John's Pre-National Ramblings
11/16/05
If someone said to me last spring "Hey, you're going to run at nationals this fall," I would have been like not a chance. I mean our team was good last spring, I just didn't think that they were good enough to make it to nationals. I'm glad though that it is finally rolling around though, because I have been running with no breaks since May 16th. I have been running a lot, for me anyways.
I remembered how hard I worked all summer, especially at the beginning. I substituted for teachers for a week and a half until school got out, that was fun and my running still got finished pretty easily. After school got out though, I started working two jobs, and had a girlfriend, while still trying to get all my running done. I mean talk about being physically exhausted; in addition I was also mentally and emotionally wore out because of the whole "girl thing." Working that ten-hour night shift at that warehouse was one of the toughest things I have ever done. It was exhausting and gross. I would do it again though, because it was pretty funny sometimes, like when our manager drove a forklift into a bus on accident, twice, or when this big guy we worked with couldn't fit into a XXXL suit so it split all up the back, or when the same guy got stuck in the tar pit under the bus and we had to pull him out. The coolest part was that we got to ride these three wheeled bicycles everywhere because the building was two miles long.
After working those four weeks at the warehouse and life guarding, I had to throw in the towel cause I was pretty sure that I was about to die, so I ended up quitting my job at the bus warehouse. I decided that I wanted to get serious so I could possible make my team's top seven in the fall, so I started getting my workouts from Tubby. He told me hey do 35 miles per week. No problem, but then in consecutive weeks he was like, "Hey do 40, then 45, then 50." So all during the summer I did all of that plus, I had to do these fourteen-mile long runs on Sunday. By the last few miles I was tripping on every little rock and root up at Turkey Mt. I think it would have been easier to hit my mileage goals if I had done my runs at different times of the day also. For most of the summer I ran either before work around 11am or after work about 6pm. Neither of these times were that good to run at cause it was so blazing hot and I'm pretty sure I had at least a couple of heat strokes. Night running was a lot of fun too, but I normally only ran a couple of times a week at night, almost always with Alex. That was always a ton of fun. Last summer I went out a lot less and I think that helped me also to get my running done. The summer before I went out pretty much every night and sometimes I just wouldn't feel like getting up in the mourning and going running. So I went out a lot less and got a lot more sleep.
School was rolling around and it was that time again. Time to load my car up and move in and time to run our annual time trial to see how everyone measured up to each other for the upcoming year. Warming up everyone was so glad to see each other, because most of us didn't really see one another that much during the summer. Everyone was talking all nice to each other but on the inside I was wondering how many of them I could beat. By the time the gun went off everyone was all nervous and ready to go. It must have been one hundred degrees out there. The pace was blistering and the concrete was so hot I could swear that you could smell the bottom of your shoes melting. I ran as hard as I possibly could. The end result: eight place on the team and that was only because I had to out sprint a freshmen. I was so perturbed about it. A whole year of hard work and I only ran nine seconds faster. At least I didn't get beat by any of the high school kids that ran the race!
After the time trial we just hung out the rest of the day and packed, because the next day we were going camping at Sulphur. I was so tired and homesick that it wasn't that much fun. We had three weeks until our first race. I knew I had to work hard if I was going to make the top seven so I could run at regionals, so on our hard days I would run as hard as I could to try to stay up with the top group of guys. It didn't matter though if we were doing tempos, fartleks, or hill repeats. I would start up with them but I always finished way behind them. Some days I would wake up so tired! Then we also had swim workouts twice a week at 6am. Coach got so mad at me because I was always like five minutes late, so she would make me stay an extra fifteen. It never really worked that well though, because I continued to arrive late anyways.
I was pretty nervous at the ECU Tiger Chase (our first meet), it had been so long since I raced cross country or wore spikes and this was a freakin' 8k race. Man, I was just praying that I could finish the race and not get beat by all of OBU's "B" team. Steven shot the gun off to start the race and these dudes were so fast, and I wanted to start out slow so that I could make sure that I could finish the race. At the mile I hit 5:30 and I was behind a ton of people, actually pretty much everybody. I picked it up and people started coming back, before I knew it I was up with Cody Weaver, Allen Thompson, and some other OC dude. I hit mile four and I thought my calves were going to rip in half. Me and Cody left the two OC guys so I was like Weaver can have it. I was just going to try and finish, and then I saw CiCi ahead of me and thought that I would really like to beat him. I ended up beating CiCi and finishing 5th on my team. I was so surprised. Coach was really surprised, I think that she thought that I cut the course or something. Everyone told me it was a fluke that I beat CiCi, that I got lucky. I must have been pretty lucky because I beat him in the next three races. I have yet to beat him in a 10K race though, but I will have one more shot this Saturday.
More than anything I'm pumped for Steve, Sandy, Cody, Coach Payne and the rest of our teammates. Cody ran his butt off for five years and finally it is paying off and he gets to run at nationals. Sandy also has been running hard and he is a senior and it will be his last chance to go. I'm really happy that our GA gets to go, Steve worked his butt off and was awesome but he never qualified to go and run. He runs with us in practice and makes sure we hit our times on our hard days. He is also very encouraging and the girls are always jealous that he doesn't run with them. He blocks the wind pretty good too. Josh, CiCi, Wade, and Jacob the freshmen are also on the team. They are pimps and have been doing awesome all season long. Coach Payne is also really deserving because she has put so much time into the program, but she is going to be so angry tomorrow mourning, because we broke into her office and we put balloons everywhere, and threw confetti everywhere and just decorated her office up really pretty, because she got the LSC coach of the year and the South Central Region Coach of the year. Heck, I'm pretty darn excited myself!!!! I had an awesome track workout yesterday, even with the wind and I'm just ready. I mean, tomorrow I am flying out to LA, and it is going to be so warm and we get to miss school and goof off, and it is going to be so much fun. I really want to do well at the race also, because I want to impress everyone back home like all of my family, friends, old coaches(like Williams, both of them, Barber, Hedges, Pickering, maybe even Adair), and Jennifer-especially her. Jen is so funny because she thinks that if I try really hard I could win the race. Trust me, I know this isn't going to happen, but that is really sweet of her to think that. It has been a fairy tale season and we all hope to cap it all off with a spectacular finish this Saturday, and to think at the beginning of the season we were ranked 8th in the South Central Region. I even heard that the race will be aired on that special ESPN channel that is dedicated to sports. I still have to pack also, and the funny thing is my suitemate, CiCi, has been packed for days. Anyways I'm super pumped and I appreciate everyone that has helped me along the way. Oh yeah, I heard that Sapulpa beat Jenks 24-21, at their house.
* John is a graduate of Sapulpa High School and a red shirt freshman for ECU. OKtrackXC.com wishes both John and his team best of luck at the NCAA DII Cross Country National Championships.