The Woodberry Harrier 2014: Volume 5

Time Passages

This season has passed much faster than I expected. At camp it seemed as if there was such a long road ahead, but now I have only a week left in my Woodberry cross country career. As a freshman, I could not begin to imagine the end, and it still feels somehow unreal.  I remember joining this team as a freshman and feeling like a minnow in a bass pond. It really is scary how time can seem to be slow but move so fast. When we set our goals at camp back in August, I knew I wanted to leave without regrets and make this final season the best yet, but one thing was standing in my way.

Even though I’ve never had an injury during all my four years, my asthma has been a constant challenge. It’s a pain to take that inhaler four times a day, but without it a race can quickly become a train wreck.  I learned this lesson the hard way at Oatlands.  I had avoided the inhaler that week, but a few minutes into the race the hot air and thick dust triggered one of my worst attacks ever.  I felt suffocated.  Unlike many sports, in cross-country you can’t put your failure on someone else. It’s all you, always, and I knew I hadn’t prepared for my race.  Oatlands was a scary wakeup.

I never was going to let that happen again. I got my medicine straightened out and set my routine,

and I haven’t lived through another Oatlands since.  Every race has gotten better. Everything fell into place at Preps, when I paced with James and we both had lifetime PR’s along with six other teammates.  It felt so good to be back that I knew I would not take it for granted again. It’s a cliché but you really don’t know what you have until it’s gone. Running at Woodberry feels similar. Now that Woodberry cross country is almost over for me, I’ve started realizing about how good it has been for me. 

This was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it has taught me much, especially how to face hard challenges. Not even the toughest history exam could match up to one of our hill workouts.  You hear people say that you can do whatever you set your mind on, but cross country teaches you that it’s really true.

I wouldn’t trade the the last four falls for anything, and now I know you can’t take life’s great experiences for granted.  There is nothing more precious than “now,” and I’m going to treasure that until I cross the finish line next Friday.

-- Averett Flory ‘15

Certainly the team seized the moment (if I may use that old phrase) last Friday.  They pushed themselves with great courage and determination to get within sneezing distance of a Fork Union Squad which took #1 and #2 (and which has beaten them in every match-up this season):

	Virginia Preparatory League Championships
	Collegiate’s Goochland Campus
	31 October, 2014
	Place:  3rd out of 7 teams 1-5  spread:  1:20
			Place / 83 runners
	Singleton	16:40	4	12 sec. season PR; 9-sec. lifetime PR; All-Prep
	Finley	16:45	6	5 sec. season and lifetime PR; All-Prep
	Carrington	17:36	17	1:08 season and lifetime PR
	Flory	17:40	18	53 sec. season PR; 1 sec. lifetime PR
	Rich	18:00	23
	Hernandez	18:05	25	1:01 lifetime PR
	Jacobs	18:31	34	49-sec season and lifetime PR
	Tydings	18:51	44	22-sec. season and lifetime PR
	Gussler	19:10	47
Vieth		19:41	53	24-sec. season and lifetime PR
	Wall	20:05	57
	Dameron	21:11	62	21-sec season PR
Prater		22:36	76

This coming Friday (7 November) we host the 49^th Virginia Independent School Cross Country Championships, and it will be a momentous day because after thirty-five years at Woodberry the meet moves to Fork Union next year.  If you are in the area at 2:30 Friday, come out and support the harriers.