'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Creatures were still stirring, even the mouse
well, mouse toys that our cat hits around the floor
and usually gets stuck behind the door
I nestled snug into my running clothes
Bundling up against the dark and cold woes
The temperature was plummeting and the wind increasing
The pain of wind chill was to be unceasing.
Out on the lawn there was no clatter
No animals or humans to wonder, 'what's the matter?'
See, not every Christmas is a cute, decorated, cocoa mug
Not always a blanket and a pair of slippers on the rug
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
The clouds receding and stars twinkling, I know
that my wandering eyes would likely see not
but a passerby rodent, stunned from being caught
A little old vehicle, sleek and slick
Drove by on the highway quick
Of course, it was not to be Santa Claus
but rather likely a family desperate for a pause
My running shoes scrunched in the snow,
leaving 10.5-sized prints on the shoulder below
I went out to explore new places, you see
To go enjoy my own time in a night of glee
As the miles clicked by, I started to look
into every house, every cranny- every nook
I saw houses full of warmth and happiness
Gathered families taking a break from weariness
Their driveways full of vehicles of every size and make
Their kitchens full of every goody, snack, sausage, and steak
Their trees aglow through large window bright
And young kids opening presents with all their might
The Christmas so many know and love resides here
with an abundance of pleasantries and cheer
Immortalized in books, movies, plays, and minds,
Christmas symbolizes perfection for humans of every kind
They will not see me running in the dark,
even with my shining headlamp, leaving my mark
on every vehicle that passes by me,
Sometimes refusing to move over, sometimes causing me to flee.
Now enter I into the snow-covered Minnesota town
Where even on Christmas Eve the many lights and noises are not down
The bustling of any normal day passes
And left are stragglers living outside the masses
A hotel with vehicles in the parking lot,
A McDonalds with staff but customers not,
A main street with cars and trucks abounding,
A sheriff drives past, sirens this time not sounding
For many, Christmas doesn't have the glamour
The fritz, the glitz, the feats of grandeur
The bells ringing is really their clocking-in
And the present-opening is really emptying the garbage bin.
For others, Christmas is a time to mourn
the loss of family members, not about Christ being born.
What joy can there be in an empty chair?
When all in the room wish to feel their presence there?
And what of the cast-outs and misfits?
They will have nowhere to go, no matter the make-ups and grit
They will not be spending the night with family
They don't get to indulge in the old-time remedy
The homeless will continue to be homeless
The overworked continuing to be overworked.
The hospitalized will still be in the hospital,
And the jailed will still be in jail.
House after house I run past on the street
Screening windows, hoping to come across and meet
A house that looks like Christmas that we all know
But so many houses are dark and without glow
Empty, empty, empty, dark and cold
The houses seem to mostly be abandoned, not bold
Only the occassional residence permeates Christmas love
As obvious as funerals that release a box full of doves
With a mile to go, a country house caught my eye
It had light, bright, marvel, and a wink to the starry sky
There were people to fill, presents under a tall tree
and a warmth that had me wishing the same for me
And yet
I couldn't shake this darker feeling inside of me
Not anything bad for this family,
but rather a new understanding of this day
And a new list of names for which I pray
For all those who suffer this night, I pray
For all those who work this night, I pray
For all those who have nowhere to go this night, I pray
For all those with no hope this night, I pray
That you can be visible in a world that doesn't see you.
Monday, December 25, 2017
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
Clearing My Head- Reflections of a Sunday Long Run on the Rez
It was 9am before I finally got out of bed. Feeling guilty about sleeping so late (and making our trip to Bismarck even later), I drank some water, sneezed about 10 times, and threw on my running clothes. Without needing a headlight or ankle light- or wanting an iPod, I stepped out the door; it was 18 degrees, perfectly sunny, and with just a small hint of a south breeze, the first of that direction in quite a while.
It was the same tiny little town I've started running from every day- the school staff housing, the elder apartments, the highway with cars that you can hear from miles away, and the occasional dog bark. The only difference between this run and other runs is that I can see everything around me: the grass swaying in the field, the plastic garbage bag stuck to piece of corn stubble, the 99.8% water emissions from the energy plant about 30 miles to the south. I begin running south and immediately I'm slowing climbing uphill. Mile 1, mile 2, mile 3- all of it un-shouldered highway with traffic, and all of it rolling up and down, with the ups more than the downs.
I then take a rare opportunity to turn and run on the gravel. Usually on early morning or late night runs, I avoid the gravel roads out here because the rocks are big, I'm not entirely sure where all the roads go, and I've heard of past mountain lion sightings off the main highway. Today, in the middle of a sunny day, I choose gravel. This choice led me to not see another car for the next hour. I begin a mile-long climb up out of the valley.
As my shoes make the scraping sound of shoe meeting dirt, I turn and look from where I've come.
Physically, I've come from town. I notice that I'm actually looking down upon the little village, and that I'm higher in elevation than the top of the water tower, standing at least 150 feet tall. Earlier this year there was a beautiful morning where fog settled through the whole valley, and climbing out of it revealed a vast low-lying area right here, where the town is. When the seasons changed and the thousands upon thousands of snow geese were in the middle of their large-scale migration, anybody in town could hear their incessant yet calming noise from a large slough not more than a couple miles from town. It's a calm and refreshing presence on the sometimes stale and difficult North Dakota prairie, yet the beginnings of this lie in something a little more sinister.
This town hasn't existed as long as towns around it. Nearby Garrison was founded in 1905 and Parshall, to the north, 1914. 40 years later, White Shield was put together. In the early 1900s, the Missouri River meandered its way through western North Dakota, but by the 1950s, the behemoth Garrison Dam was built to create a massive lake called Sakakawea. Ironically, the lake named after a Native woman flooded out an enormous amount of fertile homeland of the tribes along the upper Missouri. Entire towns were forced to pack up and move, relocating to some place far less stable to live off of and farm. There was one major problem with moving, however: most of the local land had already been claimed by European homesteaders through the Homestead Act and the US Government allowing white settlers to take land on reservations as well.
So the conundrum was thus: we have a group of people that we don't really like, that need to be moved somewhere already claimed by people that we like. The decision was a place where sloughs and low-lying areas made farming difficult, if not impossible, in some areas; a depression in the land. Welcome to White Shield, ND.
Mentally and emotionally, I've come a long way from where I was. As cliche as it sounds, I've really been trying to figure out who I am in these post-college days. A year ago I graduated from college, and during those...ahemfiveandhalfyearsahem...I self-identified as a Christian student-athlete, even down to my last on-campus semester, where I drastically trimmed down my credit-hours and basically focused on running, writing about running, and being a leader of FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes). I had at least 5-6 hours a day that I could devote to training-related things without worry. We traveled, competed, trained, and played an immense amount of foosball.
Now, I live in a different world. I have a structured, clock-in/clock-out job and my wife as the only person to run with. No foosball, no travel for races, no young people to spend time with every day. Running while the sun shines is at times a distant memory, and as it gets colder, the morning darkness becomes harder and harder to penetrate with my mind and will. It gets pretty lonely out here without much for friends within an hour of 'home'.
Just about every person I've ever met in this 98% Native American town is really, really nice. I've struck up conversations with people in the gas station, people drive to the other side of the road when passing me running, and the school has been supportive of me as a teacher. However, I cannot help but shake the fact that all my students are a different color than me, with a background seeped in anger and betrayal directly stemming from people that look like me. There are not many places in America where a white guy can go to be in the minority, but I found one in a place that most ND people don't even know exists, within a 30 minute drive of a major tourism destination.
You know, some of America's darkest days didn't fall during the 'Indian Wars', because peoples have warred against each other since the beginning of time, but rather the successive combination of signing treaties that were not going to be honored, the scale-down of reservation sizes, and- lastly- boarding schools. We've all (hopefully) read about hair-cutting, language banning, and harsh punishments, but in reality the main idea was cultural assimilation. This, not unknown to history by any means, is when a group of people are defeated (physically, culturally, spiritually, etc) and forced to become a part of the majority culture. However, with the concept of reservations and our Bill of Rights, that's not how America was supposed to operate.
This leaves me questioning myself often about discipline decisions while at school. At what point am I shoving my culture and ideas about behavior onto another group of people? At what point do I realize that the students here and really not all that different than students at other schools? I have noticed that even within the reservation itself there are huge disparities about ideas of how to teach, govern, and live. This shouldn't be surprising, but many people in America tend to lump "Native Americans" into one category of people, with one set of ideas. This ignores that reality of our world.
The reality is that we all drive cars. We all make late-night shopping trips to Walmart. We all eat crappy fast food. We (almost) all burn natural gas and propane for heat. We all use computers, phones, and internet. In pop culture, even in 2017, we have a warped idea about the "Native American" while ignoring the simple fact that we are all humans beings trying to figure out how to live in this world.
Often, I'll get a chance to sit down with the school cook and have a talk about, well, everything. He once told me about how it frustrates him when people come to schools like this one with the wrong intentions. He's seen people coming in simply to try 'help out the poor Indian kids', or to seek something for themselves, rather than for the students. He told me, instead of seeing themselves as teachers, they see themselves as a teacher of Native students. There's a distinction there. By suggesting that you're teaching specifically Native students, the idea is that you are approaching your teaching completely different due to something about these people that is different. As I sit and watch snapchat-addicted students struggle to put their phones away, come to school with new widgets purchased at Walmart, and talking about Netflix shows they binge-watch, I wonder if the education process really needs to be all that different. I mean, I didn't come here looking for anything other than a chance to substitute teach close to home. I'm here to teach math (and some life skills), not to make social commentary.
Yet here I am, doing just that. Look, we have a race issue in this country. Ignore it or hate it, it permeates everywhere. The difference between now and 20 years ago is that now people are talking and making people uncomfortable about it. Last year, when I started teaching here, I was asked by students about my opinion of the DAPL protest, and thinking about that whole situation made me uncomfortable, because it demonstrates that we still struggle with an 'us versus them' mentality when it comes to white (US government)-native relations.
