Saturday, Aug. 30, 2008

Davis senior ready to run

Nagging ailments gone, Innes looks to build on successful 2007

Amanda Innes can't wait for the high school cross country season to begin.

And it isn't just because the Davis High senior wants to get back into competition.

She also wants to put last year's season behind her.

"I really am ready to go," Innes said. "Last year, dealing with so many problems, I just want to forget about it and start running races again."

It isn't like Innes had a bad junior year. She was the second-fastest runner in the Modesto Metro Conference. She was fifth in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I championships. She ran at the CIF State Championships.

But she battled the entire year.

In the beginning, she had dehydration problems. And toward the end of the season, she developed a plantar wart on her foot that hampered her running through the postseason.

"It was a double hit," she said. "Just as I was getting better from all the early stuff, the foot problems set in. That bothered me all through track and field as well."

But now, Innes is ready to run.

It all started in July, when she ran at Stanford's annual cross country camp.

"Four days of hard work," she said. "They kicked my butt, but I needed that."

After that, it's been lots of roadwork. It started with 30 miles per week, and it slowly grew.

"My dad rode his bike with me, so I didn't feel like I was doing it alone," she said. "We'd add five miles every week or so.

"And we'd go all over the place to run. We ran in Oakdale, Escalon, here in town. All over."

She maxed out at 60 miles, and has since throttled back to about 40 per week.

The mileage has given Innes a solid base, helping her stamina.

"It's more mileage than I've ever had," she said. "Eventually I hope to do more speedwork as well."

As far as mental toughness goes, Innes said she developed too much of that from last year.

"I didn't get much done as far as being in physical shape goes," she said. "But it's helped my mental conditioning. Sometimes that's as important as the running."

But that's all she wants to take from her junior season. It will all be just a memory once she toes the start/finish line for real for the first time this season: at next Saturday's Sierra Invitational at Tuolumne Regional Park in Modesto.

"I'm ready to go," she said. "It's time."

Bee staff writer Will DeBoard can be reached at wdeboard@modbee.com or 578-2300.