*By my standards
...it was a day back in the summer of 2004. I kinda had a plan for my life after graduating from college. It was something that sounded easy. I was going to take a year off. Apply to graduate school, and once I got in backpack throughout Europe. That was the plan. But for the fall I needed something to do. Go back to Harris Teeter? Umm...no. My brother was going to be entering ninth grade and was joining the cross country team. My sister was also on the team. Over the summer I would drive him over to practice, drop him off, and then pick him back up. After awhile it got kinda ridiculous to drive out to McAlpine, drive back home, and then drive back to McAlpine. So one day I dropped my brother off and then went and ran on my own. I just stayed by myself and ran enough. It must have made some impression because my old coach, Coach Airheart, asked me if I wanted to help volunteer with the team. My first thought was, wait a minute I guess she didn't remember me when I was in high school!
One day at practice we were going to run in the neighborhood that was at the top of the dirt trail right before the 1.5 mile mark at McMullen. Back in 1999 McMullen didn't even make it to the first bridge under 485, so when we ran we had to run on the roads. I was running with my friend Dustin and two freshmen, Bobby and Paul. We got onto the roads and we saw the neighborhood kids playing a game of football. Well that sounds better than running! So the four of us played football while the team ran, and when the team came back and saw us playing, I'm sure I felt something, but it wasn't shame. After a while Dustin and I realized we needed to go back, but the two freshmen decided to stay. We'll tell Airheart that you guys got a cramp or something. We got back to the parking lot and Dustin told her that Bobby and Paul were playing football. She chewed those guys out and when they found us they were pretty hurt. Dustin told them that's what happens when your a freshman!
That's what type of athlete/runner I was in high school. My 5k PR was 20:45, my 1600 PR was 5:30. I wasn't that fast. I didn't run during the summer. I hardly ran during practice. And here I was going to volunteer to coach with the JV boys. I didn't know really anything when it came to coaching. Terms like fartlek, tempo, or intervals might have well been a foreign language to me. The first time I ran with the Catholic cross country team in this role as volunteer coach was on a Tuesday. That much I know. Because it was a practice at the Harris Y.
I remember sitting in my car. I think I arrived a bit early (Which I always do). There was a kid in the car that had pulled up next to me in a white Jeep. He was looking in his mirror to see if his hair was alright, if he had any pimples, and to see if his earring was rightly in place. I thought this guy is trying to look cool when he is really not. I had no idea what I was going to run that morning. I had heard hills, but had no idea what was going to happen. We did a mile warm up around the outdoor track, stretched, and then went into the neighborhood behind the Y to run the loop.
I had been told it was hilly and that it would be tough. I didn't think the pace was that hard, but I really didn't want to get dropped. So I stayed out in front and before I knew it we were done. The kid from the Jeep, who I later found out to be Ryan Whitley, asked me if I was tired. I told him no. Well we weren't running it that fast, was how he retorted to me. Well are we going to do another loop, I asked. No I'm tired, he said matter of fact and rather confused me because it made no sense (I soon understood that this was my introduction to Whitley logic). And then something happened that made me understand that I would probably start to enjoy coaching this team. Ryan started to walk away from me. I thought, did I do something wrong to anger him? We were on the roads in a residential area, houses all around us. The Y was in front of us, but there was a fence and woods. Ryan walked towards the fence, behind some bushes and started to use nature as it was intended. No he didn't hid behind a tree, he just stepped out and was urinating. I thought this was rather strange, but since nobody else seemed to be bothered or shocked by this, I assumed this was normal. That was how I was introduced to the Catholic XC team.
...I was sitting in my car on Tuesday. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. When I would be coaching and we would have weather like this over the summer I would tell the kids, better take advantage of this while we can. Which translated from coach talk: were going to be running a lot today. One thing that has been a constant at the Harris Y over the summer was the summer camp. There's always a gang of little kids running around the perimeter of the track, you kinda have to pay attention to make sure that you don't run anyone over. I did a mile warm up and was surprised how fast I ran it, somewhere around 7:05. I wasn't really expecting to run fast today, I was going to the track meet and I was going to run the mile for sure. Maybe the 5k. After stretching I made my way to the journey that awaited me.
