Verbs and Adjectives
Tim Rickard '08 - Verbs and Adjectives
Many people think that cross country only consists of one verb: run. The same people think of only one adjective to describe cross country runners: crazy. Having at one time thought this very same verb and adjective after my six year hiatus from running cross country, I once again realized that cross country runners have a much wider vocabulary than their spectators. For the past two springs at Wabash College I have been only a Track & Field runner. To trim down and get strong, Coach Johnson and Coach Busch suggested that I stay during the summer and join the cross country team. Now already the team has only four meets left to go for the season, with nationals being on November 18th, and my vocabulary has been expanded by an 8K. 
The most recent race, the Earlham Invitational, yielded a ninth place finish for the JV athletes that did not attend the Notre Dame Invitational the day before. It was the second time that I had run this course, and it seems like I will have at least one more time to take on the many hills of the challenging Earlham course. This invitational provided some difficult challenges not experienced on the first race; for example, a winding mud alley through the woods that made runners “peel out” while “cruising” through the sticks. Personally, the competition was similar to the first meet, because I am still running with guys trying to break 30 minutes for an 8k. However, I did see other teams had their track teams out for cross country to improve overall running strength. Seeing other track athletes out on the course was encouraging, because there is evidence that this long distance pre-season method is going to work. In response to seeing other track teams out running cross country, Coach Johnson said, “Those guys may be last in an 8K, but they’ll be first in the 4x400 meter relay.”
But like I said before, I have been reminded of the vocabulary of cross country runners this fall season: Tempo workout is having to move your @$$ for a definite amount of time and distance; Hills is self explanatory; Interval work is “booking it” for a short amount of time with usually an “active recovery” (personally, the worst part of the workout, when I start running like a lineman), and Time trial, which are races during practice. If someone were to ask me to do these tasks before cross country, I could have only done Hills. The most important term defined this fall was Red Pack. Denotatively it is what the Wabash Cross Country Team calls themselves on runners-log.com. The connotation of this word is only truly understood when you join a bunch of guys from 4-6:30 everyday and suffer the self-inflicted pain to gain the self earned sense of accomplishment, and if you work hard enough, the pride of winning. The adjectives that describe the Red Pack as of now are determined, veteran, and, well, crazy. But if what crazy is what you have to be to win races, stay in shape, and be part of something greater than the sum of its parts, I’d rather be crazy any day of the week then what I like to describe non runners as: jealous.