What I liked at IUP was the freedom, and the pursuit of parties, and talking to cute guys. Plus, all of that came with the package of meeting amazing friends, like Tanya, and of course, running. Running was a pain and grace all in one. When I ran, I could concentrate on my problems and sort them out usually be the end of the run (especially if it was 10 mile run Monday), also I didn’t have to worry about my figure, until I got mono and then later got the stress fractures. Also, when you are on a college team, you have a certain obligation to eat the right stuff, stay up only to do homework during the week and to concentrate on your studies so you can stay on the team. I miss the drive for excellence, the exhilaration of the race and talking with everyone on the team. I have a network of moms that I see each week, but I can’t talk about the good ‘ol days with them.
The person that introduced me to it all was Vonnie from South Park High School. She is a year older than me, and I suspect she’s still running hard. I came up and met Coach Fry, Moser, Mike and Dougie the night before my French and English entrance exam (which I did great on – hooray, I didn’t have to take French because I did so tres bien). I have to say, I envied them when I had to go home the next day, because they got to live a free life at college during the summer, while I worked at Ames to save for college. Meeting Coach Fry was nice, he was very hospitable, and seemed much younger than his age and he really can identify with his runners because he is one.
Also, I got to go to my first college party (no drinking for me – and dad I was offered, but declined) so I could ace my tests. It was in a basement of one of the fraternities (Moser was the president for). Nothing really exciting happened, but it was nice to catch up with Vonnie and meet new people.
Did anyone have a similar experience before starting for the cross country team? Please leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you.
-Liz
