It is early October and this cross country addict had not attended a meet this season until last week. I found myself getting cold sweats, dry mouth, and uncontrollable shakes for no good reason. Something was missing in my life. I missed cross country.
For those new to MileSplit, I am a father of twin daughters that are now freshman off at separate colleges to continue their running careers. One daughter is at the University of Illinois and has recently been cleared to start running again after recovering from a track injury from the end of senior season. The other daughter is at Princeton University running for the Tigers. Yes, they wanted to go separate ways.
Finally, the schedule worked for me to get my fix this past week with a vengeance. On Tuesday, my wife and I got home from a soccer game for our 6th grade son, Tyler, and walked two blocks up to New Trier High School to catch the end of a quad meet between New Trier and three area schools. It felt great to see the familiar faces of parents, coaches and athletes. Coach Burnside let us know that Courtney is the gift that keeps giving. It seems as if Gatorade has been sending lots of sample boxes to the school as residual from Illinois Runner of the Year for 2012. Too bad she didn’t get Surly Brewing Co. Runner of the Year. Those samples would be put to good use at my house. The cold sweats went away after Tuesday.
Then, on Friday, we made the drive to Notre Dame so I could see my first meet featuring a daughter. It was a large Invitational featuring 25 schools including Princeton and U of I on the women’s side. Courtney was not running for U of I, but she was able to attend, thanks to her Peoria area grandparents, to cheer on her team and her sister. It was so fun watching Jessica race. I have missed sprinting across a field (in this case, a golf course), with camera in tow to catch multiple points of the race to snap as many shots as possible. It was a hot, humid afternoon and I was beat after running around the course. I can only imagine how all the runners felt.
Both Princeton and Illinois ran solid races on the women’s side. The thing that is very different is seeing where most of the familiar names finished. I am used to seeing all the names I know racing finish in the top 10% of almost every high school race they ever ran. Well dad, welcome to college running. Holy cow! I forget that I am witnessing the best of the best high school runners compete against each other. Watching my daughter and the other collegiate runners was step two of my addiction program. That night, after Notre Dame, my dry-mouth became moist.
The other aspect of collegiate running that is new to me is that my daughters won’t be running every big race. These are deep teams stacked with talent and if they aren’t red-shirted as freshman, they still need to be in the top group on some very deep, talented teams to make the trip to run. What we are finding, is that sometimes, this is not known until the week prior. Gone are the days of having a very casual conversation with the high school coach asking what the season race schedule would be. This does not make things easy for parents that want to attend every meet their kid will be running in. Debbie made a trip to Delaware earlier in September to watch Jess run with a whole three days notice to plan her trip.
We got back from Notre Dame on Friday night. On Saturday morning, Chuck and Clare Smith (parents of Mimi; New Trier) picked me up early to give me a ride to St. James Farm to watch the Wheaton Flighted race. This is one of the most fun races due to the unique format, and I didn’t want to miss it. Once again, once we pulled into the field to park, I felt the nervous energy radiating through the farm. It was different watching without a daughter running, but it was still wonderful; and less stressful. I spent time with multiple friends I got to know thru my daughters running. I was pleasantly surprised to watch New Trier take #1 in 4 of 7 Flights to take the team title over the nationally ranked Naperville North squad, including Mimi Smith in the #1 flight to win the meet.
As we were driving back to Wilmette, I realized my uncontrollable shakes were a thing of the past. Step three of my ‘good’ addiction was complete. I was now cured. It has become clear that I need to view as many cross country meets as possible to stay healthy and vibrant. I can do this! Our room is booked in Peoria at my parents for the state cross country meet on November 9th. Thanks mom and dad. Could you please make sure my Disney characters sheets are on the guest bed? I don’t want to relapse.
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