Challenge Brings Good Things

James Madison University Meet    9.15.12

Early in the season as I reviewed the meets with the runners, I had mentioned that our second meet would be at James Madison University against mainly Division I runners.  I also mentioned that it was a good challenging course, not too far from school and would push our number 1 runner.

Yesterday morning we arrived at the New Market Battlefield and since we didn't have to arrive early for a men's team to warm up, we were the last to arrive.  Present at the meet were JMU, the host team, Longwood College, Howard University, Virginia Military Institute and Southern Virginia University.  All except SVU are NCAA DI programs.  SVU is an NAIA program who currently is transitioning to a DIII program.

As we exited the van, some discouraging words started to take over.  Coach, we are going to be dead last.
Coach, this is going to be embarrassing.....and more that I can't remember.  I tried to assure them that each runner had a very good week of practice and that it was them against the course.  I encouraged all to try and reach a personal record.

The race began and Mary Baldwin had runners at the front, in the middle and at the end.  None of that was a surprise to me.  The first mile they had splits that were a little fast for some and a little slow for some, but I still believed good things would happen.

As the race finished, we had some surprises.  A DIII runner had finished second among a field of DI runners.  She had led most of the race and was overtaken in the last half mile.  There had been some place finish changes among our nine runners since the first meet.  At first glance it appeared that when these 5.2 K times were converted to 5 K times there would be lots of personal records.

So here is the outcome.  As a team we came in 6 out of 6 teams.  When our brilliant Coach Mark figured out the mile splits and converted the times to 5 K times we did have lots of small wins.  The tide started changing and there were encouraging words and congratulations happening among the team members.

After smiling and feeling great all afternoon and evening about the team's accomplishment, I woke up this morning and did a little more work with the times.  As a team we were 2 minutes and 10 seconds faster than our first meet.  The individual personal records varied from 2 seconds faster to 1:36 minutes faster.  So I feel that we are doing the right things in practice.

What I wonder about is our individual and team mentality.  I truly believe that looking for the good and staying positive is needed at all times even when the deck seems stacked against you.

I wonder where this team will go as we work this week not just physically, but mentally?

PLACE

Place is a theme for Mary Baldwin College this year.  I have to say that I truly feel my place early each morning is to be at Mary Baldwin College home of the Fighting Squirrels getting ready for Cross Country practice.

Just this morning I was thinking what a great group of nine runners appear each morning!  Although they don't all welcome the workout of the day announcement, they do put on the safety vests and head out for the workout.

Today it was a track workout!  The coaches thought they had set pretty aggressive times for the 400 workout.  The first rep was preceded by some dynamic warm up and then it was time to begin.  Coach Mark reminded them of the times and that they had a long rest in between each one which meant the work should be quality.  I reminded them that the work needed to stay quality throughout all 10 reps!
The start as it sometimes is was pretty fast, on repetition 2 runners started settling into paces faster than we had set and continued with those paces for all 10.  It was a great morning.

Although the runners always don't see their place as at cross country practice at 0600, by the end of the workout they do feel good about the work accomplished and how this will lead them to better times in races.

This team is moving together in the right direction.  I have to reflect on Patriot's Day that I believe many since 9-11-01 want to make sure that they live each day happy and without regret.  Being at cross country practice with this team is that for me.

Stay tuned for practice tomorrow - meet at 0600, same place!

Rain Changes the Venue

The ladies came to practice knowing that today was a tempo day, but not knowing the workout.  They were particularly lively this morning as they tried to guess what we had in store for them today.  Coach Mark had created a progressive mile workout based on their CNU Opening Meet times.  The goal was to work on overall speed and finishing speed.

The times for each mile were passed around and then one asked for a pen to write her times on her hand……then the pen was passed around.  The warm up to the park was uneventful, but as we started doing the dynamic warm up down to the starting line, the sky opened up on us. 

The times written on hands were soon washed away, the coaches had to be creative in writing down times, but the rain didn’t dampen the workout!  Although one runner was mad about the rain, she actually had a PR – I think we need to find ways to make her mad before each race!  One runner donned her shower cap because “her hair doesn’t do rain”, but the shower cap kept a smile on her face and provided a giggle for lots of runners and walkers in the park.  Others in the group commented on how they loved running in the rain, and one of our runners who decided to leave her glasses with the coaches had a great “almost collision with another runner” story.  Her story – the guy was wearing black and probably wondered why I was running right at him!

All in all it was a great workout for each runner.  I wondered on the way back about adversity and how it can work for the good.  The team posted some awesome performances this morning, we had some laughs, and we took a team picture!

I hope that we also can remember this positive performance the next time we have a rainy practice or race.  Better yet when faced with adversity off the course, I hope that we can remember how the rain changed the venue for the good!

Squirrels love to run in the rain!