Weather is looking pleasant for the USA Cross Country Nationals in Derwood, MD (near Gaithersburg) this Saturday. Steve is slated to run the Men’s Open Championship race – 12 km on a difficult course against some of the best American distance runners. Everyone should come. Trust me, running is a lot more interesting when you know people involved. I, for one, will be running all over the course like a madman for the second half of the race.
There is no parking at the course, instead one must park at the Shady Grove Metro Station and take a free shuttle to the race. His race is at 2 PM – I’ll be dropping him off on site at 12:15 and proceeding to the Metro stop. Entry is $10. If that’s an impediment, I’ll concoct some fair method to pay you back.
Here’s some additional race info.
Let me know if you’re interested and I’ll help arrange it – my car is full but I know a couple of people are planning on coming, maybe it can be worked out with them. Plus it’s only like a half hour away – how often can you catch a national championship in your own back yard?
Words 
How’d he do?
He did pretty decent. He finished 18th – given the names that showed up in front of him and behind him, it looks like he’s put himself into some rarefied air. The time is more or less meaningless, given the difficulty of the course, but he finished like three minutes in front of people that used to beat me.
Not bad for a kid that barely got a walk-on spot. You and your family must be very proud of him. Please pass my congrats on to him. I have enjoyed following his career at NC State, and look forward to seeing what he can do in the future.
Also, noticed on the USA Running website that it was a World Team Qualifer. How many make the trip to Jordan? Did Stevie make it?
I’m sure you’ve already noticed, but in the slideshow on the site, he’s in pictures 62 and 63.
Yeah, we’re proud of the kid. 6 spots go to worlds, so no, he didn’t make it.