One thing about running in the middle of nowhere, you get to clear your mind. Everything above I mentally struggle with every day. How can I get every single one of my students exactly what they need in their mathematics education? But, running takes everything away. People that use running as a workout regimen or a way to stay in shape will see running as a difficult task to endure to succeed in a goal. Afterwards, they say, you get tired. No, running is invigorating. It produces life and gives me a bounce in my step. My problems disappear for a time, and all I can hear is that sound of the wind, or call of the birds. As mile after mile ticks away, I find myself at peace. I can't feel my brain actively telling my legs to move forward, my heart rate is calm, my breathing is comfortable. I bounce up and down, moving forward steadily. The ditch grass sways on the side of a water-carved valley down to the valley floor. On the highway miles away, busy cars fly past at 65mph on their ways towards who-knows-where. That'll be me in about and hour.
I feel accepted here, and I've been taunted less while running on a rural highway on a reservation than any other town I've ever run in. Maybe people aren't insecure about themselves here, or maybe there's a little more respect for others around here; either way I enjoy it. Later when I drive to Bismarck, the parking lots are packed in every lot- Christmas is a week away, and hundreds of people just like us are coming in from the countryside for a last chance at shopping. Sitting in a Barnes and Noble and reading a book about the National Parks while my wife visits friends, I can't help but transport myself back to that lonely gravel road as I came over the highest hill. There in front of me was a stunning view of the other side of the lake- the hills and buttes cutting through the prairie on their way down to the water. The water was a deep blue and gently flowing northbound with the wind. I couldn't help but keep looking at it, but deep down I was also sad; if only I could have seen it before the lake was created. There were towns down there- thriving. Now here we are, in a forgotten part of the country with only a tough, dry soil to sustain us. I know God created this beautiful place, and I know that He will guide in my every step throughout my life, whether it's here or somewhere else, but for now I just want to go for another run. It helps me process life a little easier.
So yeah, in the last three months I've decided to be a teacher, meteorologist, grad student, college coach, athletic director, principal, lawyer, environmentalist, firefighter, police officer, and farmer/racher. Where I go, no one knows. However, right now I should probably go back to planning out the next few days in math. Some of these class have a lot of moving parts to pay attention to.
It was the same tiny little town I've started running from every day- the school staff housing, the elder apartments, the highway with cars that you can hear from miles away, and the occasional dog bark. The only difference between this run and other runs is that I can see everything around me: the grass swaying in the field, the plastic garbage bag stuck to piece of corn stubble, the 99.8% water emissions from the energy plant about 30 miles to the south. I begin running south and immediately I'm slowing climbing uphill. Mile 1, mile 2, mile 3- all of it un-shouldered highway with traffic, and all of it rolling up and down, with the ups more than the downs.
I then take a rare opportunity to turn and run on the gravel. Usually on early morning or late night runs, I avoid the gravel roads out here because the rocks are big, I'm not entirely sure where all the roads go, and I've heard of past mountain lion sightings off the main highway. Today, in the middle of a sunny day, I choose gravel. This choice led me to not see another car for the next hour. I begin a mile-long climb up out of the valley.
As my shoes make the scraping sound of shoe meeting dirt, I turn and look from where I've come.
Physically, I've come from town. I notice that I'm actually looking down upon the little village, and that I'm higher in elevation than the top of the water tower, standing at least 150 feet tall. Earlier this year there was a beautiful morning where fog settled through the whole valley, and climbing out of it revealed a vast low-lying area right here, where the town is. When the seasons changed and the thousands upon thousands of snow geese were in the middle of their large-scale migration, anybody in town could hear their incessant yet calming noise from a large slough not more than a couple miles from town. It's a calm and refreshing presence on the sometimes stale and difficult North Dakota prairie, yet the beginnings of this lie in something a little more sinister.
This town hasn't existed as long as towns around it. Nearby Garrison was founded in 1905 and Parshall, to the north, 1914. 40 years later, White Shield was put together. In the early 1900s, the Missouri River meandered its way through western North Dakota, but by the 1950s, the behemoth Garrison Dam was built to create a massive lake called Sakakawea. Ironically, the lake named after a Native woman flooded out an enormous amount of fertile homeland of the tribes along the upper Missouri. Entire towns were forced to pack up and move, relocating to some place far less stable to live off of and farm. There was one major problem with moving, however: most of the local land had already been claimed by European homesteaders through the Homestead Act and the US Government allowing white settlers to take land on reservations as well.
So the conundrum was thus: we have a group of people that we don't really like, that need to be moved somewhere already claimed by people that we like. The decision was a place where sloughs and low-lying areas made farming difficult, if not impossible, in some areas; a depression in the land. Welcome to White Shield, ND.
Mentally and emotionally, I've come a long way from where I was. As cliche as it sounds, I've really been trying to figure out who I am in these post-college days. A year ago I graduated from college, and during those...ahemfiveandhalfyearsahem...I self-identified as a Christian student-athlete, even down to my last on-campus semester, where I drastically trimmed down my credit-hours and basically focused on running, writing about running, and being a leader of FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes). I had at least 5-6 hours a day that I could devote to training-related things without worry. We traveled, competed, trained, and played an immense amount of foosball.
Now, I live in a different world. I have a structured, clock-in/clock-out job and my wife as the only person to run with. No foosball, no travel for races, no young people to spend time with every day. Running while the sun shines is at times a distant memory, and as it gets colder, the morning darkness becomes harder and harder to penetrate with my mind and will. It gets pretty lonely out here without much for friends within an hour of 'home'.
Just about every person I've ever met in this 98% Native American town is really, really nice. I've struck up conversations with people in the gas station, people drive to the other side of the road when passing me running, and the school has been supportive of me as a teacher. However, I cannot help but shake the fact that all my students are a different color than me, with a background seeped in anger and betrayal directly stemming from people that look like me. There are not many places in America where a white guy can go to be in the minority, but I found one in a place that most ND people don't even know exists, within a 30 minute drive of a major tourism destination.
You know, some of America's darkest days didn't fall during the 'Indian Wars', because peoples have warred against each other since the beginning of time, but rather the successive combination of signing treaties that were not going to be honored, the scale-down of reservation sizes, and- lastly- boarding schools. We've all (hopefully) read about hair-cutting, language banning, and harsh punishments, but in reality the main idea was cultural assimilation. This, not unknown to history by any means, is when a group of people are defeated (physically, culturally, spiritually, etc) and forced to become a part of the majority culture. However, with the concept of reservations and our Bill of Rights, that's not how America was supposed to operate.
This leaves me questioning myself often about discipline decisions while at school. At what point am I shoving my culture and ideas about behavior onto another group of people? At what point do I realize that the students here and really not all that different than students at other schools? I have noticed that even within the reservation itself there are huge disparities about ideas of how to teach, govern, and live. This shouldn't be surprising, but many people in America tend to lump "Native Americans" into one category of people, with one set of ideas. This ignores that reality of our world.
The reality is that we all drive cars. We all make late-night shopping trips to Walmart. We all eat crappy fast food. We (almost) all burn natural gas and propane for heat. We all use computers, phones, and internet. In pop culture, even in 2017, we have a warped idea about the "Native American" while ignoring the simple fact that we are all humans beings trying to figure out how to live in this world.
Often, I'll get a chance to sit down with the school cook and have a talk about, well, everything. He once told me about how it frustrates him when people come to schools like this one with the wrong intentions. He's seen people coming in simply to try 'help out the poor Indian kids', or to seek something for themselves, rather than for the students. He told me, instead of seeing themselves as teachers, they see themselves as a teacher of Native students. There's a distinction there. By suggesting that you're teaching specifically Native students, the idea is that you are approaching your teaching completely different due to something about these people that is different. As I sit and watch snapchat-addicted students struggle to put their phones away, come to school with new widgets purchased at Walmart, and talking about Netflix shows they binge-watch, I wonder if the education process really needs to be all that different. I mean, I didn't come here looking for anything other than a chance to substitute teach close to home. I'm here to teach math (and some life skills), not to make social commentary.
Yet here I am, doing just that. Look, we have a race issue in this country. Ignore it or hate it, it permeates everywhere. The difference between now and 20 years ago is that now people are talking and making people uncomfortable about it. Last year, when I started teaching here, I was asked by students about my opinion of the DAPL protest, and thinking about that whole situation made me uncomfortable, because it demonstrates that we still struggle with an 'us versus them' mentality when it comes to white (US government)-native relations.
One thing about running in the middle of nowhere, you get to clear your mind. Everything above I mentally struggle with every day. How can I get every single one of my students exactly what they need in their mathematics education? But, running takes everything away. People that use running as a workout regimen or a way to stay in shape will see running as a difficult task to endure to succeed in a goal. Afterwards, they say, you get tired. No, running is invigorating. It produces life and gives me a bounce in my step. My problems disappear for a time, and all I can hear is that sound of the wind, or call of the birds. As mile after mile ticks away, I find myself at peace. I can't feel my brain actively telling my legs to move forward, my heart rate is calm, my breathing is comfortable. I bounce up and down, moving forward steadily. The ditch grass sways on the side of a water-carved valley down to the valley floor. On the highway miles away, busy cars fly past at 65mph on their ways towards who-knows-where. That'll be me in about and hour.
I feel accepted here, and I've been taunted less while running on a rural highway on a reservation than any other town I've ever run in. Maybe people aren't insecure about themselves here, or maybe there's a little more respect for others around here; either way I enjoy it. Later when I drive to Bismarck, the parking lots are packed in every lot- Christmas is a week away, and hundreds of people just like us are coming in from the countryside for a last chance at shopping. Sitting in a Barnes and Noble and reading a book about the National Parks while my wife visits friends, I can't help but transport myself back to that lonely gravel road as I came over the highest hill. There in front of me was a stunning view of the other side of the lake- the hills and buttes cutting through the prairie on their way down to the water. The water was a deep blue and gently flowing northbound with the wind. I couldn't help but keep looking at it, but deep down I was also sad; if only I could have seen it before the lake was created. There were towns down there- thriving. Now here we are, in a forgotten part of the country with only a tough, dry soil to sustain us. I know God created this beautiful place, and I know that He will guide in my every step throughout my life, whether it's here or somewhere else, but for now I just want to go for another run. It helps me process life a little easier.
