This time of year, as the chill slowly slips out of the air, you can find Wayzata High junior Josh Thorson sloshing through the melting snow as he breaks in a new pair of running shoes along the cul-de-sacs and the Luce Line Trail that dot Plymouth, all in preparation of track and, beyond that, his final season of cross-country.
Thorson is a familiar face to the running community, having first made his mark as a freshman on the varsity cross country team. Most recently helped his team win the state title last fall by finishing second overall, clocking in at 15:54.2 minutes for the 5K race.
Not bad for a kid who didn’t even think twice about running until he turned 13. His first cross-country race was as a seventh-grader, and “I’m not sure I was all that enthused about it in the first place,” he says with a chuckle. “I guess my brother Jake kind of talked me into it, and I had some early successes.”
Four-and-a-half years later, running is his passion. Thorson’s 2010 team ended up winning the Nike Heartland Regional Meet on November 14 in Sioux Falls, S.D., and went on to nationals in Portland, Ore., in December.
Along with a rigorous training schedule throughout the winter and summer to prepare for next school year’s season, Thorson enjoys singing in choir as well as juggling, and has plenty of homework from some rigorous classes that include AP US history, which will help him as he chooses a college (U of M and Madison are still in the mix) with a good cross-country program.
