"Overall, I think we've had a great season, and I've enjoyed being part of it. I really like what I do and I intend to be here for many, many years. You know, tradition is really important to what we do here at the College of Wooster. But sometimes you have to start new traditions. Like when we move to the Gault Recreation and Fitness Center--which everyone knows is really the Coach Dennis Rice Athletic Center--we'll be starting a new tradition that I hope to continue for at least the next thirty years. Who knows how old I'll be by then. Heh. Heh. Heh."
And with that, our cross country season officially ends. Now we enter into track season. Traditionally, I would be miserable about the transition to running indoors on the little rubber oval. Thankfully, I'll only be around for three weeks of that torture. Then I'll hop on a plane and fly to New Zealand, where it'll be cross country season again. Thank God for opposite hemispheres.
I suppose I can sum up this season in a few words: infinitely better than last year. I did a whole shit ton of running over the summer and carried the higher mileage over into the season. That helped a whole lot. My fitness is far better than Fat Colleen's from last year with her gluten problems and her slow-kid's angst.
From August to November I ran 491.10 miles (average 44.6 miles a week). That's more than the length of South Dakota. If I had wanted to, I could have used those miles to run from Wooster to Virginia Beach. And then some. I probably should have done that. Wooster is many things, but it is not a beach.
I smashed my track 5k PR by about thirty seconds. Now it's an 18:26. And my final 6k of the year came down to a 22:33 at the NCAA Regional meet in November. That wasn't quite fast enough to make it to the national meet, but it did get me a shiny metal and a signed certificate on really nice card stock.
Our three senior captains were pretty good this year, aside from a minor fiasco about ordering team t-shirts. Overall, they made sure workouts got done and kept the freshmen from getting alcohol poisoning on the weekends. But I think I've failed as a leader in training... I've only managed to collect a handful of team cell phone numbers. Oh well. It's probably just my subconscious telling me not to organize team activities.
So here's the team after Regionals this year. Looking pretty fly.
If we zoom in on this picture, you can see one of our standout performers.
Awww, look at our special teammate Miranda! We're so proud of her. Not having a body is a big issue for some runners. But she's really come out aHEAD of the adversity. HA.
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