The one meet which cemented my enjoyment of XC was our meet at Riverside. When we arrived there was also another team they had on the schedule (Center HS) that day so with three teams there was a pretty sizeable field. Again this was all new to us. I had never heard of Center HS at that point in time as they were from another county. With a few races under our belts we knew the drill. Leave a bit early from school, learn the course, and dress for the weather. I liked a t-shirt under the race tops we had. All green with Spartans in white diagonally across the front. This day was a wet one. The course was okay, but it was overcast and plenty of rain had fallen. By now after running against some really good teams you figure out just let them fast ones go after a couple hundred yards. Thing is we are not educated enough to know who is who so you just wing it by perception. If that doesn't work then look around after a half mile and these are the folks you are probably going to be competing with.
This course largely ran around the high school property. You had a little bit of everything. A bit of macadam, sections of woods, and large grass field areas around the football field and perimeter. About a mile into the run I am running back and forth with one person from Riverside and one from Center. Honestly I have no idea what place we are in, but we do occasionally run by a few folks. I still remember the feeling of the first time of being comfortable running off their pace. Consciously my job was let them dictate the pace and I'll spend my time reacting to it. Several times I questioned my ability to hang, but strangely enough there were times they showed vulnerability and suddenly I'd be in front of them.
If there was one thing I felt I was marginally good at it was my willingness to kick it in at the end. My speed was decent and there always seemed to be an extra gear there one could touch off. The trick is knowing when. As we came down to a quarter mile to go you headed towards this one small sapling, made a sharp left, and ran on the grass beside the road about 300 yards to the finish. The three of us are still together and as I make the sharp left my feet go right out from under me and within a split second I hammer the ground. It is like someone shakes you out of a dream. The grass was cold and wet and those two guys are barreling for home. There is no planning now. How did Mike Tyson put it? Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. As you have probably figured out by now, I was able to get past these two guys and finished 5th overall. I still remember the three of us chatting afterwards and them asking me what grade I was in. One of them was a junior and the other a senior. It felt good. Better yet my Dad was there as he really enjoyed coming to the races and then talking about them.
I'm still getting out about everyday learning how to run slow. I had the opportunity to see some people at Joel's annual fun run. Always good to catch up and see what people have been doing. We ran at Nashotah which I really like. It is only 9 miles away. I think I'll try and get out there more. I put in 10.6 miles this morning. I'm going back out now with the dog. She likes 2.5 miles, so that is the plan.
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