More than the Sum of its Parts

Saturday was the NAC conference championships at Wisconsin Lutheran. We went in with some intricate battle plans, a little warpaint, and a lot of guts. The meet itself was an experience; several of the guys were sick, including Ryan and Danny, and the women were underdogs right from the start. I personally took a digger in the first 2 miles, losing my footing and crashing to the ground in the middle of the woods. I'm not sure what happened; I just remember planting my left foot and then finding myself sliding through the dirt while Kelby screamed at me from behind to get back up. The incident left me a bit scraped, bleeding, and dirty, but I managed to catch back up to Fife and Richard to finish the race.

As the overall results came in we were all pretty anxious. Despite some uncertain performances and a protest from one of the opposing coaches we managed to pull off the win-on BOTH SIDES. The guys took it by a mere 3 points, which is extremely satisfying after having lost by 3 last year. Hats off to Braun, who moved up with his best race of the season to fill in for those who were ill. Without him we couldn't have done it. The women ended up winning by about 15 points thanks to solid races from Jamie, Maxine, and Caitlyn. Ultimately it turned out to be the injured, the sick, and the come-from-behind overachievers who won the day. As we all hugged and cheered after the awards I felt something strange start to course through my body. It was at this time that I finally realized I'd run my last race with CUW cross country. Never again would I get to put on that uniform.

Just a few months ago I was hopelessly crippled by mysterious injuries and contemplating quitting the team for good. Now I'm running 45 miles a week, and I'm a champion. A TEAM champion. We won. We did it together.

The season is over for me competitively, but there's still Regionals in another week or so. And I'm the unofficial team Motivator. Time to get my speechwriting on.

P.S.

Track starts November 29

The Monster Lives

This weekend the team went to Wisconsin Lutheran for the Pre-NAC meet. The weather was great, a cool 50 degrees with a warm sun that peeked out from behind the clouds every once in a while. It was great to test out the course that we'll be competing on at conference in a few weeks, but for some of us this meet had far greater importance.

Pfeuffer and I raced for the first time since February. I mean honestly, everything-or-nothing, fast-as-you-can-go RACED. After sitting on the sidelines for so many months I think the both of us needed to get out there and compete more than anything else in the world. I did my best to put together as inspiring of a pre-race speech as I could muster, focusing on giving the glory to God and remembering where all of our successes come from. Minutes later the gun had gone off and we were kicking some major grass.

I had planned to shoot for a 6-minute mile pace in the hopes of breaking 30 minutes. I was able to hover just over that for the first 3 miles, hanging with Muffenbeck and eventually pulling away to catch up with Daniel. At the 3 mile mark I could feel the fatigue but knew I had yet to summon the monster, the ace in the hole that's always guaranteed to save you some time in the end. I attacked the pace and tried to get Daniel to go with me but he couldn't seem to keep up. With about one mile left I found myself catching up to Kolbach, who I quickly passed. He managed to hang in there though, just as I'd hoped, and the two of us pushed all the way through to the finish. Kolbach ended up finishing a couple dozen meters or so in front of me as my legs shut down in the final minutes. The monster came out in just about full force, getting me to the line and leaving me there feeling as if I might drop at any second. I haven't been so sick, so sore, and so tired at the end of a race in a LONG time (but then, I haven't finished a race at all in a long time). My final time was 29:48. Not bad for starting camp week at 2 miles a day.

I wasn't the only one who had a good day. Ash won the meet as the 2nd overall finisher (one unattached guy got him in the last mile) with a time of 25:55. Jon O and Braun both dropped a huge amount of time to get into the low 29-minute range. Ryan and TJ also did great by cranking out some mid-28s.

After waiting around for what seemed like forever, due to a course confusion that resulted in the disqualification of the top 18 female finishers, it was announced that our men's team had taken 2nd and the women had won the meet. We crushed all of the NAC teams in attendance and proved to ourselves that this team, this family, can accomplish everything we set out to do back in August.

And for a smaller, frustrated-yet-patient group of us known as Cripple Command, it was proven that no matter what happens, THE MONSTER NEVER DIES.

Falcon Invite

I feel like I have been neglecting this blog a lot lately. Here's an update on what's been going on with the team recently:

Last Friday we debuted at Olivet Nazarene. The meet went well for the most part. A lot of the guys and girls had good races, but a few people ended up getting hurt. We've had quite a crowd in the athletic training room lately but hopefully everyone's health will be up to par soon.

Last night I had everybody over for a pasta dinner in order to fuel up for the Falcon Invite this morning. The meet itself was a pretty big success. I got to put on my spikes for the first time since February and was able to break in my new uniform, although Russ wouldn't let me race. I ended up doing a "tempo" that was probably closer to race effort. I clocked in at 30:40, which was surprisingly fast in my opinion considering the less-than-full effort and the fact that I've been out for the better part of a year. The hip flexor felt great as well and that old achilles issue has long cleared up. One other injury, a sore shin muscle, hasn't prevented me from running due to the fact that I run on my toes.

Fife got out there today too. He's become my "wingman," since the two of us were both injured all summer and are trying to make a comeback together. It feels so good to have a teammate at your side when you're dealing with a battle such as rehabbing and getting back into shape.

