Dylan Lajoie Weekly Athlete Fall XC Blog #11

It’s over. My final high school Cross season is done. I came into the season with high expectations, and I thought that I was going to have an amazing season. I wanted to break 16:25 at Belfast in the state meet, from the start but as the season went on it looked as though I really had to re-evaluate that goal. For some reason my body didn’t respond to the training this year, and now the one race I am looking forward to isn’t until late spring.

It still was a fun season though, especially in the later phases of it. I was teamless at states, but a few welcoming teams out there took me under their wing from the start. And for that I would like to thank Greely, York, the Cape girls, and to an extent Brunswick (I wantz my tshirt plz). I also want to thank my coaches for pushing me through the season, and giving me every opportunity possible to show what I got, along with Henry Loughlin for coming up and running my Monday work out with me.

It was a weird week. I had nobody to train with, so we had to recruit Henry up to get me through my work out on Tuesday, which was going really well, until Coach Gatchell took away our watches. Turns out my life depends on being able to look at my time every 200 meters. Tuesday I traveled to GNG to run for 60 minutes, on a great set of trails their high school has. I loved running the course there earlier in the season, and it ended up being a great run even though my coach and I got pretty lost.

The rest of the week seemed to fly by, and before I knew it I was sitting in a tub full of ice the night before states. I was cold. I was reflecting on my season, in a way what went wrong, but also what I could do the next day to fix it. I knew it was a do or die race, and maybe most likely my last high school cross country race.

The next day I was ready to go. That morning, when I got up I knew the only way to have success was to have fun. I was teamless, had a rough season, and really not all that excited about running a race. I think getting up there, and running the course, while watching Class A guys got me ready to go as well. It was fun to just tool around as well before the race, and see some Eastern A faces that I hadn’t either seen in ages, or had never met before. The course was beautiful, and pretty much what I expected. I really thought it would work to my advantage.

At the start of my race everyone was getting tossed around a bit. It was a mess, and people were aggressive. I got bumped and pushed, and almost fell flat on my face a few times, but this was one of my first races of the year where I did not panic out of the gate. I weaved my way through the pack well, and ran a bit fast for the first mile in a 5:05. I knew I was in 8^th or 9^th at that point, so the only thing I could think about was how fast the leaders had gone out at. On the second mile, if I remember right it was a little torn up, but nothing major. We were very lucky that the weather was relatively nice, and the course barely fell apart. Whoever was maintaining it this season, and that day did a great job. I came through in the second mile in tenth spot, at 11 minutes flat. I felt like I could maintain the pace well, and held steady. I didn’t start to drop spots until I was another half mile in. I hit a steep hill, not very big, just steep. It was the sort of hill that always seems to break me mentally and physically in the middle or later stages of a race. Two runners passed me there, and shortly after I dropped another few spots. By the end of the race I was 17^th, with a time of 17:28, my best time of the season.

Should I of run faster this season? Yes. Did it happen? No. It does not matter why, I am not going to dread on the bad things. I had fun during this race, was able to hang out with a lot of friends through the day. And in a way that’s what made my season, and helped me get back to basics of why I run.

Finding out that Alex Moser won made my day completely. We have gotten to be good friends since indoor last season, and I will be the first to admit when he told me at indoor states, he was gunning for the XC state championship, I thought he was a bit crazy. He did his work though, improved a lot, and pulled another upset at the biggest race of his life up to this date. And hearing Pat Horan’s excitement of running a nice PR that day made me happy too, and in a way reminded me of myself when I run big PR’s in big races. I remember how I used to get so excited, when my times were still dropping by 10 seconds or more a race. But the times and places were only part of it. One of my coaches repeated a few times over the course of this season that “If a someone finds meaning in running, chances are they will find meanings in other aspects of life as well.”

Sorry if I butchered that at all, Gatch, but I thought it was a good example of what I am trying to get at. But that is exactly what I mean. By starting to run XC my freshmen year I went from somebody with no direction, to someone who all of a sudden would be guided through the rest of high school, by a new life long passion. And that’s the other great thing about this. Does running end here for me? No, of course not. I have plenty of races through the rest of my life, to run that one race that defines me as a runner. Just because it didn’t happen when I wanted it to, doesn’t mean it won’t happen at all.

So all in all I find myself in an interesting position. For the first time in my high school career I find myself almost glad I get a break. Two weeks off from running. I have to admit, when I came straight home from school today, and didn’t have to lace up my shoes to go out and run I didn’t know what to do with myself. Two weeks will be the longest break I have had from running at once, since the end of cross country last year. I know I need this break though, as much as I don’t actually want to take it.

This all brings me to my last point. To the runners who maybe upset with themselves after a tough race Saturday, be glad this is a sport that you can continue for the rest of your life. You will have plenty of chances to go out and meet your goals, whether you have another season or two to go, or are looking to run after high school now, whether in college or as a hobby. Don’t dread on one or two bad races. The memories you make with your team, and the people you meet along the way will always be worth it.