Today may have been my last cross country race ever.
Next fall I'll be student teaching, and after that full-time teaching. I'll likely coach XC, so that would occupy almost every weekend in the fall. This thought dawned on me a few hours after the race today, so I figured I would reflect (because reflection is one of the best ways to learn, right?) It seems fitting that the weather today was, in the most pure way I can say this- perfect. The temperature hovered around 50 with a bright sun shining through the undisturbed, windless air. Time seemed to move slower today, and the leaves nonchalantly fell to the ground after the night's hard freeze. You could smell the fall everywhere.
Cross country is difficult to describe, at best. Many distance runners love getting on the track and grinding out hard workouts while feeling the heat rise from the track itself, but many more long for the grass races. Cross country is as close as we come in college to true foot-racing. One can think of cross country in the simplest of terms: pick any place ANYWHERE, point to a start line, point to a finish line, and say go. Hills, differing terrain, water, woods, prairie, turns, straightaways, heat, cold, snow, rain, sun, and wind can all be expected at any given place on any given day. The basic idea is that of a school playground- two kids ask a third to start them for a race from point A to point B. Whoever wins gets the bragging rights for the time being until a new challenger arises.
Even the start of a cross country race and the way it's executed is different. In track, people want to hit their splits and are generally afraid of going to the front and taking the lead. In cross country, people sprint to the front from the gun and hammer at each other until all but one have given up hope of winning. Times don't matter in cross country, because all courses are different: some are too long; some are too short; some have surfaces that are too soft; some have surfaces that are too hard; sometimes the weather is too hot, and sometimes it's too cold; the competition is different at every course. The natural unpredictability in cross country makes it all the more exciting.
Cross country can be equally exciting for the fan. Many first-timers learn the hard way that cross country is a dynamic spectator sport- there are no bleachers, no stands, no protection, and you have to move (any sport that is difficult for grandparents to watch has to be unique...right?) But this adds so much more to the race experience! When you're running and you see fans running through an open area trying to catch up to you and cheer for you, how great of a feeling is it to see someone sacrifice like that!
Cross country is also like appearing from a shell. Many people head home during summer months and use the time away from school to train hard and try to be better than the previous year, and once the academic year starts in the fall again, they re-emerge ready to do battle again. Cross country, then, symbolizes the beginning and not the end. Cross country is the first step on the long road to achieving goals for many people, and what a wonderful way to do it!
Cross country takes on an even more interesting role in North Dakota. Cross country season for me is calm morning runs at sunrise and running on grass in cool fall air. Cross country season is a time to enjoy the time of year that the weather is pretty much perfect here. As cross country season begins to fold, the cold and snow come, and the mental training kicks in for the next six months as we try to defeat the cold and wind. After that, it's not long before the mental training of defeating summer heat fires right back. After surviving those nine months of struggle, the golf courses open up to racing, the weather hit the right mark, and the real racing begins.
Perhaps I'm complicating this far more than need be. Then again, perhaps I am not. This was my 11th cross country season, and each one has been worth it more than I would have previously imagined. It started in 7th grade, when I would routinely finish in the bottom third of middle school races. It continued through 9th grade when I had a couple of top-20 finishes in JV races, but my only varsity 5k found me in the bottom 5 of the race. Cross country found me slowly working up to become all-conference and then all-state. Cross country found me going through injuries in college and fighting off sickness for conference meets twice. Cross country found me slowly moving my way up from the back half of D1 races to more in the middle. Cross country found me transition from always wearing under armour shirts and shorts underneath my jersey to just wearing my jersey top and bottom only. Cross country found me racing in snow one week, and 80s with humidity the next. Cross country brought me through North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Montana, and Arizona. Cross country allowed me to meet other people from other teams who shared a similar passion to mine. Cross country each and every year becomes not only a burning passion, but something that I can't seem to find myself ever giving up.
I can't help but think back to after the race today when I was stretching in the open on a perfect fall day. I reflected on after the finish, when I was talking with the only guy in the race to have beaten me. We had run almost the entire race together, and he was simply better than me at the end. Even though it was an incredibly tough race, I had so much joy during it. I exclaimed to him, "That was a lot of fun!"
He looked and me and chuckled. "That's one way to look at it."
Yes, yes it is.
Thanks again, cross country. I already miss you.
-Nate
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