{"id":1590,"date":"2009-09-02T04:58:25","date_gmt":"2009-09-02T09:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/?p=1590"},"modified":"2009-09-01T22:30:28","modified_gmt":"2009-09-02T03:30:28","slug":"collegiate-running","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2009\/collegiate-running\/","title":{"rendered":"Collegiate Running"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago one of my best friends from college was in town.\u00a0 He brought his wife and 1 year old son.\u00a0 As we reminisced about the “good ole days” we realized that it was 5 years ago that we first met as young, naive, and eager to please freshmen at Taylor University<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We arrived to a fairly quiet campus on a beautiful fall day at the end of August.\u00a0 The football team had already been practicing for several days (this included one of my roommates) and other teams were arriving as well. I remember being pretty nervous – more about being on the cross country team than anything else.\u00a0 I was a decent runner in high school, but nothing anywhere close to fast.\u00a0\u00a0 I ran a 2:12 800 and never broke 5 in the mile or 10 in the 2 mile.<\/p>\n

I definitely didn’t realize that the team I was joining was one of the best in Indiana and ranked in the top 25 nationally (in the NAIA<\/a>). Had I known that I probably wouldn’t have joined and my life would be pretty different. Especially since I met my wife through a cross-country friend.\u00a0 While reading Once a Runner<\/a>, I had so many thoughts come welling up in my mind and I could remember many of the weird\/random things my teammates and I did in our 4 years together.<\/p>\n

I truly have never experienced anything like the camraderie that came with slugging out 1000’s of miles together.\u00a0 Bearing through each other’s injuries, emotional low points, academic struggles, and other major life obstacles and celebrations.\u00a0 We were a team but we were also friends.\u00a0 It wasn’t all fun and games though.\u00a0 Get 15 competitive guys together and there will be issues, but those are easily forgotten on a 10 mile run.\u00a0 At least until someone decides to drop the hammer.<\/p>\n

I could probably spend a lot of time sharing about my collegiate experiences and maybe I’ll try to throw some posts in every now and then.\u00a0 But I think one thing we all get from running is a great group of friends.\u00a0 Non-runners don’t understand the bonds forged out on the road, but there is something about it.\u00a0 Running stride for stride, sometimes talking about life, sometime staying on the surface about the weather or a recent meet, or sometimes just listening to the crunch of your feet.\u00a0 Yes, running builds great friendships throughout our life.\u00a0 I’m just glad that some of my best ones started in college and continue today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago one of my best friends from college was in town.\u00a0 He brought his wife and 1 year old son.\u00a0 As we reminisced about the “good ole days” we realized that it was 5 years ago that we first met as young, naive, and eager to please freshmen at Taylor University. We […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[506,13],"tags":[746,311,507,62],"class_list":["post-1590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college","category-my-running","tag-college","tag-cross-country","tag-friendship","tag-running"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4iaAv-pE","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":278,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2008\/meet-team-usa-minnesota\/","url_meta":{"origin":1590,"position":0},"title":"Meet Team USA Minnesota","author":"crossn81","date":"June 5, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"There are at least two great opportunities to meet with members of Team USA Minnesota in the next months. First all Metro area residents will get the chance to meet Team USA - Minnesota on June 11, 2008. According to Down the Backstretch everyone is welcome to come run with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Calendar"","block_context":{"text":"Calendar","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/calendar\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.teamusaminnesota.org\/images\/athletes\/Tollefson_2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":741,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2008\/race-review-rockys-run-8k\/","url_meta":{"origin":1590,"position":1},"title":"Race Review: Rocky’s Run 8k","author":"crossn81","date":"November 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The Rocky's Run 5k & 8k brought back a lot of college memories for me.\u00a0 I've done a lot of trail races since college, but this is the first \"cross country\" race.\u00a0 So many things about it were similar to a cross country meet. Location - a golf course, we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8k"","block_context":{"text":"8k","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/8k\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"\/running\/images\/rockyrunAnneTeam.jpg","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":298,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2008\/ive-been-tagged\/","url_meta":{"origin":1590,"position":2},"title":"I’ve Been Tagged","author":"crossn81","date":"June 24, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I was tagged by Lori (aka Toughnoodles). When you get tagged you are supposed to answer the questions and then tag 5 other people.\u00a0 I'm going to be one of those weirdo's who just says if you are reading this and want to get tagged - you are it! So\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "My Running"","block_context":{"text":"My Running","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/my-running\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1553,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2009\/book-review-once-a-runner\/","url_meta":{"origin":1590,"position":3},"title":"Book Review: Once a Runner","author":"crossn81","date":"August 12, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"John L Parker's Once a Runner is a cult classic for runners.\u00a0 And I would throw my hat into the ring on this one.\u00a0 The worst thing about this book is that it made me want to run more than I could at the time.\u00a0 Don't read this book while\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book Review"","block_context":{"text":"Book Review","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/book-review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Once a Runner Cover","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.slate.com\/media\/1\/123125\/123050\/2180573\/2206024\/081231_CB_oncearunner.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2007\/favorite-runs\/","url_meta":{"origin":1590,"position":4},"title":"Favorite Runs","author":"crossn81","date":"June 27, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Enjoy changing scenery? Like the soft surface of trail running? How about seeing wildlife on every run? Those are all experience you can have at one of Central Indiana's best running spots. Mounds State Park, in Anderson has a little bit to offer every runner. 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