As The World Turns

"That is the sort of race which one really enjoys – to feel at one’s peak on the day when it is necessary, and to be able to produce the pace at the very finish. It gives a thrill which compensates for months of training and toiling. But it is the sort of race that one wants only about once a season."

- John Lovelock

Twelve days, three hours, and thirty one minutes from now I will be in Vancouver, Washington toeing the chalky white line with six of the most hard working, determined runners I know and love. Going after a National Championship title is something people dream about, and to be able to chase that dream with my team bleeds through my mind every minute of the day.

As Lovelock said above, "...to be able to produce the pace at the very finish. It gives a thrill which compensates for months of training and toiling..." I wrote this quote sometime in early June on my Cross Country schedule that stood right by my alarm clock. Every morning and night I glanced over and spent seconds or hours thinking about the time and place where this would come true. The time is closing upon us.  I sit here and think about the countless miles, interval sessions, and hard work I put myself through and I'm ready to be able to put those words into action on November 19th.

This past Saturday was the 2011 Mid-South Conference championships. It was an experience I will never forget. Knowing that this season has been up and down for me, I came into the race with a plan. First loop of the course (around 3600m), I went out very conservative helping my teammates pack it up. I couldn't help but smile as I looked back, probably every four hundred yards, and was greeted with six or more Shawnee runners following my every stride.

As I made my move going into the woods I started picking off some of the dead weight (people who went out too fast), and I found myself in fifth place going into mile three. I was very aggressive the third mile, leaving my teammates to battle each other and other runners who would drop back. Perhaps it was the length of the two miles ahead or the quickly approaching fatigue that would yet set in, but I ran complacent in fifth and lost much of that initial drive the last 3200. I held pace, but as the last kilometer approached, and a pain in the ass side stitch grew, teammate Adam Schroeder ran up and after a few words of encouragement passed me to finish fifth place, around five seconds ahead.

I ran a 26:21 for a sixth place finish, making that a second faster then 2010 Conference, a personal best for the new course, and two spots ahead of last year. Afterward I felt a feeling of pure happiness. Not only did my team score a very low 18 points beating Cumberlands College by 34 points, but I was able to help lead most of the team to low placing spots and low times. That feeling surpassed any personal ambitions I had, and for the first time of the season I am relieved that I have seemed to of found my daemons.

Once again, I find myself counting down the hours till the big dance. Every action, every nutrient that enters my body, and every mile has a deep purpose. The hay might indeed be in the barn, and the fire inside of me is ready to burn that shit up.

2011 Mid-South Conference Team Champions