So yeah, in the last three months I've decided to be a teacher, meteorologist, grad student, college coach, athletic director, principal, lawyer, environmentalist, firefighter, police officer, and farmer/racher. Where I go, no one knows. However, right now I should probably go back to planning out the next few days in math. Some of these class have a lot of moving parts to pay attention to.
Tuesday, November 21, 2017
North Dakota State Cross Country 2017- An Analysis of the Boy's Race
(*It might be easier to view some of the data here if you turn your phone sideways or read on a computer*)
State cross country this year was in Valley City, ND on a stunningly beautiful late fall day. The temperature in the morning was a balmy 15 degrees, working it's way up into the low 40s during the day. The sun was shining and the wind was negligent. The course was pretty flat with relatively few tight turns. The ground was dry and the grass manicured. Basically, perfect conditions for fast cross country. Through a strange happenstance that I have never understood, the meet was delayed due to the thick morning frost.
Now, I've experienced meets pushed back due to frost before (in college specifically), but I've never understood it. I heard word that the golf course manager was worried about the facility and pushed for the meet to start later. In 2009 I raced on this course for State XC and it was raining and dreary most of the day. By the time the Class B Boys raced (the last of the 4 races), the course was a mudpit. Times were slow and people were slipping everywhere. I fail to see how racing on a frost-covered course can do more damage than running in mud, but maybe I just don't understand how things work.
Either way, there were some exciting races taking place throughout the day. Whether it was the individual race in the B Boys or the team race in the A girls, the great conditions did not disappoint. A little overview of the champions:
Class A Boys:
Individual Champion: Evan Sayler, Senior, Bismarck Century, 15:42 (won by 22 seconds)
Team Champion: Bismarck Century, 60 points (4 ahead of 2nd place Williston)
Class B Boys:
Individual Champion: Jaiven Hale, Junior, New Town, 16:02 (won by 16 seconds)
Team Champion: New Town, 29 points (93 points ahead of 2nd place Hillsboro/Central Valley)
Class A Girls:
Individual Champion: Kelby Rinas, Sophomore, Mandan, 18:15 (won by 10 seconds)
Team Champion: Fargo Davies, 88 points (won in a tie-break with Grand Forks Central, and 1 point ahead of 3rd place Bismarck Century)
Class B Girls:
Individual Champion: Reagan Baesler, Hillsboro/Central Valley, 18:27 (won by 32 seconds)
Team Champion: Hillsboro/Central Valley, 96 points (12 ahead of 2nd place Watford City)
------------------------------------------
The 2016 analysis can be found here: 2016 Boys
Let's take a look at each race:
Class B Boys:
The question in this race was not, 'Who would win the State Title', but rather, 'How low of a score could New Town get while winning their sixth State Title in a row?' New Town was noticeably weaker this year, having five runners ranked in the top ten but not necessarily the top five or six. The race played out a as expected- A glob of yellow jerseys to the front at the start along with the black jersey of Isaac Huber (Edgeley/Kulm), determined to break the hold of Eagle dominance at the top. Predictably, Jalen Chase moved to the front and gapped the field in the first mile. The recent state-record holder in the B 3200m on the track, this was no surprise to anybody. However, by the first mile and beyond, last year's state champion in cross country faded back and allowed teammates and Huber to pass in front of him. He ended up finishing fourth.
The race rapidly turned into a two-man battle for the title- Huber and Jaiven Hale. Huber patiently waited and picked off yellow jerseys one-by-one until it was just the two juniors left. Huber sat behind Hale for the majority of the second and third miles. With about a half mile left to go, Huber moved up on the shoulder of Hale and they were side by side. It was exciting! Almost as soon as that happened though, Hale turned on the jets and pushed a huge gap on Huber in a very short amount of time. As Hale sprinted away to victory, Huber was left gassed and was passed by Robert White (sophomore/New Town) and almost passed by Jalen Chase. New Town ended up going 1-2-4-7-15 for a total of 29. Normally that would be obliteration (it was), but in previous years they've taken 6 of the top 7 spots- a noticeable difference.
Congrats to New Town, though!
As for the rest of the race, there were 45 teams and 293 runners. That's by far that largest of any of the four state races, but the depth was still more in the boy's race. In the analysis of the girls race (here), I noted that the difference between 1st and 100th place was close to 5 minutes, but here it was less than 4. It's interesting to see that even with more athletes, the finishing places over the exact same distance were closer.
2004- 157 runners, 27 teams
2006- 180 runners, 30 teams
State cross country this year was in Valley City, ND on a stunningly beautiful late fall day. The temperature in the morning was a balmy 15 degrees, working it's way up into the low 40s during the day. The sun was shining and the wind was negligent. The course was pretty flat with relatively few tight turns. The ground was dry and the grass manicured. Basically, perfect conditions for fast cross country. Through a strange happenstance that I have never understood, the meet was delayed due to the thick morning frost.
Now, I've experienced meets pushed back due to frost before (in college specifically), but I've never understood it. I heard word that the golf course manager was worried about the facility and pushed for the meet to start later. In 2009 I raced on this course for State XC and it was raining and dreary most of the day. By the time the Class B Boys raced (the last of the 4 races), the course was a mudpit. Times were slow and people were slipping everywhere. I fail to see how racing on a frost-covered course can do more damage than running in mud, but maybe I just don't understand how things work.
Either way, there were some exciting races taking place throughout the day. Whether it was the individual race in the B Boys or the team race in the A girls, the great conditions did not disappoint. A little overview of the champions:
Class A Boys:
Individual Champion: Evan Sayler, Senior, Bismarck Century, 15:42 (won by 22 seconds)
Team Champion: Bismarck Century, 60 points (4 ahead of 2nd place Williston)
Class B Boys:
Individual Champion: Jaiven Hale, Junior, New Town, 16:02 (won by 16 seconds)
Team Champion: New Town, 29 points (93 points ahead of 2nd place Hillsboro/Central Valley)
Class A Girls:
Individual Champion: Kelby Rinas, Sophomore, Mandan, 18:15 (won by 10 seconds)
Team Champion: Fargo Davies, 88 points (won in a tie-break with Grand Forks Central, and 1 point ahead of 3rd place Bismarck Century)
Class B Girls:
Individual Champion: Reagan Baesler, Hillsboro/Central Valley, 18:27 (won by 32 seconds)
Team Champion: Hillsboro/Central Valley, 96 points (12 ahead of 2nd place Watford City)
------------------------------------------
The 2016 analysis can be found here: 2016 Boys
Let's take a look at each race:
Class B Boys:
The question in this race was not, 'Who would win the State Title', but rather, 'How low of a score could New Town get while winning their sixth State Title in a row?' New Town was noticeably weaker this year, having five runners ranked in the top ten but not necessarily the top five or six. The race played out a as expected- A glob of yellow jerseys to the front at the start along with the black jersey of Isaac Huber (Edgeley/Kulm), determined to break the hold of Eagle dominance at the top. Predictably, Jalen Chase moved to the front and gapped the field in the first mile. The recent state-record holder in the B 3200m on the track, this was no surprise to anybody. However, by the first mile and beyond, last year's state champion in cross country faded back and allowed teammates and Huber to pass in front of him. He ended up finishing fourth.
The race rapidly turned into a two-man battle for the title- Huber and Jaiven Hale. Huber patiently waited and picked off yellow jerseys one-by-one until it was just the two juniors left. Huber sat behind Hale for the majority of the second and third miles. With about a half mile left to go, Huber moved up on the shoulder of Hale and they were side by side. It was exciting! Almost as soon as that happened though, Hale turned on the jets and pushed a huge gap on Huber in a very short amount of time. As Hale sprinted away to victory, Huber was left gassed and was passed by Robert White (sophomore/New Town) and almost passed by Jalen Chase. New Town ended up going 1-2-4-7-15 for a total of 29. Normally that would be obliteration (it was), but in previous years they've taken 6 of the top 7 spots- a noticeable difference.
Congrats to New Town, though!
As for the rest of the race, there were 45 teams and 293 runners. That's by far that largest of any of the four state races, but the depth was still more in the boy's race. In the analysis of the girls race (here), I noted that the difference between 1st and 100th place was close to 5 minutes, but here it was less than 4. It's interesting to see that even with more athletes, the finishing places over the exact same distance were closer.
2004- 157 runners, 27 teams
2005- 149 runners, 27 teams
2006- 180 runners, 30 teams
2007- 183 runners, 31 teams
2008- 188 runners, 32 teams
2009- 176 runners, 34 teams
2010- 185 runners, 35 teams
2011- 171 runners, 36 teams
2012- 191 runners, 36 teams
2013- 207 runners, 35 teams
2014- 221 runners, 40 teams
2015- 247 runners, 45 teams
2016- 265 runners, 49 teams
2017- 293 runners, 45 teams
*Note that in the chart above, 1 on the x-axis corresponds to 2004, and 14 corresponds to 2017.
This chart makes it clear that since 2011, the number of athletes in this race has steadily increased every year. This is leading to discussions of what to do with increasing numbers (a more in-depth discussion can be found on the girl's analysis). Basically, this growth at the state meet is unsustainable. At this pace, we can expect 350 runners by roughly 2023, not too far away. Very, very few courses in the state can support numbers like that. So, a solution needs to be found.
Next we'll look at the state meet predictions for next year. The methodology is simple: remove all the seniors from the state race and re-score it. This will give you a general idea of team depth beyond what are normally the fastest runners on each team (seniors). Of course, this can't account for those runners that had off races, and it can't account for massive improvements from year-year by younger athletes. Here's what last year's predictions looked like versus what actually happened this year:
2017 Predictions 2017 Actual
1.) New Town (21) 1.) New Town (29)
2.) Rugby (109) 2.) Hillsboro/CV (123)
3.) Beulah/Hazen (153) 3.) Hatton/Thompson/Northwood (159)
4.) Hillsboro/Central Valley (157) 4.) Rubgy (174)
5.) Bowman County (213) 5.) Bowman County (211)
It looks like New Town and Bowman County followed in last year's footsteps almost exactly, but overall the top five was different. H/N/T snuck into the top five. Rugby and Beulah/Hazen both were lower, and Hillsboro/CV was higher, even though the overall score wasn't much different. Before re-scoring this year's meet: here's a brief overview of grades of all the athletes in the top 40:
Seniors- 7
Juniors- 11
Sophomores- 12
Freshmen- 8
8th Grade- 2
7th Grade- 0
Compared to last year, the state is very heavy in the middle-high school range, but rather low on seniors at the top. This suggests a pretty strong Class B for at least the next two years. In fact, there were only two seniors in the top ten, and none in the top three.