The Harris Y traditional loop starts on Sharon Hills road, then you turn right onto Rosemary, then it's a quick right onto Sharon Acres and almost immediately you turn left onto Prince George. Then it's a right onto Whistlestop, then a left back onto Sharon Acres, and then a right onto Yellowood. Starting and stopping at the Y makes it about 3 miles. It's pretty hilly but it does have it's downhills and flat parts. If you have never run it before the first hill is the one that intimidates you. I would always tell kids who came out for the first time, well that first hill is pretty tough. The hill ended up being a thing of lore, it was either Rosemary or simple put Rosie. It was just steep. It was somewhat long too. But after that every other hill wasn't that bad. I think the steep incline up Whistlestop are just as bad, but once you get through that mental barrier at the first hill, everything after that is pretty easy.
As I was running the route I had a sense of calm, a sense of relief come over me. I wasn't that concerned with anything and started to think about all the memories that I had from the place...
-like that time I set up neon yellow soccer cones throughout the course for a fartlek run and I saw some woman later on in my run picking up trash. I spotted my soccer cones in her trash bag, and I had to politely ask her for my cones back.
-the time J-Fad fell down Rosemary. Picturing her tumbling down the hill gave me a guilty laugh.
-"Jeff St. John lives on St. John lane!"
-the time that Mark and Jake were fed up with Sanders talking down to them about how slow they were running over the summer, and finally busted it out right at Rosemary. I was running with Mark's brother when I saw the lead group go, and it took me until Yellowood to catch them. I think we ran the first 2.5 miles in 14 minutes, but I think everything I tell the story the time keeps dropping
-the constant mention of the "meth house" on Yellowood
-whenever we would stop after one loop we would see who had sweated the most during the run
-the porta-john that was behind the fence that saved me one or two times
-the Olde Georgetown swimming pool that taunted us during those warm summer days
-the groups that would come out for the run. I think the summer of 2008 was the year where there were the biggest numbers. Maybe like 20-30 kids out for voluntary runs during the summer. Then again I think 2009 wasn't that bad either.
And like all good things they have to come to an end. What comes up must go down. When I think about things I have to include them all. Because even if the bad things were unpleasant they had some impact on who I was and how it shaped me as a person. In some ways I was running with ghost on that run. Whether it was Drew, John S, Dean, Gilligan, Whitley, Mark, Jake, Jamie, my brother they were all there. It was a loop that I hadn't done for almost a year, but it felt familiar. In fact we only ran there once a week for about two months, so it really was only eight times a year that we were there, but it always felt like I was reconnecting with an old friend. The last time I ran it was July of last year and it poured a cold rain during the run. It reminded me of another time that I ran the loop where it did the same exact thing. The memories start to run together at certain points. They all feel the same.
I ended up doing another loop. This time backwards and I added up with what I called the Bamboo forest part of the loop. I ended my run with a cool down to give myself a total of a little bit over 8 miles. I had done the hill loops at an average of 6:40. My legs didn't feel trashed and I was going to go out there for the track race and run whatever I could do. Throughout the course of the day I took a nap (I'm in my off period till I have to work so I'm going to take advantage of it) and visualized the race that was about to unfold. It was the mile. There were variations of the race. Some good. Some bad. The good outweighed the bad. I then got that anxious feeling in my stomach. Tough to breathe but something in the fire of my belly. I was going to go out and see what would happen. I didn't expect much but I figured sub 5 minutes would be something to aim for. I wondered who was going to be out there and was ready to roll. I always like summer track. It was simple, cheap, and somewhat a DIY event that harkened to my punk roots. I always saw the same people there running it and the same people participating in it. I had done well there and I had done poorly there. This might be my last race in Charlotte for a while I wanted to go out on my terms...
Part II Summer Track Part 2010 Redux tomorrow night
For those wondering if you want to run the route I described behind the Harris Y, there are painted arrows at the streets I mentioned. As well there are arrows painted on the road for the duathlon that is held at the Harris Y in August. It can be pretty confusing. The Splash and Dash as it's called does not include the Rosemary hill and I think is the hill loop backwards. The loop that we, the Catholic team, would do was based on the Krueger Jump into Fall 5k that was held in late August or right before school started. I think the Splash and Dash replaced it. I never ran the Krueger race, it didn't look like a lot of fun. I do know that Chris Lamperski won it in 2005 or 2006 with a time in the low 17s, but don't quote me on it.
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