On the reverse side of the injury issue is Andy, who was unable to run today due to plantar fascia pain. He'll be back soon enough though. That guy is a beast. He ran 25:30 something at our first meet last friday.

Other notable results for the race this morning include Guppy, who won the small school division, Stacey, who was 2nd on the team and put up a great performance, and the entire women's team as a whole, who took home the 1st place trophy! Some of the guys ran great as well, such as Ben (our first finisher) and freshman Martin (aka Steve, Marco, Polo, Polio, Virus...he's a man of many names). Overall it was a pretty good day.

Next week: Griak! Get your battle stripes ready.

Another Beginning

The 2010 cross country season is under way and the team is looking fantastic. The guys have a solid core group of returning veterans with some serious training under their belts, while the women's recruiting class has got to be one of the best ever. I'm stuck in training group E with the other out-of-shape and injured guys, but things are finally starting to look up again after a couple months of setbacks. My hip flexor is finally getting back to where it should be and an achilles issue from last week turned out to be just a minor nuisance. Some ice and a massive heel wedge managed to take care of it and keep me out on the roads. I'm up to 3-4 miles a day now and am slowly getting back into shape.

Classes start tomorrow morning and I'm not really sure if I'm ready or not. I took care of most of my hardest classes last year so this semester shouldn't be too much of a burden. Still, it feels strange to close the book on this summer. The cycle of seasons continues.

Do Not Put Out the Spirit's Fire

Over the past couple of weeks I've been trying to stay focused, putting in a lot of hours on the bike and elliptical while also getting back to running a few miles here and there. I'm in pretty good shape overall and just need to get my running legs back into gear before mid semester rolls around. Summer is winding down, although I've still had time for a few adventures. This past Friday I drove down to Clinton to spend the night with Dave and Muff at the annual "Gasfest" that their friends have been putting on for years. There were some pretty big fires involved and a little bit of questionable judgement, but for the most part everyone was pretty responsible and nobody was hurt (besides a few minor burns). It turned out to be a really good time. The next morning Dave took me out for a six mile run as we toured the entire neighborhood and surrounding countryside, including downtown, cornfields, an industrial park, and a nice off-road trail. Next weekend I'm heading up north with Ash and a couple of old friends to hang out in the supposedly-haunted woods.

There's less than two weeks remaining before the start of training camp and it's more important now than ever that I (and everyone else) stay in the right state of mind. One of my favorite Bible verses is 1 Thessalonians 5:19. It reads "Do not put out the Spirit's fire." You need to pursue your goal, your passion, with a fire that never goes out, no matter obstacles rise up against you, or you'll never find out if you can succeed. Believe in that Spirit, and impossibility is only an opinion.

More Unexplained Pain

The past three weeks have been a bit of a struggle. My hip/groin have been sore and tight courtesy of Lapham Peak, causing me to run only off and on along with alternating bike workouts and days off. The soreness is fading away veeeeery sloooooooowly but it seems to be making progress as long as I don't overtrain. I'm trying not to worry about it. Simply being able to run this summer is a pretty good reason to be happy.

Despite the progress I've made, however, my body continues to rebel in the strangest of ways. Last night I decided to go out for a walk after a cold front passed through and the air temp had dropped to levels more comfortable than those in the apartment. Everything felt fine until I was about a mile away, when suddenly my entire right thigh began to ache. The pain covered my leg from the knee to the hip and was deep, like my quads, hamstring, knee, and groin were just tearing apart. I tried stretching and then just ignoring the sensation in the hopes that it would go away, but instead it only got worse. I ended up hobbling up Falls Road to 17th Avenue, where I caught Ash out walking the dog. We went over to his house to discuss our elaborate plans for halloween costumes (which are going to be amazing by the way) and my throbbing leg gradually settled down throughout the night. The entire episode was somewhat disturbing, but I really don't know why I should bother getting it checked out. I already know what the experts are going to say...that they don't know anything. I'm getting my sports physical in a couple of days though, so I'll probably bring it up anyway. Ranting about my body's issues makes the frustration more bearable even if it doesn't soothe the pain.

Heat Wave

Yesterday was brutal. I stepped out into the 97 degree weather thinking I could run 10 miles no problem. I knew I was very well hydrated and well rested. I laced up the shoes and hit the road.

Not 3 miles into the run and I knew I was in for a tough one. I had accounted for the fact that the pavement I was running on brought the surface temp. up another 5-10 degrees. My sweat was evaporating as soon as it was on my skin. It didn't even have time to do its job to cool me off. I kept going, thinking I would be fine. I finally came to the 8 mile mark and I had to stop. I collapsed into the grass in some shade and just laid there while I waited for my body to cool. After about 5 minutes I got back up. It wasn't the last time I would have to stop. Five more times I had to go stand, sit, or lay in the shade to get my resolve up to finish out my run. When I finally reached the air conditioning of my home my sweat began to flow like a river. It was amazing that being out in the dry heat like that had made it seem as though I wasn't even sweating. I took down a few glasses of water and chocolate milk and jumped into the pool.