Here's what next year's state meet would look like if we take out all seniors and re-score the meet:
2017 Actual: 2018 Predictions:
1.) New Town (29) 1.) New Town (67)
2.) Hillsboro/CV (123) 2.) H/CV (122)
3.) H/N/T (159) 3.) Rugby (137)
4.) Rugby (174) 4.) Bowman Co. (204)
5.) Bowman Co. (211) 5.) Carrington (307)
A few things to take note of in this year's results that show on next year's predictions:
1.) The reason why the scores seem to be higher overall is because there are 25 teams represented in the first 50 places at state (after seniors removed). The fact that most teams had their second runner coming in around places 40-60 is really going to drive scores up.
2.) There were about 6 teams all having their runners 1-5 finish in the same general area, and this created a massive log jam immediately after the top five. See for yourself:
6th: H/N/T (341)
7th: Beulah/Hazen (349)
8th: Griggs Co. Central (352)
9th: Pembina Co. North (357)
10th: Four Winds/Minnewauken (378)
What this says is simple: I'm not gonna give any athletes or coaches training advice, but all you need is your 4-5 runners putting in a tough summer of work and dropping a decent chunk of time on their 5k, moving up 30-40 places in the middle of the pack, and suddenly you have a top five team. 3-5 runners are what carry teams at big meets like state, and having a low stick helps, but not as much.
3.) New Town. Not only would 67 points be their highest total in many years, but what's more important is that their fifth runner comes in at 38th place. Their 6th runner comes in at 141st place. Additionally, Hillsboro's fifth runner comes in at 43rd place, but their 6th runner is 159th. That doesn't bode well for next year or the future, because one injury in the top five and suddenly you drop a few places. For perspective, Rugby's 8th runner was 108th place. That's huge for long-term development.
Class A Boys
The Class A Boys race was the Bismarck Century show. Senior Evan Sayler ran 15:42 to win by more than 20 seconds, while as a team they won the title with 60 points. The team race wasn't as big of a victory as the individual race, however, as Williston was right behind them with a score of 64 points. It was also BC's second consecutive state championship.
I'm not going to spend much time talking about teams and numbers in the Class A race, because for many years the number of teams and runners hasn't changed all that much. In my senior year of high school (2010), there were 160 athletes and 18 teams. This year there was 175 athletes and 19 teams. The main reason for this is that the Class A schools have stayed constant, and most of them bring the full 10-person roster every year. I mean, this year the teams averaged 9.2 runners/team, and only a few teams didn't meet the 10-person threshold. So, numbers aren't much of a worry in Class A.
Now for some analysis of the actual race. First off, let's look at how well-matched the top two teams, Bismarck Century and Williston, were in the results. Like I did in the article for the girls, I'm going to compare the place finishes of each team's top 6 runners to show how close four points actually is at a big meet. The last row will be the total time (in seconds) difference between the BC and Williston runners.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
Bismarck Century 1 5 11 13 30 (34)
Williston 4 7 14 18 21 (35)
Time Difference 33 sec 2 sec 6 sec 9 sec -11 sec 1 sec
As you can see, these two teams were very close at almost every position. Williston lost points at runners 1, 2, 3 and 4, but made up 9 points on the 5th runner. Basically, Williston's 2, 3 and 4 runners could have each run 5-10 seconds faster and the state champion would have been different. Like I've said, those middle runners make all the difference in big meets.
Here's the grade levels of the top 40 in the men's A race:
Seniors- 13
Juniors- 10
Sophomores- 8
Freshmen- 7
8th Grade- 1
7th Grade- 1
As opposed to other races we have seen this year, this one was very top-heavy. Usually boy's races have more upperclassmen at the top compared to girl's, and certainly next year's list will look similar. Also, if anybody can tell me how Williston always has fast 7th and 8th graders at state, I'd love to know.
Now for the predictions. Here's how last year's predictions panned out this year:
2017 Predictions 2017 Actual
1.) Bismarck Century (52) 1.) Bismarck Century (60)
2.) Bismarck Legacy (87) 2.) Williston (64)
3.) Bismarck High (113) 3.) Bismarck Legacy (85)
4.) Grand Forks Red River (161) 4.) Bismarck High (126)
5.) Fargo Davies (166) 5.) Fargo North (177)
Here we can see that the predicted top three teams all were fairly close to their predicted point totals. However, Williston moved up a lot, and Fargo North snuck into the top five. It's also worth noting that the top 4 teams this year were all from the west half of the state.
Here's next year's predictions when seniors are removed and the meet is re-scored.
2017 Actual 2018 Predictions
1.) Bismarck Century (60) 1.) Williston (46)
2.) Williston (64) 2.) Bismarck Legacy (75)
3.) Bismarck Legacy (85) 3.) Bismarck Century (93)
4.) Bismarck High (126) 4.) Fargo North (126)
5.) Fargo North (177) 5.) Bismarck High (182)
6.) Fargo Davies (189)
Two short notes on this:
1.) Last year in predictions, I took out all seniors and juniors, and then only scored 4 runners. Williston had 36 points, and the next closest was 72. We are likely about to see a few years of orange dominance. Not only is Williston predicted to win handily next year, but they are YOUNG. In the re-scored list for next year (2018), Williston has 7 runners in before every other team in the state- besides Bismarck Legacy- has 5. Here's the current (2017) grades of those top seven next year:
-Sophomore
-Freshman
-Sophomore
-7th Grade
-Junior
-Sophomore
-Sophomore(this 7th runner is predicted at 26th place next year)
So, basically we can see them easily winning state at least the next two year. Somehow this town puts together a strong team every single year.
2.) WDA dominance will likely continue with 4 teams in the top 6 next year.
Last, but certainly not least, the list of how strong each division is. The next list is showing the average of the top ten times in each division each year, followed by the percent difference. This shows the relative strength of each division each year.
Based on the data, it seems as if Class B as a whole is getting stronger over the last few years, but one must take into account that years 2010-2013 were the Jake Leingang/Bismarck obliteration years that are certainly outliers. I must say, though, that only a 20 second average difference between the two divisions says a lot about the strength of the top Class B runners right now. Don't sleep on them, college coaches!
2017- 293 runners, 45 teams
*Note that in the chart above, 1 on the x-axis corresponds to 2004, and 14 corresponds to 2017.
This chart makes it clear that since 2011, the number of athletes in this race has steadily increased every year. This is leading to discussions of what to do with increasing numbers (a more in-depth discussion can be found on the girl's analysis). Basically, this growth at the state meet is unsustainable. At this pace, we can expect 350 runners by roughly 2023, not too far away. Very, very few courses in the state can support numbers like that. So, a solution needs to be found.
Next we'll look at the state meet predictions for next year. The methodology is simple: remove all the seniors from the state race and re-score it. This will give you a general idea of team depth beyond what are normally the fastest runners on each team (seniors). Of course, this can't account for those runners that had off races, and it can't account for massive improvements from year-year by younger athletes. Here's what last year's predictions looked like versus what actually happened this year:
2017 Predictions 2017 Actual
1.) New Town (21) 1.) New Town (29)
2.) Rugby (109) 2.) Hillsboro/CV (123)
3.) Beulah/Hazen (153) 3.) Hatton/Thompson/Northwood (159)
4.) Hillsboro/Central Valley (157) 4.) Rubgy (174)
5.) Bowman County (213) 5.) Bowman County (211)
It looks like New Town and Bowman County followed in last year's footsteps almost exactly, but overall the top five was different. H/N/T snuck into the top five. Rugby and Beulah/Hazen both were lower, and Hillsboro/CV was higher, even though the overall score wasn't much different. Before re-scoring this year's meet: here's a brief overview of grades of all the athletes in the top 40:
Seniors- 7
Juniors- 11
Sophomores- 12
Freshmen- 8
8th Grade- 2
7th Grade- 0
Compared to last year, the state is very heavy in the middle-high school range, but rather low on seniors at the top. This suggests a pretty strong Class B for at least the next two years. In fact, there were only two seniors in the top ten, and none in the top three.
Here's what next year's state meet would look like if we take out all seniors and re-score the meet:
2017 Actual: 2018 Predictions:
1.) New Town (29) 1.) New Town (67)
2.) Hillsboro/CV (123) 2.) H/CV (122)
3.) H/N/T (159) 3.) Rugby (137)
4.) Rugby (174) 4.) Bowman Co. (204)
5.) Bowman Co. (211) 5.) Carrington (307)
A few things to take note of in this year's results that show on next year's predictions:
1.) The reason why the scores seem to be higher overall is because there are 25 teams represented in the first 50 places at state (after seniors removed). The fact that most teams had their second runner coming in around places 40-60 is really going to drive scores up.
2.) There were about 6 teams all having their runners 1-5 finish in the same general area, and this created a massive log jam immediately after the top five. See for yourself:
6th: H/N/T (341)
7th: Beulah/Hazen (349)
8th: Griggs Co. Central (352)
9th: Pembina Co. North (357)
10th: Four Winds/Minnewauken (378)
What this says is simple: I'm not gonna give any athletes or coaches training advice, but all you need is your 4-5 runners putting in a tough summer of work and dropping a decent chunk of time on their 5k, moving up 30-40 places in the middle of the pack, and suddenly you have a top five team. 3-5 runners are what carry teams at big meets like state, and having a low stick helps, but not as much.
3.) New Town. Not only would 67 points be their highest total in many years, but what's more important is that their fifth runner comes in at 38th place. Their 6th runner comes in at 141st place. Additionally, Hillsboro's fifth runner comes in at 43rd place, but their 6th runner is 159th. That doesn't bode well for next year or the future, because one injury in the top five and suddenly you drop a few places. For perspective, Rugby's 8th runner was 108th place. That's huge for long-term development.
Class A Boys
The Class A Boys race was the Bismarck Century show. Senior Evan Sayler ran 15:42 to win by more than 20 seconds, while as a team they won the title with 60 points. The team race wasn't as big of a victory as the individual race, however, as Williston was right behind them with a score of 64 points. It was also BC's second consecutive state championship.
