today for candy treats) on the paved loop path around the baseball field. Every single runner on our team improved on their overall distance from the previous week with all of our runners going more than a mile and some more than two! More than half our runners more than doubled their long run distance! On Tuesday we headed over to Mine Falls and ran on the trail across the canal. Today we focused on speed work with a relay race and then candy sprints to end our week! I ended up miscalculating on our candy this week so each runner ended up with more than I planned, but it was all well deserved and I didn't have any complaints.

I am scheduled to pick up our T-shirts from the screen printer tomorrow which Mrs. Duda will hand out to the team Monday.

Next week we will practice Monday and Tuesday but will have no practice Thursday because we have another practice meet on Friday October 2 at Nashua North. The races will be at the same time as last week's meet. I will need everyone at Nashua North by 3:30 PM with the 2k race at 4:00 P.M. and the 3k race at 4:45 P.M.

Please try to run at least once over the weekend approximately 30 minutes at an easy comfortable pace. You should always have a parent, friend or brother or sister with you, perhaps on a bike when you run. By training a little extra you build leg strength that I guarantee will improve your performance at the City Championship Meet on October 17, 2009 All top 25 finishers in the 3k race at the City's race win a special award shirt.

Last but not least THANK YOU to the many parents who have come out and helped at practice. I could not successfully run our program without your help. If you have not yet been able to help but want to, please come to practice as I always need help.

Coach Mike

P.S. I've posted a few more pictures from last weeks meet above. Click onto the picture to get a better view!