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DIII National Championships

November 17, 2012 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Comments:
Early wake up and early breakfast. I was hungry this morning. Everyone seemed ready, like it was another race. We got up and out of the hotel and over to LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course. When we got there, teams were filling in. It was amazing. A true cross atmosphere, fans, coaches, athletes, everyone who loved the sport was around, preparing for the big event. We went into the tent and took our spot. I chilled around for a while, but we really only had like 30min to chill before hitting up the warm up. We had already done the course twice in one direction, so we decided to go reverse for the warm up. Saw lots of other great teams preparing. It was such an awesome atmosphere for any runner. The sun started to come out, and it was shaping up to be a great day.

Got back to the line and we stretched and such. I saw a CST bus roll up, at which point I knew the fans had arrived. They poured out of the bus in full armor and ran out screaming onto the course. We could see them all congregate in the distace. Real legit. Chris David and I went for another add on and passed the fans on the fence. It was cool to have them all cheering for me, for us, for our program. For each other really... After that it was back to the line, and time to go. I stayed there till about 2 mins before the gun, when I knew they were ready. At that point I moved away and stood behind the fence... After the gun went off, I walked off into the field, realizing I just heard my last starting gun in a cross country race... I needed to walk that off and think about it for a little. The pack came around after a mile or so and I started cheering and wandering around to crucial cheering spots. It was great to see us in that mix of such a talented field, the best of the best. That opportunity to compete with those guys is huge. I hauled ass back to the finish line to be with the team and the fans. It was a mob scene, and I couldnt see much, but after a while they all filed out and we had a big meet up at the end. It was a very surreal experience. Sad, exciting, crazy, tiring. Lots of different emotions all at once. Like running itself, it is hard to describe. The fact is though, that it happened, and we wanted it to happen.

I got really distracted on my cooldown back to the tent. Ran into Andris, Paul and Liam. Chatted with each, looks like they are all doing the turkey trot down at the high school on thursday. Im def down for joining in. Paul challenged me to a rematch. (Still gonna take these two weeks off and just do the trot for fun). Had a great chat with Liam about each others teams while watching the womens race.

Essentials: Stretch

Light stretch while eating lunch. I am gonna take that two weeks off now, then start training again during finals.

We had to stick around for a while waiting for the protests of the results. Coach was giving out all the awards which was pretty cool. We just sat there in the Indiana sun, thinking and letting the whole experience sit in. We did this...

Crazy fun party when we got back, everyone was there and we got drenched in champagne. A bittersweet way to wrap it all up, but we had a good time in each others company and thats what matters.

Is this the end of the road, or the beginning of a new one? Its special because its both. After talking to a lot of people at 4am, I realized I am accomplishing one of my main goals, and it took all 4 years.