I'm not going to spend much time talking about teams and numbers in the Class A race, because for many years the number of teams and runners hasn't changed all that much. In my senior year of high school (2010), there were 160 athletes and 18 teams. This year there was 175 athletes and 19 teams. The main reason for this is that the Class A schools have stayed constant, and most of them bring the full 10-person roster every year. I mean, this year the teams averaged 9.2 runners/team, and only a few teams didn't meet the 10-person threshold. So, numbers aren't much of a worry in Class A.
Now for some analysis of the actual race. First off, let's look at how well-matched the top two teams, Bismarck Century and Williston, were in the results. Like I did in the article for the girls, I'm going to compare the place finishes of each team's top 6 runners to show how close four points actually is at a big meet. The last row will be the total time (in seconds) difference between the BC and Williston runners.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
Bismarck Century 1 5 11 13 30 (34)
Williston 4 7 14 18 21 (35)
Time Difference 33 sec 2 sec 6 sec 9 sec -11 sec 1 sec
As you can see, these two teams were very close at almost every position. Williston lost points at runners 1, 2, 3 and 4, but made up 9 points on the 5th runner. Basically, Williston's 2, 3 and 4 runners could have each run 5-10 seconds faster and the state champion would have been different. Like I've said, those middle runners make all the difference in big meets.
Here's the grade levels of the top 40 in the men's A race:
Seniors- 13
Juniors- 10
Sophomores- 8
Freshmen- 7
8th Grade- 1
7th Grade- 1
As opposed to other races we have seen this year, this one was very top-heavy. Usually boy's races have more upperclassmen at the top compared to girl's, and certainly next year's list will look similar. Also, if anybody can tell me how Williston always has fast 7th and 8th graders at state, I'd love to know.
Now for the predictions. Here's how last year's predictions panned out this year:
2017 Predictions 2017 Actual
1.) Bismarck Century (52) 1.) Bismarck Century (60)
2.) Bismarck Legacy (87) 2.) Williston (64)
3.) Bismarck High (113) 3.) Bismarck Legacy (85)
4.) Grand Forks Red River (161) 4.) Bismarck High (126)
5.) Fargo Davies (166) 5.) Fargo North (177)
Here we can see that the predicted top three teams all were fairly close to their predicted point totals. However, Williston moved up a lot, and Fargo North snuck into the top five. It's also worth noting that the top 4 teams this year were all from the west half of the state.
Here's next year's predictions when seniors are removed and the meet is re-scored.
2017 Actual 2018 Predictions
1.) Bismarck Century (60) 1.) Williston (46)
2.) Williston (64) 2.) Bismarck Legacy (75)
3.) Bismarck Legacy (85) 3.) Bismarck Century (93)
4.) Bismarck High (126) 4.) Fargo North (126)
5.) Fargo North (177) 5.) Bismarck High (182)
6.) Fargo Davies (189)
Two short notes on this:
1.) Last year in predictions, I took out all seniors and juniors, and then only scored 4 runners. Williston had 36 points, and the next closest was 72. We are likely about to see a few years of orange dominance. Not only is Williston predicted to win handily next year, but they are YOUNG. In the re-scored list for next year (2018), Williston has 7 runners in before every other team in the state- besides Bismarck Legacy- has 5. Here's the current (2017) grades of those top seven next year:
-Sophomore
-Freshman
-Sophomore
-7th Grade
-Junior
-Sophomore
-Sophomore(this 7th runner is predicted at 26th place next year)
So, basically we can see them easily winning state at least the next two year. Somehow this town puts together a strong team every single year.
2.) WDA dominance will likely continue with 4 teams in the top 6 next year.
Last, but certainly not least, the list of how strong each division is. The next list is showing the average of the top ten times in each division each year, followed by the percent difference. This shows the relative strength of each division each year.
Year Class A Class B % Difference
2017 16:16.8 16:36.7 2.0%
2017 16:16.8 16:36.7 2.0%
2016 16:03.6 16:27.4 2.5%
2015 16:15.8 16:58.0 4.3%
2014 16:15.1 16:53.0 3.9%
2013 16:16.7 17:05.7 5.0%
2012 16:07.8 17:19.4 7.4%
2011 15:59.0 17:13.3 7.7%
2010 16:52.1 17:34.4 4.2%
2009 16:12.1 17:06.3 5.6%
2007 16:10.6 16:38.7 2.9%
2006 16:29.5 17:09.1 4.0%
2005 17:06.5 17:23.6 1.7%
2004 16:53.0 17:49.5 5.6%
2003 16:19.0 17:10.0 5.2% (overall avg. 4.4%)Based on the data, it seems as if Class B as a whole is getting stronger over the last few years, but one must take into account that years 2010-2013 were the Jake Leingang/Bismarck obliteration years that are certainly outliers. I must say, though, that only a 20 second average difference between the two divisions says a lot about the strength of the top Class B runners right now. Don't sleep on them, college coaches!
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
North Dakota State Cross Country 2017- An Analysis of the Women's Race
(*It might be easier to view some of the data here if you flip your phone sideways or use a computer*)
State cross country this year was in Valley City, ND on a stunningly beautiful late fall day. The temperature in the morning was a balmy 15 degrees, working it's way up into the low 40s during the day. The sun was shining and the wind was negligent. The course was pretty flat with relatively few tight turns. The ground was dry and the grass manicured. Basically, perfect conditions for fast cross country. Through a strange happenstance that I have never understood, the meet was delayed due to the thick morning frost.
Now, I've experienced meets pushed back due to frost before (in college specifically), but I've never understood it. I heard word that the golf course manager was worried about the facility and pushed for the meet to start later. In 2009 I raced on this course for State XC and it was raining and dreary most of the day. By the time the Class B Boys raced (the last of the 4 races), the course was a mudpit. Times were slow and people were slipping everywhere. I fail to see how racing on a frost-covered course can do more damage than running in mud, but maybe I just don't understand how things work.
Either way, there were some exciting races taking place throughout the day. Whether it was the individual race in the B Boys or the team race in the A girls, the great conditions did not disappoint. A little overview of the champions:
Class A Boys:
Individual Champion: Evan Sayler, Senior, Bismarck Century, 15:42 (won by 22 seconds)
Team Champion: Bismarck Century, 60 points (4 ahead of 2nd place Williston)
Class B Boys:
Individual Champion: Jaiven Hale, Junior, New Town, 16:02 (won by 16 seconds)
Team Champion: New Town, 29 points (93 points ahead of 2nd place Hillsboro/Central Valley)
Class A Girls:
Individual Champion: Kelby Rinas, Sophomore, Mandan, 18:15 (won by 10 seconds)
Team Champion: Fargo Davies, 88 points (won in a tie-break with Grand Forks Central, and 1 point ahead of 3rd place Bismarck Century)
Class B Girls:
Individual Champion: Reagan Baesler, Hillsboro/Central Valley, 18:27 (won by 32 seconds)
Team Champion: Hillsboro/Central Valley, 96 points (12 ahead of 2nd place Watford City)
-------------------------------------------------------------
Last year's analysis can be found here: 2016 Analysis
I'll take a brief look at each race individually now.
Class B Girls:
The big story of this race was the dominating performance of Reagan Baesler. This was her second state championship in a row (it's worth noting that Kayla Ogle was 2nd for the 2nd year in a row) and this was by more than 30 seconds. It was clear during the race that she had this locked up. She was near the front immediately after the start, moved into the front, and started growing the gap throughout the race. Even within the third mile she looked better than most girls quite a ways behind her. Her team, Hillsboro/Central Valley won their 7th consecutive state title, an impressive feat to be sure.
This year there were 260 athletes competing for 46 different teams. Last year there were 223 athletes from 47 teams. However some schools added co-ops, so that may explain how the participation numbers go up while team numbers go down.
| Year | Runners | Teams |
| 2004 | 144 | 25 |
| 2005 | 146 | 27 |
| 2006 | 153 | 28 |
| 2007 | 150 | 29 |
| 2008 | 179 | 30 |
| 2009 | 177 | 35 |
| 2010 | 172 | 41 |
| 2011 | 198 | 38 |
| 2012 | 196 | 37 |
| 2013 | 209 | 37 |
| 2014 | 208 | 39 |
| 2015 | 234 | 45 |
| 2016 | 223 | 47 |
| 2017 | 260 | 46 |
As you can see from the chart, the number of athletes has been exploding in recent years. This comes as no surprise, being that cross country is the best sport out there, but in reality Class B is facing some tough decisions coming up. I wasn't at the coaches meeting this year, but I did hear that high participation numbers again came up as a problems. Simply put, there are few courses in the state that can accommodate 260 runners. Many B schools host their meets on 9-hole golf courses or area parks, and many A schools do much the same, with perhaps an 18-hole golf course. None of these places are set up to handle that kind of load. North Dakota is unique in that the state meet bounces location from year to year and that every school, no matter what division, can bring 10 runners to compete at the state meet. In most states, this would be disastrous because there would be more than 500 kids on the start line for each race, but we don't have enough people to worry about that.
Until now. The solutions being presented each have downs and ups. Here's an example of a few:
1.) Make a permanent site for state cross country. This appeals to Jamestown specifically because they want it every year and have a decently wide course. It would add stability to the schedule and provide quite a boost to the local economy. However, having different locations every year is a lot of fun and the Jamestown course isn't all that great for spectators and coaches. At state last year we were instructed that we could not go back into the woods that the kids run through, which is also where mile marker 1 is located. As a coach, I did not like the course. As a spectator, I wouldn't either. As a state high school activities association, I would love it.
2.) Limit state meet entries. Minnesota limits to 7 varsity runners at most meets, especially districts, sections, and state. B schools like Watford City, Rugby, Beulah/Hazen would be limited in how many athletes they could have competing. A quick check of this year shows that 31 girls would not have competed, bringing participation down to 229. As numbers keep rising and the number of teams with between 3-7 runners increases, I don't think this is a good long-term strategy.
3.) 2 start lines at the state meet. Yes, this was actually a suggestion. I won't even write about it because it's comical to have something like this at a STATE MEET.
