By Christopher Tremblay

As a child, Aidan Flaherty was a typical kid who loved running around, but as he got older, he found that he really loved running, so by the time he got to high school it was a no brainer that he would try out for the cross-country team during the fall of his freshman year. Now that his final season at Norwood is coming close to the end, the Norwood senior has found himself running cross country, indoor and outdoor, for all four seasons.

“I had felt that I was good at sprinting and wanted to get better at running distances, so in my freshman year, along with some friends, I joined the cross-country team,” Flaherty said.  “I found that I was not only good at it, but I felt a sense of accomplishment. By the end of my first year, I had improved my times a lot, so I decided to keep going and joined the track team.”

Running all three seasons for the Mustangs, Flaherty figures he logs at least 20 miles a week running to condition his body so that he can run those longer distances. Running for the cross-country team, the senior has a best time of 18:50 for the 5K run, but unfortunately this past season he found that his times were inconsistent.

“I was all over the place this year; there was one meet where I was flying and had a real good meet, but there were also others that weren’t as good,” Flaherty said. “Most of my other races were very inconsistent due to the unpredictability of Covid. Wearing masks is different as it hinders your breathing keeping the oxygen flowing to your brain properly.”

Although he enjoys running cross-country Flaherty prefers track, especially outdoor track.

“The environment is a lot different,” Flaherty said. “In cross-country you get there, run, and go home. “In track there’s a lot going on, while you’re not running your event. You’re watching everyone and everything around you; cheering on your teammates.”

 In addition to getting to watch other events, Flaherty enjoys the spring better than the winter season because of the outdoor air.

“Indoors we run at the Reggie Lewis Center and it’s rather stuffy, especially having to wear the masks,” Flaherty said. “Outside the wind doesn’t affect you as much so I am glad that our season got switched.”

During his freshman, sophomore, and half of his junior year, Flaherty found himself running the mile and 2-mile for the Mustangs before switching over to the 600. It was here that he felt that he could do a lot better, and with a little convincing of his Coach, he was moved to the event.

“Aidan, who has been running cross-country and track since his freshman year, will be a 12-season runner by the time his career comes to an end,” Norwood boys cross-country and track coach Matt Curran said. “He began as a distance runner but dropped down to the 600, and last year emerged as a solid top three runner for us. This year, he looks to be our number one runner in the event.”

As he has already stated, Flaherty is glad that the indoor season got moved to the outdoors, but originally his feelings were not the same.

“At first I was very disappointed that we were not having our indoor season right away and that it was going to be moved to Fall” Flaherty said. “But now that it is here, I am glad that it got moved. We just need to adapt to what is going on while keeping an open mind to the way things have to be done.”

While there will be no tournament once again due to the Covid restrictions, Flaherty is looking at improving upon his times and the coaching is looking toward the senior to try out the shot-put.

“When he originally asked me to try the shot put, I thought, why me, I don’t have the strength to do this,” Flaherty said. “But I’ve come to learn that it's not about strength, it’s all about technique.”

Following high school, Curran believes that if he wants to, Flaherty could definitely take part in a division 3 college program and maybe even a Division 2 and be successful. But with everything that has been going on regarding Covid, the two haven’t sat down to discuss anything as of yet.

Although he still has his final two seasons of track to compete in and his Coach has faith in his ability to run on the collegiate level, Flaherty believes that this will probably be the end of his running career.  While he may be giving up competitive running, he will still continue to run on his own.