Notes
I've ran a few races in the past several weeks, got to be a part of a Centennial Conference championship team for the first time, had a great weekend with some great friends, and have a bunch of finals to study for, so I guess it's time for a season reflection!
I learned quite a bit more about running, myself, electronic dance music, and life this semester, and it was an awesome experience to say the least. Since running is probably the least important of those things (exlcuding EDM), I'll go ahead and address that first.
I'd say the main thing I figured out training wise is that merely pounding out 65 second quarters on Eastern's track isn't gonna do anything to help me break 4:00 or run 1:55 unless I do something else to progress as a runner. Luckily, I have a plan for the next year that I think is going to get me there, and maybe even surpass what I previously thought I was capable of, and it's going to start today with two weeks of recovery, which I think is going to do wonders for me. While I haven't been seriously hurt enough to miss more than a week of training since my Sophomore year of high school, looking back I haven't given myself a complete break from running since starting this log, which in hindsight seems like a major mistake. Once I come back from the break, I'm going to start putting in very consistent 80ish mile weeks over the summer. This isn't going to be anything like what I did last summer though, since I'll be running at a very relaxed pace over mostly soft surfaces and throwing in easy threshold workouts that should be well within myself, and limiting these to once a week. If I can focus on those things, I should be able to come into XC next year not only fresh and healthy, which is by far the most important thing, but also fit enough to be different XC runner than I've been the past two seasons. It might sound super ambitious, but I think I have the talent to break 26:00 next season if things come around, but once again that's a big if. EIther way, it's going to be a lot of fun and I'm super excited about running right now, which is refreshing since after destroying my body in every sense over Intersession, I'd been pretty disenchanted with the sport.
Even more so than in XC, I really strengthened bonds with some really great people though this sport, which is by far the most important thing for me anymore, and really is probably the only thing that kept me super happy over this athletically and academically brutal year. I've got some time, so there's definitely people who deserve individual shoutouts, even though most of them probably won't read this.
People definitely have mixed opinions about Tom "The Turd" Pavarini, but mine's mostly positive. This season he helped me through some really rough patches, was a supportive training partner, and will probably be one of my close friends for the next few years, so I'm grateful to him.
Billy "The Astronaut" Scola is always a great person to run with, and is someone I can always count on to be there if I need him. I'm glad to call him my friend
Andrew "The Captain" Ceruzzi was a great friend and leader much in the same light as Billy, and he's really an expert on almost any area of life. Super sad I could only have one year with him.
I can't say too much about Akshay "Ashtray" Alaghatta, Dan "Dan Queer" Bier, or Andrew "POTS" Carey, since there's nothing I can't tell those guys, and they have the best overall character of any three people I've ever met.
Austin "Steck" Stecklair is someone to idolize. He really pulled everything off over his four years here, and I'm super glad he's gonna be around next year. Last night he told me he was proud of me, which is probably the nicest thing he's said to anyone, so I had to hold back tears.
I'm actually super glad I got to know Grace "UCLA" Hancock this year. She gave me a bunch of surprisingly great advice and is one of the funniest people I know. I'll probably cry when she leaves for grad school.
There's not much like running with Ryan "The Man Of Many Names" Schwartz on almost every run and workout, and I mean that in the best way possible. The mixture of stupid jokes, random obsessions, and serious training talk is really what defines being on this team for me.
As always it was great going through the season with my FAMILY, Leo "Heat Miser" Potters, Jed "Egg McMuffin" McMullin, and Geoffrey "The Rodent" Kazlow.
It's going to be a great summer of miles and debauchery, and who better to live with than Tom "Country Bouche" Boucher, and Stefan "1738... 5k" Arnold? Can't wait for what's ahead.