Me personally, I think a good short-term strategy would be move some of the bigger B schools up to A, which should even things out, and long term look at going towards a 3-class system in most of the sports in the state.
Last thing about this issue: 100th place in the B girls race was almost 5 MINUTES behind the leader. The absurdity of that means that the race is strung out quite a bit, and as long as the first half/full mile of the course is wide, the girls race has room to race on many different courses.
Now we'll look at a hypothetical state meet next year. Last year I took all the seniors out of the state meet and re-scored it. Here's how it compared with what actually happened this year:
Predicted Actual
H/CV 103 H/CV 96
Rubgy 118 Watford City 108
Bowman County 196 Rugby 148
So. Mclean 262 New Town 261
Watford City 273 H/N/T 286
So, the teams were a little off, but the scores were pretty close. Moral of the story right now: score under 100 points if you want to win, under 200 points to podium, and under 300 for a shot at top 5.
Here's a breakdown of the top 40 by grade of this year's B girls race:
Seniors- 4
Juniors- 9
Sophomores- 9
Freshmen- 8
8th Grade- 5
7th Grade- 5
This mirrors last year almost exactly.
Here's how the scoring would be affected by removing the seniors from the overall results:
2017: 2018 (predicted):
H/CV 96 Watford 115*
Watford 108 H/CV 135
Rugby 148 Rugby 166
New Town 261 New Town 230
H/N/T 286 H/N/T 253
What can we take from this? Well, first off the top five probably isn't going to change much. On next year's predictions, the sixth place team would be Stanley, just about 80 points back of 5th place. Second thing to note is that Watford City has low sticks. In running lingo, this means they have girls up front getting some low scores. In fact, Watford's first 4 girls come in with a score of 35 points. Their fifth runner is positioned at 60th, and their 6th at 62. If their girls up front can stay there, and their 5/6 runners move up, they will win next year, ending Hillsboro/Central Valley's reign atop the State B Girls.
*I've heard the Watford City is going Class A next year, and if that's true, then it'll be Hillsboro/Central Valley and Rugby battling for top honors.
Class A Girls:
The big story in this race was the incredibly close team finish.There were 3 teams within one point of the state championship. Fargo Davies and Grand Forks Central tied with 88 points, while Bismarck Century was one point back with 89 points. Davies won the tiebreaker because officials look at whichever team had their 6th runner come in 1st. It's also worth noting that Bismarck High was 4th with 99 points, putting 4 teams within 11 points of the championship. I mean, 11 points is every girl on your team moving up or down 2 or 3 positions in a race with hundreds of runners. It doesn't get much closer than that! Let's look at how each team fared with their top five (also included is each team's 1-5 spread, which is the difference in times between their 1st runner and 5th. Strong teams at big meets usually have small spreads):
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th (6th) 1-5 Spread
Davies 11 12 18 21 26 (28) 0:57
GFC 6 8 9 23 42 (45) 1:40
BC 4 5 17 19 34 (68) 1:34
BHS 2 15 19 27 36 (38) 1:47
It's worth noting that the 1-7 spread for Davies was actually 1:10, still less than any other team's 1-5.
Looking at this chart, it becomes clear why Davies and Central were so close, but Davies won. GFC had low sticks, with three girls in the top ten. However, their 5 runner didn't come in until 42nd place. Davies, on the other hand, had no girls in the top 10, but had a tight-knit group of girls taking away spots from the other teams. They also won the tiebreak because of having more depth in the 6th and 7th positions. This isn't to suggest that Davies dominated, however, because one girl losing one spot would have given the championship to GFC. It was that close!
I won't take the time to look at participation numbers for Girl's Class A, because even though the total runners jumped about 10 from last year (176 this year), Class A teams usually bring 10 runners to state, and the number of Class A teams hasn't changed much. To get a more accurate picture, one would have to look at something like a conference meet where everybody runs in some sort of race.
Let's analyze the race. Here's a breakdown of the top 40 by grade:
Seniors- 5
Juniors- 5
Sophomores- 11
Freshmen- 10
8th Grade- 7
7th Grade- 2
Just like the Class B race, a very young top 40, but again this mirrors pretty close to last year as well.
Here now is my prediction last year (based upon taking out seniors and re-scoring the meet) versus what actually happened.
Predicted: Actual:
1.) Davies 54 Davies 88
2.) BHS 94 GFC 88
3.) BC 116 BC 89
4.) GFC 139 BHS 99
5.) Minot 152 Minot 149
As you can see, the results again line up pretty well, especially with Minot, Davies, and Bismarck Century. Here now is what the results look like for next year, minus the seniors:
2017: 2018 (predicted):
Davies 88 Davies 80
GFC 88 BC 82
BC 89 BHS 90
BHS 99 GFC 113
Minot 149 Minot 149
Note that the predicted 6th place team is West Fargo with 189 points. What do we make of this? Well, it looks like the top 5 will jostle around a little, but fundamentally not change. The WDA will still be completely dominant, and Davies will have another close title run.
The last thing I want to look at is the difference in the average of the top ten times in each race at state. Naturally, the A Girls are usually faster in the top ten, but by how much? Here's the chart (note that this is only year 2 of 5k race distances, before that they were 4k):
Year Class A Class B % Difference
2017 18:37.8 19:15.4 3.4%
2016 18:14.8 19:10.4 5.1%
2015 14:42.2 15:04.6 2.5%
2014 14:37.7 15:26.8 5.6%
2013 14:48.7 15:30.3 4.7%
2012 15:11.7 15:54.9 4.7%
2011 14:39.8 15:25.9 5.2%
2010 15:12.6 15:50.7 4.2%
2009 15:06.0 15:41.3 3.9%
2008 15:16.1 16:06.3 5.5%
2007 14:57.1 15:32.3 3.9%
2006 14:59.4 15:42.8 4.8%
2005 15:54.1 16:11.6 1.8%
2004 15:27.4 15:34.5 0.8%
2003 15:12.2 15:21.8 1.1% (overall avg 3.8%)
In conclusion, this year's times were a bit slower than last year, but fell in line with historical averages. I made a note last year that in the early 2000s there were some Class B girls from Leeds/Maddock absolutely shredding every race they ran, and could easily compete with the best in Class A, thus the lower percents.
So there's the Class A and B Girl's Analysis! I'll have the one for the Boys up sometime- these take awhile! Happy running everyone!
Monday, October 16, 2017
The Realest Race I Never Expected To Have
I woke up. It wasn’t dark out. I rolled over and checked my
watch- 8:30am, nice! I haven’t slept that late in weeks. I fidgeted with
unzipping my sleeping bag, removed myself from its warmth, took the gloves off
of my feet, and put my shoes on. I opened my tent, removed the rain tarp, and
looked out. In front of me, the freshly cut grass showed lingering signs of
frost. Beside me on my left was a firepit and driveway with three vehicles; on
my right was the house that I lived in during my last year of college. To my
surprise, one of my former teammates was standing on the porch, running clothes
on and GPS signals waiting. I was taken aback because I thought we were going
to morning run together, but after seeing me he relented and I went to go put on
my running clothes. I got to jog for 10 minutes on the greenway, which I’ve
been missing lately. My legs and feet in my new Trail Minimus felt fresh. It
was race day.
I run my cooldown and pack up my stuff. With the obvious exceptions of former teammates (thanks y’all), I’m a largely forgotten footnote of a great race. In a week, only a few will remember. In a year, the race is just a result. In five years, we are names on a paper buried in the annals of the University of North Dakota. No records were broken, no trophies were won, no one person was immortalized. However, for each person on that day, they accomplished something you can’t take away from them; something that will stick with them for as long as they live. Details may blur and times may be forgotten, but you never forget the feeling of running fast, side-by-side with someone as strong as you. In that moment, you become a part of something deep and uncomprehendable. I chose to live in joy and hop in my car to ride home. After all, it was race day.
We watched The Office as we ate our oatmeal. I haven’t
really ever enjoyed that show, but for some reason watching it with old
teammates brought out the best (and simultaneously the worst) qualities of the
show- it’s painful awkwardness and- at times- borderline racist humor. I
laughed; it felt good to laugh again with the boys. I thought of checking my
watch to make sure I was eating at the right time; see, in college I had my 3 hours
before a race nailed down practically to the minute. Everything had to be
meticulously planned out to perfection in order to expect perfection. I always
put pressure on myself to make sure everything was right, especially after I
was received on the team as the one who always did the little things properly.
Now? Hey, I’m hungry and I’m gonna have some oatmeal. Oh, I have a race in a
few hours so I should make sure to just put a little more in there. Tasted
pretty good, too.
After that, we headed over to the HPC (High Performance
Center). Basically, there was a chance of rain so the track coach opened up the
track for us to warm up if we wanted. For Connor, this was his chance to show
off the flashy (literally flashy, with lights and stuff) speaker they have
booming during track workouts. Essentially, this turned into the song-sharing
that any driver with an aux cord is well aware of. We try to one-up each other
with songs we believe are better and musicians we know the other person hasn’t
heard of- practically, it becomes a competition. We bum around and wait for others to show up.
The most striking sense to me is the overwhelming feeling of nostalgia that I
don’t have. In fact, much the opposite- the smell of the track isn’t
tantalizing or sweet; it smells of sweat, tough workouts, pain, tiredness, and
suffering. You know, I was reflecting a few weeks ago on what workout of my
college career I would call my ‘best’ or ‘toughest’. It’s something people
always want to know about other runners- what’s that BIG workout you do? You
know, that one workout that leaves you walking funny for a few days? People are
always starting threads on letsrun.com wondering what one workout they can do
to help them succeed, or even how fit they are from one (likely killer)
workout. Even though all of training knowledge points to these kinds of
workouts being a detriment to long-term speed development, nonetheless we do
them, and often.
Two workouts stood out to me- one immediate, and one after a
little more thinking. The first was December of my fifth year of college. We
had finished cross country, which I didn’t have eligibility for, so I took a
break early and got ready for track. We jumped into the speed workouts fairly
early on, and I found myself in early December doing 4x800 with I believe 2:30
recovery. In high school, the fastest indoor 800 I ran was about 2:09. On this
day, I did 4 indoor 800s in around 2:08 for each, all by myself. That really
got the wheels turning, and I remember that before each one I was thinking to
myself (no, no, please no, time please slow down), but time can be an
unflinching enemy of runners and I had to keep going. After the last one, I had
to lay down for a while, and my cooldown was awful. I’ve always had a
deep-seated hatred for 600s and 800s. Not sure why, but I don’t miss that
workout.
