The Woodberry Harrier 2010: Volume 2
Although a few readers are new to The Harrier, many have been reading it for a long time, and I think it is safe to assume that most would welcome some other voices. This year I want you to hear from some of the seniors. Here's Matt Laws, one of our two captains:
I have found that some things remain the same from one cross country season to another. What those things mean to me replenish the energy I pour into each workout and race in ways a delicious pizza and a Coke never could. Laughing and telling stories dating back to freshmen year exercises what the preceding ten-mile run did not. It raises spirits and helps us recover. Circling up after each run to stretch completes and solidifies each afternoon’s work. My first English essay this year was about magic; whether or not it exists, and what in fact it actually is. I think of magic as feelings we cannot fully explain, so I naturally thought about the feelings associated with cross country. We have no creepy spells or funky potions, except of course for our mineral water and plant-based potassium supplement. But there is magic every day of cross country. As the season started up at camp, we talked about an external spirit that is present whenever the team is together and how it is far more than all of us combined. My best attempt to illustrate this is to give examples of when I have felt this spirit. I feel this running along a winding dirt road on a late October Tuesday beside dark orange trees and harvested fields. Add a crisp breeze under a blue clear sky and another harrier helping me stay on pace and the magic is there. That’s probably as serene as our workouts can get. But even in fast hill repeats I try to find some serenity, for it helps me find meaning in the workout. I like to think that this meaning continually builds up over the course of a week and a season, supplying a different kind of energy in the races. This kind of energy we will certainly need in every single race. The last two cross country seasons were as memorable as they were successful. The feelings I had and the energy I felt in those seasons are with me this season too, and that in and of itself gives me high hopes for the remaining fall.
I have found that some things remain the same from one cross country season to another. What those things mean to me replenish the energy I pour into each workout and race in ways a delicious pizza and a Coke never could. Laughing and telling stories dating back to freshmen year exercises what the preceding ten-mile run did not. It raises spirits and helps us recover. Circling up after each run to stretch completes and solidifies each afternoon’s work. My first English essay this year was about magic; whether or not it exists, and what in fact it actually is. I think of magic as feelings we cannot fully explain, so I naturally thought about the feelings associated with cross country. We have no creepy spells or funky potions, except of course for our mineral water and plant-based potassium supplement. But there is magic every day of cross country. As the season started up at camp, we talked about an external spirit that is present whenever the team is together and how it is far more than all of us combined. My best attempt to illustrate this is to give examples of when I have felt this spirit. I feel this running along a winding dirt road on a late October Tuesday beside dark orange trees and harvested fields. Add a crisp breeze under a blue clear sky and another harrier helping me stay on pace and the magic is there. That’s probably as serene as our workouts can get. But even in fast hill repeats I try to find some serenity, for it helps me find meaning in the workout. I like to think that this meaning continually builds up over the course of a week and a season, supplying a different kind of energy in the races. This kind of energy we will certainly need in every single race. The last two cross country seasons were as memorable as they were successful. The feelings I had and the energy I felt in those seasons are with me this season too, and that in and of itself gives me high hopes for the remaining fall.
-Matthew Laws '10
Well put, Matt. Let me close by simply catching everyone up on the events of the several days.
After the hardest week of training yet, the boys went into Friday afternoon's Yoga session feeling a little sore and flat, and even after an hour with Joyce, I know that some of them wondered if they would be truly ready for the Woodberry Invitational the next day. To make a long story short and sweet: they were very ready. We had the best day out we have had so far, and the boys learned a valuable lesson: Character and focus can supply what the limbs are lacking. It was a great day. Here are the results:
Kevin put in the sixth best time ever on the Woodberry course (with two of the five in front of him being Alan Webb and Martin Keino). He missed the all-time WFS course record by one second. But his amazing performance would not have earned us 2nd place without amazing performances from others, such as Addison Winston and Thomas Garrison. The boys earned the celebration they enjoyed over the excellent lunch the Bennerts arranged.
Well put, Matt. Let me close by simply catching everyone up on the events of the several days.
After the hardest week of training yet, the boys went into Friday afternoon's Yoga session feeling a little sore and flat, and even after an hour with Joyce, I know that some of them wondered if they would be truly ready for the Woodberry Invitational the next day. To make a long story short and sweet: they were very ready. We had the best day out we have had so far, and the boys learned a valuable lesson: Character and focus can supply what the limbs are lacking. It was a great day. Here are the results:
Woodberry Forest Invitational | |||
Woodberry Forest Golf Course | |||
18 September, 2010 | |||
2nd place out of 27 teams 1-5 spread: 2:17 1-7- spread: 2:38 | |||
Runner | Time | Place out of 243 | |
Bennert | 16:12 | 1st | a 22-sec. WFS PR, a 16 sec. season PR |
Garrison | 17:58 | 14th | a 31-sec. WFS PR, a 19-sec. season PR |
Laws | 18:05 | 20th | a 17-sec. WFS PR, a 5 sec. season PR |
Winston | 18:22 | 27th | a 1:12 WFS PR!!!! |
Grantham | 18:29 | 31st | |
Trudgeon | 18:30 | 32nd | an 8-sec. season PR |
Flynn | 18:50 | 47th | |
Rafield | 18:54 | 50th | |
Shelton | 18:54 | 52nd | |
Gimbert | 19:28 | 73rd | |
Exum | 20:25 | 117th | |
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