2006 NCAA Cross Country Nationals
November 30, 2006 – 2:38 pm“Pressure is nothing more than the shadow of great opportunity.” — Michael Johnson
The NCAA National cross country meet is the mecca of college running. Anyone who knows anything about cross is either there or talking to someone who is there. This was my last college cross country race, but I tried to remain as relaxed and upbeat as I could in the two days leading up to the contest. This was accomplished by watching tons of football. And some basketball. And an episode or three of Family Guy. And Borat: The Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Khazakhstan (which was laugh-out-loud and then laugh-some-more-till-you-almost-pee-your-pants funny).
All that aside, there actually was a race on Monday, November 20, in Terre Haute, Indiana. Race conditions were both a blessing and a curse of the weather from the previous weeks: It was sunny with a light breeze and about 45-50 degrees at race time, but the course was a mess in most places due to the rainfall from the last couple days. Since the women’s race was first up, they tore it up even more, and it was so muddy and wet in spots that you almost had to stop to keep from slipping. However, it was in about as good of condition as it could have been considering what Mother Nature put it through.
The Pilots came in ranked 9th in the country. Expectations were probably a little too high for our experience level, especially considering the other strong teams in the nation. Portland finished 18th place, behind West Region powerhouses Stanford (fourth) and Oregon (fifth).
With literally nothing to lose, I went out aggressively at the start of the race. In a contest of this caliber, this will make or break you (usually the latter). I have no way of telling for sure, but I think I was in about the same individual place for the majority of the race, roughly between 90th and 100th. With a surge through the last kilometer, I ended up placing 80th and was the first Portland runner to cross the line (the only time I accomplished that feat in my 4+ year Pilot cross country career). The Pilots News Release has a tiny bit more info, along with a horrendous picture of me from Regionals. Since I said that I’m sure you’ll click on that now. Thanks for doing that. Gosh.
It was a little disappointing to have a decent individual effort with the team not doing so hot. I’m reminded of the new adidas basketball commerical with the slogan, “It takes five, baby.” Cross country is much more of a team sport than anyone realizes. While individual effort is a big piece of the pie (mmmmm, I love pie), putting together five individual performances is the key to team success. Look at Wisconsin this year…they were a mortal lock all season to defend their team title, but a couple bad races later, Colorado sneaks up and smacks them down. It takes five.
I’ve since taken a couple days off, ate a ton of Thanksgiving food, and celebrated a bit. But now it’s time to start training for track. I love running indoor track meets at Dempsey Arena in Seattle, so I’m stoked for the upcoming season. I’m also going to start lifting weights consistently (”consistently” being the key word, with “start”, “lifting”, and “weights” all coming in a close second). At least, that’s my goal. Ask me how I’m doing if you see me to keep me honest. I want to get huge. Seriously. We’ll see how that goes.