The second was again during the cold season of my fifth year
of college, and again on the indoor track. This workout was fairly simple by
design: 5 1000-meter repeats at 5000 meter goal race pace, with 3:00 recovery.
In actuality, it was tough. You know, the running itself wasn’t the hardest
part; that honor again belonged to finding enough motivation to toe the start
line and take off 3 minutes after I had finished the previous one. For me, the
paces were around 2:50-2:55 per kilometer, which translated roughly to
14:10-14:20 5k pace, which we believed, and I still to this day believe, I was
completely capable of running. Similar to the previous workout, the cooldown
was just plain rough. I don’t do workouts like that anymore, and they really
just exhaust you and can contribute quite a bit to burn out, especially during
a 9 month season.
Snap back to reality, we left the HPC and I wasn’t too
bummed. Yeah, it’s without a doubt the nicest track facility in the Midwest,
but I need some more time before I’m ready to enjoy it again. You know, it took
me about 6 years after being done swimming competitively before being in a pool
was fun again. The smell of chlorine just made me plain ol tired. We went over
to the race course. All the teams were already there and the women’s race was
going to start in about 20 minutes. It was race day.
My warmup for the race was different this time than when I
was in college. The amount of minutes during my jog didn’t matter, and neither
did what stretches I chose, the amount of drills, or how many strides I ran.
The main idea was this: are my muscles warm, and are they ready to go fast?
Once the answer to those questions is yes, you’re warmed up. Some teams do 15
minute warmups, some do 20. Some teams do strides during warmup, some don’t.
Some do static stretching, some don’t. It really doesn’t matter, and if you
judge a team by how they do their warmup, all you’re really showing is your own
insecurities. Are you physically ready to race? If the answer is yes, then who
cares how you got there? Do the least amount of work possible to be physically
ready. Boom.
So I’m ready to race now. Around me are hordes of college
guys living vastly different lifestyles than I. These guys have classes, peer
groups, teammates, and probably student debt. Almost all of them live in dorms,
apartments, or college houses, all in cities much larger than any of the towns
in the surrounding area. Many of them are in their teens and lower 20s (because
no Mormon schools like Weber State, BYU, Utah State, Utah Valley, U of Utah, or
Southern Utah are here #salt) and I’m 24. I’ve had a college career, many of
theirs are in the making. Most of these athletes run in the afternoon, sun
shining and warm, I run every morning in the cold darkness, running quiet roads
by myself in western North Dakota. I feel out of place, a tired and tattered
old man coming from the boonies to race a bunch of upstart, young boys. I’m
afraid because all of my training has been longer, slower-paced workouts and
not as much speed, and I’m worried these guys are going to run like hell down
the opening straight. I fear the inevitable pain of racing. How out of shape am
I going to be? Last two times I’ve raced here I’ve been the second finisher,
what if I can’t even place top ten? My nerves bounce around like jello on a
plate. Good thing I’m not hungry. It’s race day.
The gun goes off.
We’re barreling down the opening straight. A couple kids go
straight to the front, attacking the pace and dreaming of glory. The rest of us
responsibly pack up behind them. I feel like I’m running a workout right now,
relaxed and really not in any kind of pain or stress. I’m surprised that we’re
running slow, like 3 years ago when we came through the first mile in 5:15. I
find myself in an odd state of suppressed and reserved confidence. Something
probably will happen soon because this isn’t right, I reasoned to myself. We
came up to the first mile and I hear “57….58….59….5:00” and I’m stunned. We are
actually running as fast as any other year, and we definitely aren’t slacking
on the pace, but I’m feeling good! While traversing all the hairpin turns of
the Ron Pynn course, I find myself suddenly thrust into the one situation I
wasn’t prepared for: going for the win. I could win this thing!
The pace is quickening. I can’t prove it because I didn’t
wear a watch and no one gave us splits, but I can feel us speeding up around
every corner. One by one athletes are giving up their dreams and falling off
the back of the front pack. We go all the way down to 4 before we are done with
the first half of the race. All four of us know each other, and it’s perfectly
written: two UND runners and two NDSU runners (I’m including myself as UND because
I can) racing for the win at the UND home meet. What a rush!
Then comes the pain. By halfway into the race I’m hurting,
bad. I’m not injured, my legs feel fine, and my breathing is controlled, but
each step is getting progressively difficult. The pace is starting to wear me
down, and I’m digging for motivation to stay with this seemingly stronger
group. I find myself reflecting on Eluid Kipchoge, my current favorite athlete.
His attitude towards racing fast is one of anticipation: the dude just loves
racing and training. At this point during the race, I was repeating to myself
in my head: ‘embrace the pain, enjoy the race, this is fun’ and I found,
believably, that it was quite true. I did enjoy grinding up front with
everything I had. I wasn’t going to peel off of this group because this is what
I trained for. I would rather literally fall over and pass out from exhaustion
than be relegated to a chase group. So I hugged onto the leaders with my buddy
Cataldo and we fought.
And fought
And fought
You know, it was kind of funny- some of the freshman
trackies at UND I could hear cheering in the crowd were suddenly saying, ‘Go
Cataldo! Go Nate!’ ...I’ve never met these folks before, but man I felt like a
celebrity! Well, maybe not a celebrity, but it was pretty cool.
And fought
We can smell the finish line at this point. We’re about a
half mile away, and we’re down to three runners, every one of us prepared to go
to the grave before giving up this victory. We’re all breathing like animals,
tired as heck, and ready for the others to give up first. Distance runners are
some of the mentally strongest people I’ve ever met in my life. I’ve watched
teammates and competitors cross the finish line of races and collapse because
they cannot push their body another step, all in pursuit of dreams and goals. It’s
what gets them out of the house to run every day, to push through all kinds of
pain and soreness. At this moment, where I would’ve torn my legs apart to beat
these two runners, I simultaneously had a deep, enduring respect for both of
them. It’s a strange thing, how pushing
your body to the limit with another person can unexpectedly give you something
in common, to share. A story, a memory, a pain- they were there with you. At
this moment, all of my focus was on these two people, and the crowd was simply
unwavering, undecipherable noise in the background.
About 200 meters from the finish is a short hill to climb,
followed by a 180-degree turn for the sprint to the finish. Each of us threw everything
up that hill. I could both feel and watch what was happening. First it was that
feeling that my body was done, completely and totally done. The second was
noticing the bodies in front of me getting farther and farther away, and I was
powerless to do anything. I had no more gears, no more mental strength- it was
all gone. My energy reserves failing, the two pulled away and dueled to the
finish. Something was happening behind me, but how far I wasn’t sure. I focused
on the line ahead of me and kept pushing.
And pushing
And pushing
And done
There was thick cloud cover in the sky above me. I searched
through it and examined it. They spoke no words to me, but I threw some up
anyway. I was here, smiling. For these few seconds before the next athlete
crossed the finish line, people would be looking at me. If I looked in a mirror
at this moment, I might come to understand why, but I knew not how I looked,
but only how I felt. I wanted to prance with joy, but my legs were weak. I
wanted to yell, but I couldn’t breathe. People immediately try to come up to
you after a race- teammates, family, friends, but I had none of that. Unlike most
of my races, I was allowed to die in peace, rather than be bombarded. I could
enjoy this moment and suck it in with each deep, life-giving breath. I made
myself a slave to the race, and I became free. For the last 25 minutes, I made
my own decisions, I pushed my body, I prayed for strength, I fought, and I didn’t
win. Nobody can take that away from me. In other sports, positions can be given
or taken away based on subjective assessments of coaches, parents, or
officials. Running is real; were you at the start line? Did you run your heart
out? Did you win? You essentially make your own path, it just so happens that
two others ran that path a little faster than I did. I love it.
I run my cooldown and pack up my stuff. With the obvious exceptions of former teammates (thanks y’all), I’m a largely forgotten footnote of a great race. In a week, only a few will remember. In a year, the race is just a result. In five years, we are names on a paper buried in the annals of the University of North Dakota. No records were broken, no trophies were won, no one person was immortalized. However, for each person on that day, they accomplished something you can’t take away from them; something that will stick with them for as long as they live. Details may blur and times may be forgotten, but you never forget the feeling of running fast, side-by-side with someone as strong as you. In that moment, you become a part of something deep and uncomprehendable. I chose to live in joy and hop in my car to ride home. After all, it was race day.
Thursday, September 28, 2017
I'm All By Myself- Reflections of a Morning Run on the Rez
The rooster crows. I roll over in my bed, tired and a little too warm. It's still completely dark outside. The rooster crows again, and I reach over and shut off my alarm. I reach over and give a kiss to my still-sleeping wife whom I can't see, and head down towards the garage. The light fixture in this room doesn't work, so I use my phone light to show me where my running clothes are- shoes, socks, shorts, shirt, house keys, iPod, and LED anklet that I put on my shoes and flashes a bright red light behind me so I don't get run over. I lock the door behind me and step outside. It's quiet.
I live in the middle of town, right by the highway. Well, I mean THE highway. Like, there's one. South of this part of town (1 mile) is another part of town (connected by a paved sidewalk that goes through a slough) and there's another highway. So, there's two, but where I live there's one. I hope that's not confusing. Everything else is gravel in case you're wondering.
Across the street, Frank the bus driver is backing up out of the bus barn. BEEEEEP BEEEEEP BEEEEEP BEEEEEP pierces through the quiet night sky; no vehicles drive past on the highway. I turn on my anklet and start running north down the road. I go past elder housing, a nicely painted and fenced basketball court, some trashy looking houses, some nice looking houses, and an unfinished new school. Behind me the light of a vehicle and lights up the road.
