The Woodberry Harrier 2016: Volume 5

Daring Greatly         

This year, our theme at early camp was all about “Daring Greatly.” But what exactly does that entail? The best answer I can give is that daring greatly means going out to the end of your comfort line and either knowing what you want to do or discovering what you want to do while you are out there. You decide to make a move and deal with it no matter how it turns out.

At the Ragged Mountain Relays, James handed me the baton and I decided that I wanted to race with the leaders, so I made up the distance to Albemarle kid in front. Another Albemarle kid then caught up to us as we passed the first mile and started running up the long straightaway. I started to hurt as the first Albemarle kid zoomed ahead, but the second kid stayed in sight. On the following downhill which ends in a creek, I let go of all the pain holding me back started to open my stride and turn my legs over, and I passed the kid.  As we started up the steep hill to the finish and my legs were begging for me to slow down, the Albemarle kid suddenly passed me back and I was chasing him again as we rounded the turn into the final straightaway.  But I ignored my screaming legs and began to accelerate. I knew that if I didn’t give it my all, that race would be for nothing. He beat me to the line, but I had dared to a decision and deal with it.

This past weekend at the St. Chris meet, I decided from the line that I wanted to stick with James and William. They started off fast with me slightly behind them, and by the end of the first mile a St. Chris kid and I were still right there with them. But once we came out of the woods, William dared to pick up the pace and James went with him, and suddenly a gap opened up with James and William up front, the St. Chris kid a little behind them, and me a bit behind him. My legs hurt, but I kept turning them over.  My new challenge was to keep the gap tight with the kid in red.  Throughout the third mile, I focused on him like a bullseye and ignored the pain in my legs. Running into the final strait, I directed every ounce of my energy to catching him, but I came up short.  Sure I was disappointed, but I had a huge lifetime PR and put all of my training to a good test before Preps. I had done something really daring, and it felt good. Some might say that I’d wasted my effort in trying that hard and losing anyway, but that viewpoint does not recognize the power that comes from daring. Perhaps the best known example of this on our team isn’t even a meet. 

Moormont is by far our best known workout. We run 3 times up the last .8 miles of the highest mountain in the area.  The last 300-meter stretch is incredibly steep, and it requires all of your willpower not to stop. By the end the only thing you want to do is collapse in the ditch (as most of us have done at one time or another). At the end of this workout, we seniors came together in a group hug, knowing that we had dared together on the mountain one last time and that we could draw on the strength of this to propel us towards the end of our season. I think we came together also because knew we were ready to make our mark and put all of our work to the test in the meets ahead.

--Clay Tydings ‘16

Here are the results of that meet:

Woodberry-St. Chris Dual Meet
Woodberry Forest, VA
28 Oct, 2016
1st out of 2 teams 1-5   spread: 1:11 1-7 spread: 3:06
Varsity Race	Time	Place out of 15
Carrington	17:09	1st
Rich	17:19	2nd
Tydings	17:41	4th	22 sec. lifetime PR!
Jacobs	18:05	5th	6 sec. lifetime PR!
Clark	18:20	7th
Lindner	18:48	8th
Kacur	20:15	15th
JV Race
McKay	20:10	9th in JV
Duke	DNF
Wall	DNR
Ross	DNR
Richard	DNR
Watt	DNR
Singleton	DNR
Sompayrac	DNR
Dearborn	DNR

Today at 2:30 we host the 52nd Virginia Preparatory League Cross Country Championships. Wish us the inspiration and strength to dare greatly.