conference 2012

Well, that was exciting.

I went into the race feeling awesome.

About three minutes later, I wasn't feeling quite so awesome. I finished the race about a minute slower than my usual 6k time, feeling like my legs had been run over with a dump truck. Repeatedly. 

Just about to die at the finish line. 

Thankfully, we had an awesome crew of parents grilling their hearts out after the race. Nothing makes up for a bad race like a lukewarm hamburger. Seriously, though. The food was incredible and now I've got enough leftovers to last me a week. 

I'm going to blame my performance on bad weather and not eating enough muffins. So I made a batch last night to counterbalance the Frankenstorm.

These smiling ghosts make me so happy. Recipe here. Ghosts optional. 

busy, wonderful fall

This time of year is absolutely brilliant. Here are four great things lately:

1. Little kittens on quilts (and the process of slowly turning into a crazy cat lady).

2. Animal waffles on Sunday mornings.

3. Hair-braiding parties (otherwise known as cross country meets).

4. Beautiful afternoon light.

5. Sunday night bluegrass jams in the arch.

I hope everyone's having a lovely October.

P.S. Montana's hatred for all things Ohio has derailed my fall break plans. He started whining when he read my last blog post. Instead, we'll be going to Davis, WV to find coonskin hats.

So I'm not very fast right now - right now I'm barely clinging to the 3rd spot on the team. But that's okay, because my favorite part of cross country season isn't really the running.

It's the team activities,

the team cheers,

and the new friends.

It's also the pre-race anticipation.

and then the post race endorphin rush.

And the long, long weekend long runs through the dried-up farm fields and the changing leaves of northern Ohio. These are best when they're followed by pancake breakfasts.

So that's all I've got for now. Here's to a new season and a new school year with a shit-ton of miles to run and a shit-ton of books to read.

Hope everyone's having a delightful fall after the hottest summer on record ever.

coach of champions

the 2012 NCAC cross country championship course,
drawn by Coach Dennis Rice

The Wooster cross country team wouldn't be what it is without Coach Rice. He's been coaching for about 27 years and plans to continue for at least another 40. As a young buck in high school, Coach was already on track for greatness (and presumably people were already calling him "Coach" instead of Dennis). In college, Coach Rice was an All-American runner twice and awesome all the time. His last race was a marathon in which he broke both legs but still finished, he enjoyed a post-long run meal of a dozen Boston cream doughnuts and a two liter of RC Cola, and the front of his jersey was always clean. During his career at Wooster, Coach once restarted his own heart. His only fear is lightning.

He's also an expert at rousing team morale. In my four years at Wooster, Coach has basically been the reason I get up and run every day. An example, as told by Wooster alum Eliot Fackler:

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  Eliot Fackler

  Coach to the men's team, mid September 2003:
  
  We’re doing some faster stuff on Thursday. We wanna beat Allegheny. I’ve heard about the Gators all season. I’m sick of hearing about the Allegheny Gators. I can’t even read this book, Zac the Alligator, to my daughters anymore. In this story, there’s this little kid who gets a toy alligator from his uncle in Florida. You’re supposed to water this alligator and it gets bigger. So, the kid puts it in the shower and the alligator gets bigger and bigger. Then the alligator comes to life, and he’s this really cocky alligator who sings and dances and says, ‘look at me, I’m Zac the alligator.’ And he causes all kinds of trouble and the little kid gets blamed. Finally Zac the alligator goes out in the sun and dries out. He starts shrinking because he needs water, and that’s exactly what those slaps at Allegheny are going to do when they get to the pond at the bottom of the golf course at the conference meet. [continued]

   ·  · May 19, 2008 at 11:01pm
  

  Options

Eliot Fackler

They’re going to start shrinking and they’ll jump in the pond because they need water. We’re going to beat the Gators. That’s what we’ve been preparing to do all season and we’re going to do it. We haven’t won a conference title since 1989. We’re gonna do it this year. Then we’re going to come back two weeks later and challenge the top teams in the region to go to the national meet.
Now, it’s a great day to run! It’s cold and rainy... true Cross Country weather. You have to go out there, face adversity, challenge it, and overcome it. Let’s go!

Today we have the first meet of the season - home course, 6:00. It's a 4k. It's going to be 90º and 75% humidity. About which Coach said yesterday, "Well, we're going to go out conservative. We don't want to go out too fast tomorrow and be wiped out at the end. But we're going to run hard and be competitive. And when you put on that Wooster singlet, make sure you take pride in that. Because this is - without a doubt - the best cross country program in the country. And you all represent that program. It's going to be a beautiful day tomorrow - a nice warm day for a race."

So in the race today - even though it'll be blistering hot and I'm not in tip-top shape from my 8 months off of training - I'm going to go run as fast as I can at the moment, just because Coach told me to.

XC Season Wrap-up

Coach Dennis Rice, at the 2011 Wooster XC banquet:

"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.