Now, I don't know if you've ever been on a dark road by yourself, but when lights come up behind or in front of you, these things always happen in succession:
1.) You see lights behind you
2.) The road becomes illuminated
3.) As they get closer, the road becomes increasingly difficult to see
4.) Literal blindness
5.) The road comes back into view
6.) Right before the vehicle gets to you, the road takes on a really cool shadowy effect where each rock, pebble, and piece of anything is shown in stunning detail
7.) The light passes by
8.) It's dark again
Right before this vehicle passed me, I hear a little honk and it startles me. It was Frank driving bus. He's asked me before if that's me running on the road in the morning; he refers to my one LED anklet and says I have taillight out. It's 6:15am and he's driving the 37 miles to Parshall because we have students from there. Lots of open space out here, ya know.
As he drives away, I watch the flashing bus light and try to count how many miles he's driven, based on my knowledge of this mostly straight, slightly uphill road. One, two, three, four, and he's over the valley hill and gone. It's dark again. There's stars above my head, a low red dim to the east, a farm light about 2 miles to my northeast, and an open unseeable road before me. I'd be perfectly at peace if my legs took less than 4 miles to warm up.
......
I've been asked many times why I don't have a headlamp or some kind of light in front of me. Why, they ask, would you have a light behind you (the anklet), but not in front? The answer is simple: I embrace the totality of darkness. A headlamp protects you from something we spent thousands of years unable to control- blackness of dark. Now, we have street lights, car lights, house lights, phone lights, headlamp lights, and all others kinds, but this ignores the basic realities we encounter when we venture into the unknown and unable to see. For example, I have known for years now about the games your eyes play with you while it's dark. That animal running away in the ditch? That's some brush. That mountain lion about to eat you? Brush. That badger? Yeah, it's brush. In fact, one time I did run with a headlamp, and in the farm fields were all these sets of bright white lights shining back at me. Of course, they were friendly harmless deer, but that's an eerie feeling, to be sure.
Look, being in the dark is a little scary. I can't see my shoes, and the only part of the road I can actually see is the white stripe on the side, so I run near that. This gets significantly harder once it snows; the road is the same color as the ditch and the white stripe doesn't really stand out anymore. Maybe I'll break out a headlamp then.
"Nate, do you realize that running without a front light isn't safe? People driving towards you can't see you?" Great question. Yes, I've considered that. But consider this: on my ten mile runs, I normally encounter 10-15 total vehicles, or about 1 vehicle/mile. I see them coming from at least 4 miles away. In that time it takes them to get to me, I simply switch over to the other side of the road. If someone comes up behind me at the same time, I run in the ditch for a few minutes. Is it the safest? Hell no. Does it improve the overall experience? Hell yes.
I'm rambling, back to the story.
.....
It's about 7am now. I've already hit my turnaround point on the road, exactly five miles down the highway in the same direction. I don't like running down the gravel roads right now because my previous shoes were destroyed and my feet took a beating from the rocks, so they get a rest. The whole first miles climbed ever-so-slowly uphill, and I can see White Shield from here. It's a little patch of lights in a sea of quiet calmness. You can almost hear the land breathing out a well-rested sigh of relief and relaxation.
Then the rush comes.
I can see the headlights coming through White Shield, heading north at a high rate of speed. For some reason not yet known to me, around 7am there is an exodus of about 7 or 8 cars from White Shield headed north. My hypothesis is that many of these folks are doing the 1 hour drive to New Town, the site of the tribal headquarters for the reservation, but I guess I don't have adequate scientific means to test my hypothesis right now. So I dodge traffic and large grain trucks for a while, and by that time I'm rolling into town. Earlier in the year the sun would be rising now, but at this point the blood red glow of early morning has given way to a brighter yellow, heralding the return of the long-awaited sun. The days are only getting shorter right now, and the coolness of the air coupled with the lightening color of the leaves signals the same.
Before I get to town, a bus passes me on the road headed to White Shield. It's a bus headed for Garrison, the closest off-reservation school, about 25 miles east. It stops in White Shield and picks up children that families have opted to send to school in Garrison. It's a long story.
That bus is gone now, though. I head up the driveway to the house and open the door. There are a couple cars driving down the highway now. I have to be at the school in 30 minutes and I still have to stretch and eat. Fortunately for me, I live one block from the school with most of the other teachers. When your town is this far away from anything and has the stigma of being on the 'rez', it's hard to get teachers. I walk inside the house. I have school in 30 minutes. The sun hasn't peaked out yet.
I'm still travelling the quiet roads of morning, underneath the cool stars, when I walk in the school and another teacher says 'good morning'. They don't even understand.
------------------------------------------------
I'm going to try to get back into some regular posting now- sorry for how long it's been! Ya know, gettin hitched and plannin to get hitched is some crazy plannin, yo. I'm still teaching and have a new marriage, so it won't be anything like before, but I still love ND running, why not profess it a little more often? I know, I agree as well. Peace
I live in the middle of town, right by the highway. Well, I mean THE highway. Like, there's one. South of this part of town (1 mile) is another part of town (connected by a paved sidewalk that goes through a slough) and there's another highway. So, there's two, but where I live there's one. I hope that's not confusing. Everything else is gravel in case you're wondering.
Across the street, Frank the bus driver is backing up out of the bus barn. BEEEEEP BEEEEEP BEEEEEP BEEEEEP pierces through the quiet night sky; no vehicles drive past on the highway. I turn on my anklet and start running north down the road. I go past elder housing, a nicely painted and fenced basketball court, some trashy looking houses, some nice looking houses, and an unfinished new school. Behind me the light of a vehicle and lights up the road.
Now, I don't know if you've ever been on a dark road by yourself, but when lights come up behind or in front of you, these things always happen in succession:
1.) You see lights behind you
2.) The road becomes illuminated
3.) As they get closer, the road becomes increasingly difficult to see
4.) Literal blindness
5.) The road comes back into view
6.) Right before the vehicle gets to you, the road takes on a really cool shadowy effect where each rock, pebble, and piece of anything is shown in stunning detail
7.) The light passes by
8.) It's dark again
Right before this vehicle passed me, I hear a little honk and it startles me. It was Frank driving bus. He's asked me before if that's me running on the road in the morning; he refers to my one LED anklet and says I have taillight out. It's 6:15am and he's driving the 37 miles to Parshall because we have students from there. Lots of open space out here, ya know.
As he drives away, I watch the flashing bus light and try to count how many miles he's driven, based on my knowledge of this mostly straight, slightly uphill road. One, two, three, four, and he's over the valley hill and gone. It's dark again. There's stars above my head, a low red dim to the east, a farm light about 2 miles to my northeast, and an open unseeable road before me. I'd be perfectly at peace if my legs took less than 4 miles to warm up.
......
I've been asked many times why I don't have a headlamp or some kind of light in front of me. Why, they ask, would you have a light behind you (the anklet), but not in front? The answer is simple: I embrace the totality of darkness. A headlamp protects you from something we spent thousands of years unable to control- blackness of dark. Now, we have street lights, car lights, house lights, phone lights, headlamp lights, and all others kinds, but this ignores the basic realities we encounter when we venture into the unknown and unable to see. For example, I have known for years now about the games your eyes play with you while it's dark. That animal running away in the ditch? That's some brush. That mountain lion about to eat you? Brush. That badger? Yeah, it's brush. In fact, one time I did run with a headlamp, and in the farm fields were all these sets of bright white lights shining back at me. Of course, they were friendly harmless deer, but that's an eerie feeling, to be sure.
Look, being in the dark is a little scary. I can't see my shoes, and the only part of the road I can actually see is the white stripe on the side, so I run near that. This gets significantly harder once it snows; the road is the same color as the ditch and the white stripe doesn't really stand out anymore. Maybe I'll break out a headlamp then.
"Nate, do you realize that running without a front light isn't safe? People driving towards you can't see you?" Great question. Yes, I've considered that. But consider this: on my ten mile runs, I normally encounter 10-15 total vehicles, or about 1 vehicle/mile. I see them coming from at least 4 miles away. In that time it takes them to get to me, I simply switch over to the other side of the road. If someone comes up behind me at the same time, I run in the ditch for a few minutes. Is it the safest? Hell no. Does it improve the overall experience? Hell yes.
I'm rambling, back to the story.
.....
It's about 7am now. I've already hit my turnaround point on the road, exactly five miles down the highway in the same direction. I don't like running down the gravel roads right now because my previous shoes were destroyed and my feet took a beating from the rocks, so they get a rest. The whole first miles climbed ever-so-slowly uphill, and I can see White Shield from here. It's a little patch of lights in a sea of quiet calmness. You can almost hear the land breathing out a well-rested sigh of relief and relaxation.
Then the rush comes.
I can see the headlights coming through White Shield, heading north at a high rate of speed. For some reason not yet known to me, around 7am there is an exodus of about 7 or 8 cars from White Shield headed north. My hypothesis is that many of these folks are doing the 1 hour drive to New Town, the site of the tribal headquarters for the reservation, but I guess I don't have adequate scientific means to test my hypothesis right now. So I dodge traffic and large grain trucks for a while, and by that time I'm rolling into town. Earlier in the year the sun would be rising now, but at this point the blood red glow of early morning has given way to a brighter yellow, heralding the return of the long-awaited sun. The days are only getting shorter right now, and the coolness of the air coupled with the lightening color of the leaves signals the same.
Before I get to town, a bus passes me on the road headed to White Shield. It's a bus headed for Garrison, the closest off-reservation school, about 25 miles east. It stops in White Shield and picks up children that families have opted to send to school in Garrison. It's a long story.
That bus is gone now, though. I head up the driveway to the house and open the door. There are a couple cars driving down the highway now. I have to be at the school in 30 minutes and I still have to stretch and eat. Fortunately for me, I live one block from the school with most of the other teachers. When your town is this far away from anything and has the stigma of being on the 'rez', it's hard to get teachers. I walk inside the house. I have school in 30 minutes. The sun hasn't peaked out yet.
I'm still travelling the quiet roads of morning, underneath the cool stars, when I walk in the school and another teacher says 'good morning'. They don't even understand.
------------------------------------------------
I'm going to try to get back into some regular posting now- sorry for how long it's been! Ya know, gettin hitched and plannin to get hitched is some crazy plannin, yo. I'm still teaching and have a new marriage, so it won't be anything like before, but I still love ND running, why not profess it a little more often? I know, I agree as well. Peace
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)