The Woodberry Harrier 2015: Volume 1

Now. Here. This.

Just off the front porch of Nature Camp, the dinner bell hangs atop a tall cedar post, cocked as if frozen in motion.  Sitting there with my morning coffee, I found myself pondering it again and again, listening to the silence and watching the stillness of this thing made to swing and ring.  As strange as that sounds, it was powerfully absorbing.  If someone had pulled the rope in one of those moments, I’d have thought it a kind of vandalism. Gazing at that quiet bell, I was gazing at our own still moment as we readied ourselves for the challenges ahead. 

Camp is the time of year when all my thought and intention is absorbed by the team.  Back at school there will be meetings and emails and all kinds of claims on me, but out there--for three short days—it’s all about cross country.   And this means that every small thing is suddenly charged with significance:  preparing dinner becomes a ritual, washing dishes becomes an act of solidarity, a trail up a ridgeline become a sign of the long challenge ahead.  

The most ordinary things seem to whisper, Wake up.  Don’t miss this. The laughter down in the cabin makes me grieve the loss of it even before it fades because I know laughter will be scarce when the weather turns and the days shorten.  We must keep laughing.  A cluster of still-green leaves makes me wonder how we can hold our freshness when the sap begins to fall.  We must stay fresh.  I watch the rising sun rise suffuse the woods, and I’m filled with a warming hope for what we can do if we just hold the right intention and stay present.

I look at that bell and think of how much depends upon that first pull---and then on the follow-up.  Ringing a bell is all about starting right and being ready to tug again at just the right moment.  The sound—resonant or dissonant—is made by the way a small moving thing hits a large rigid thing.  It’s all about the right force and timing and patience and readiness. 

This season these limber kids will swing into so many un-giving things:  the hard ground, gravity, fear, pain, relentless opponents, a stubborn coach.  (Running is life, remember.)  But if they swing with a firm lightness and rhythm and pay attention and stay with it, they will make a joyful noise.  Like the ring of the phrase which resonated through all our talks at camp:  Now..Here...This, Now..Here...This.

We had an excellent retreat, the best I can recall, and we were able to carry the positive vibe into the Ragged Mountain race on the way back to Woodberry.  We had a really good afternoon there:

Ragged Mountain Cup (2-mile relay)
Panorama Farms Earlysville, VA
1 September, 20015
5th out of 42 teams Top-five spread: 1:40
Runner	Time	Place out of 168
Singleton	10:34	4th	17 sec. under last year; Top-5 honors.
Carrington	11:30	17th	43 sec. under last year
Jacobs	11:43	25th	1:47 sec. under last year
Tydings	12:12	45th	29 sec. under last year
Rich	12:14	50th	21 sec under last year
Kacur	12:58	91st
Gussler	13:10	102nd
Wall	31:31	111th	3 sec under last year
Pittman	13:33	120th
Daphnis	13:35	123rd
Duke	13:50	134th
Hernandez	DNR

And the following Saturday we left before sunrise to compete in the Chancellor Invitational in Fredericksburg:

Chancellorsville Invitational
Fredericksburg, VA
5 September, 20015
7th out of 21teams Top-five spread: 2:30
Runner	Time	Place
Singleton	17:01	3rd out of 159
Carrington	17:31	16th	A 5-sec. all-time PR
Rich	18:36	47th
Tydings	18:53	57th
Jacobs	19:31	78th
Gussler	19:53	92nd
Hernandez	20:36	112th
Kacur	21:51	143rd
Daphnis	21:40	82nd out of 126
Duke	21:42	85th
Pittman	21:51	101st
Wall	DNR

And after our first week of practice, we make our annual trip to Fork Union, where we had some very impressive performances.  

Fork Union Invitational (3-Mile)
Fork Union, VA
12 September, 20015
8th out of 20 teams Top-five spread: 1:43
Runner	Time	Place
Singleton	15:54	11th out of 138	33 sec. under last year
Carrington	16:22	21sr	1:19 under last year
Rich	16:58	45th	1:31 under last year
Tydings	17:27	63rd	1:50 under last year
Jacobs	17:37	71st	2:27 under last year
Wall	18:50	112th	2:50 under last year
Hernandez	18:51	113th	8 sec. under last year
Kacur	18:55	88th out of 286
Duke	19:15	112th
Gussler	DNR
Pittman	DNR
Daphnis	DNR

Of course our excitement about our times was tempered somewhat by Trinity’s very strong showing.  Seems we will be chasing them yet again, but I must admit that this is a good thing.  It will, I hope, bring out the best in us as it has the last few years.  This coming Saturday we race in the annual Woodberry Forest Invitational.  We are excited to be racing at home.