The Woodberry Harrier 2011: Volume 4
Finishing....
When you apply to college, you inevitably get a little nostalgic. You have no choice as you reflect on how you’ve developed thus far and fill in the blanks on your “most significant experiences.” Once you start thinking about these things, your childhood yanks on your mind like a hooked fish trying to pull you off the bank of maturity, right back into the waters of childhood. Self-reflection is rare on my part, but when circumstances present a need for it, I try to make sense of what has happened in my life so far. Cross Country is one of the things I think about most these days, for obvious reasons.
We all remember watching “The Snowman” at Christmastime. It’s iconic, and along with “Closing Time” by Semisonic and Rugrats, that film ripples through my memory pool. I recall specifically the main scene when the boy and the snowman are flying over the countryside on their way north, accompanied by an eerie rendition of “Walking in the Air.” Somehow this is the image that comes to mind when I hear of this phenomenon known as a “runner’s high.” We’re running in the air. We’re sprinting in the moonlit sky… or something to that effect. I’ve never actually experienced this euphoria, even though some runners swear by it. I must search elsewhere for why I’ve headed north with this team.
I always discover something new on the Perimeter Trail, whether it be amount of the stress Peter’s ankle can bear or the number of turns Hagood’s brain can process. One day recently we were to meet Mr. Hale near the science building construction site. Huge new dirt-mounds meant creative new hill workouts, I supposed. We fell in line, Hagood first, then the rest of us, and with our prescribed paces in mind, we hit the hill five, six, seven times. There's probably good material here for some generic sports essay about being tough in the face of adversity that would disappoint the tree on which it was printed. But I'll just say that it was harder each time, and we were beat at the end. What I remember most about the day, however, was afterwards when Hines, Averett, and I turned off onto our cool down to run along the rest of the trail. Without the workout still numbing my legs, I would have enjoyed the easy, light run. But the cool-down would bring us full circle and finish the day's work, and no cross-country runner can imagine anything different.
Cross Country instills in us a sense of completion no matter how the rough road jars our wheels. You see, you play a game but you finish a race. I think it is this willingness to put mile after mile behind us without a second thought that, in the words of the song, explains why “nobody down below believes their eyes” when they watch us do what we do. During one of our recent talks, Mr. Hale reminded us that going out every day and enduring the hills and the repeats and the intervals--all the sweaty day-to-day grind--is what sets you in place to finish the big race. In other words, it's finishing that teaches you how to finish. And if I were more philosophical, I might speculate that college will ultimately allow us to finish running the good race we have started in here. But I won’t. That’s enough reflection for now.
When you apply to college, you inevitably get a little nostalgic. You have no choice as you reflect on how you’ve developed thus far and fill in the blanks on your “most significant experiences.” Once you start thinking about these things, your childhood yanks on your mind like a hooked fish trying to pull you off the bank of maturity, right back into the waters of childhood. Self-reflection is rare on my part, but when circumstances present a need for it, I try to make sense of what has happened in my life so far. Cross Country is one of the things I think about most these days, for obvious reasons.
We all remember watching “The Snowman” at Christmastime. It’s iconic, and along with “Closing Time” by Semisonic and Rugrats, that film ripples through my memory pool. I recall specifically the main scene when the boy and the snowman are flying over the countryside on their way north, accompanied by an eerie rendition of “Walking in the Air.” Somehow this is the image that comes to mind when I hear of this phenomenon known as a “runner’s high.” We’re running in the air. We’re sprinting in the moonlit sky… or something to that effect. I’ve never actually experienced this euphoria, even though some runners swear by it. I must search elsewhere for why I’ve headed north with this team.
I always discover something new on the Perimeter Trail, whether it be amount of the stress Peter’s ankle can bear or the number of turns Hagood’s brain can process. One day recently we were to meet Mr. Hale near the science building construction site. Huge new dirt-mounds meant creative new hill workouts, I supposed. We fell in line, Hagood first, then the rest of us, and with our prescribed paces in mind, we hit the hill five, six, seven times. There's probably good material here for some generic sports essay about being tough in the face of adversity that would disappoint the tree on which it was printed. But I'll just say that it was harder each time, and we were beat at the end. What I remember most about the day, however, was afterwards when Hines, Averett, and I turned off onto our cool down to run along the rest of the trail. Without the workout still numbing my legs, I would have enjoyed the easy, light run. But the cool-down would bring us full circle and finish the day's work, and no cross-country runner can imagine anything different.
--Wilson Kuhnel '12
It's been too long since we have been in touch with our far-flung supporters. Woodberry has been moving like a runaway train since the first Parents' Weekend, and I am sorry the Harrier had to go silent during the mad chase. But, as always, Cross Country has been the still spot at the hub of the mad spin, the place where the bells hush and the paper chase flutters to the ground, a space to do one good thing well, a time to live in the springing legs and in the thumping heart, a chance to ride on the deep breaths of fall air.
We have also had our setbacks and challenges recently, and we have had to remind ourselves often that facing setback sand challenges is, after all, why we are here. Wilson is waiting out a nagging stress fracture, Hines is working through a strained hip, and everyone is showing signs of the exhaustion that sets in after the first marking period. We grumble more and drag harder and sag deeper. Eyes are duller, smiles, thinner, and brains, a little more addled. I sent them all to take a nap on Wednesday. It's earlier than I usually have to do that, but they needed it.
I think the wet weather has affected everyone. It has rained almost every week, sometimes for days at a stretch. Add to that the school's new fear of having boys outside when storms are in the forecast, and you have a recipe for a December mood in October. But we have persevered with the tonic of laughter and the comforting nourishment of hard work. We have logged in some fine workouts, and we have had some interesting adventures, including a run which finished at President Madison's grave (where we stretched in the shade of the beautiful walnut trees in the cemetery), a workout on the Cedar Mountain Battlefield, and our annual assault on Moormont. We have also run some impressive races. While the sophomores were away at camp, we ran in the Albemarle Invitational in Charlottesville. Here are the results:
Albemarle Invitational | |||
Panorama Farms | |||
8 October, 2011 | |||
Place: 29th out of 44 teams 1-5 spread: 42 sec | |||
Time | Place out of 298 runners | ||
Grantham | 18:03 | 112th | 17 sec. his under 2010 time |
Evans | 18:16 | 142nd | |
Rafield | 18:33 | 167th | 10 sec. his under 2010 time |
Winston | 18:39 | 177th | |
Shelton | 18:45 | 180th | |
Flory | 19:43 | 246th | |
Gimbert | 21:19 | 286th | |
And last Friday we ran our annual dual against EHS. It was a close race until the end, when we stepped up did what we needed to do. I was especially proud of Averett, who scored for us for the first time. Here are the results:
EHS-WFS Annual Dual Meet | |||
@ EHS | |||
21 October, 2011 | |||
Place: 1st out of 2 teams 1-5 spread: 63 sec | |||
Time | Place out of 17 runners | ||
Evans | 17:38 | 1st | |
Winston | 17:39 | 2nd | |
Shelton | 18:20 | 5th | a 4-second PR |
Grantham | 18:41 | 7th | |
Flory | 18:41 | 8th | |
Rafield | 18:43 | 9th | |
Ways | 18:59 | 11th | |
Gimbert | 20:46 | 16th | |
This week we run against Fork Union here on our lower course, which will be the site of this year's Prep League Championships. Between now and Friday, we will lay down our last layer of really hard work before looking toward the sharpening period.
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