September 28, 1979 (Friday)

From running log:
Cross country practice, 5.7 mile run on the roads. Hot, humid, 84F. I got a nasty sideache, ouch. I'm psyched for tomorrow, although a little tired and stiff. My back is feeling decent. I must run well on the hills tomorrow. That course is where Sectionals will take place.

30 years later:
Sectionals refers to the state championship qualifying races that would take place after the conference meet. As you can throughout this chronolog, myself and all of my teammates were keenly focused on that conference meet, to the exclusion of other goals or dreams. At this point in my life I was still just a small-town kid, and while I had secret hopes that I might qualify to run in the state championship race, I also had secret doubts that I belonged at that level. But that's a longer story for another day.

The Richland Center Invitational promised to have some tough competition on another hilly course, which should have been perfect for me. While I had never seen the course before, I knew it by reputation. I was looking forward to really laying it down and proving to myself that I was a champship-caliber runner.