Day 1-Cross-Country preseason kicked off when we all hit school grounds to move in. I’m personally rooming with Josh Hummel; my suitemates consist of Jonas and Corey, who are rooming together, and Andy and Kevin, who are roommates with each other. We all put in the work over the summer and where excited to kick off the season. As we get ourselves settled into the new apartment we can’t wait to run with the new freshman, which we had met as recruits only a few months ago. As we walk over to the sports center our spirits are high. We have a quick team meeting, meet the lifting coaches and before we know it we are going out on a nice easy five-mile jog. We get to know the freshman a bit more, their major’s hobbies what their times where how summer training went and we started bonding. It is in my opinion that you don’t really get to know some one until you run with them, because that’s when you truly find out who they are and what they are made of. Within thirty-five minutes we are already back on campus and pumped for the pizza party, because the only thing runners love other then running is FOOD! So we get back and wait up for the girls, and tell them that the party will be held in my apartment. With several boxes of pizza, a large salad container and the plastic silverware we trek across campus to cool down have some fun and eat some food, resting up for the 5k time trial the next day.
Day2- Today would be judgment day. It will show who really put the work in over the summer and who didn’t. Unfortunately all the girls who said they where going to come out didn’t so we where left with only a handful of eight very talented girls. Only two of them where returning from last year. But the recruitment by Kathy Manizza was outstanding. During the time trial the men had a solid pack of five leading the way, consisting of Senior captain Jonas Hampton, Jr captain Andy Chalmers, Jr Wayne Lawrence, Freshman John Busque, and Sophmore Bobby Giuliani, this pack was closely followed by Kevin Brandon and myself (Eric Flaman). Pulling up the rear but not too far behind was Chris Rodriguez, Andrew Dwyer, Zach Clark, Travis Anthony, and Corey Smith. For most of us it was our first 5k in a while some got lost because it can be a bit tricky but over all every one did very well. For the Women it was Freshman Megan Barry who headed the pack closely followed by Freshman Jenn Flores, Sophmore Kayla Koonz, Freshman Cat Carey, and Sophomore Steph Curcio, Senior but new to Cross-Country Marisa Poleto, Freshman Rebecca Mendes, and Freshman Leslie Garabedian. Over all the performances where better then expected only showing that we are expecting and going to have a strong season.
Day 3- I awake to my alarm, my arm grabs and pulls the shades and I am filled with relief as I only see blue skies ahead. My feet hit the floor and I’m ready to go. For today we head out for Hammonasset Beach, where the real pre-season and bonding starts. Every year the Cross-Country team goes out on a camping trip as a team to train. It is a good time had by all and this year we are even blessed with good weather. We load up the vans with all our running cloths, and tents and head out, all of us filled with the anticipation of a great time. We hit the road rocking out to all the new summer hits and having a blast, continuing to strengthen that bond that has brought us all together we talk about everything. When we hit the camp sight we unload, as the women sit on a near by bench the men set up the tents. As we are doing so the women are joking around with us and heckling us to hurray up. Once the men finished setting everything up we headed out for a nice easy 7 miles as a team. Keeping the pack nice and tight we enjoy the scenery Southern Connecticut has to offer us. Once the run is over with we hit the beach to catch some rays and cool off in the ocean. Our Coach and her husband decide to do I nice little ocean swim and end up going beyond the no wake zone buoys, as a result the life guard grabbed the ocean kayak to go have a talk with them. From the shoreline it was pretty funny to watch. Later that night Bobby and myself would do the same thing except we stayed within the buoys. By the way swimming against the current is tough business, even with a wetsuit I got rocked by a few waves, but it was a fun experience and good cool down. That night we headed back to the camp and as the sunset we started up our fire. Though it took us a while because most of the stuff we had was wet, we soon got a pretty good small fire going that lasted us a few hours. As we al huddled around it we made shmore’s poor Rebecca never had one before, which we all thought was absurd, so I took the liberty of roasting a perfectly golden brown marshmallow and make her, her first shmore. As we sat we shared summer stories, our goals and things that we are looking forward too in the upcoming year. As the fire dwindled so didn’t our eyes, and we decide to call it a night.
Day 4- We all awoke around 8am ate some food and today was looking to be a great day. Another clear and sunny morning started us off right. After the recovery day we were all feeling pretty good, which was a good thing because we had our second time trial where we had to run for 6 minutes and see how far we could go. Our coach didn’t let us wear watches she wanted us to pace our selves purely by ourselves. On top of that she had us guess how far we would get in the 6 minutes. We all got pretty close I personally was only 50 yards off. After a nice little cool down we headed back to the camp for some R&R. This night we would be doing some trail running with an Ultra Marathoner. We all brought some flashlights and head lamps so that we could see. We got to the running site around dusk so we all could still see pretty well. We hit the trails going at a pretty good pace, the trails where mixed with logs, rocks, and even bridges. Looking back it was actually a lot of fun. I personally enjoyed every minute of it. However some one stirred up a wasp’s nest and some of the runners in the back got stung a few times. The poor dog that was with us got it the worst. Corey, Coach Mannizza and Ken also got a few stings. Over all we survived it only one rolled ankle and a few bee stings. After the night run we grabbed as much wood from the woods as we could load them up into the van and headed back to the campsite. When we got back we where ready for an epic campfire unlike the small one from the night before. We set it up share some more stories and have more laughs. We where bonding as a team and as a family.
Day 5- Another day at the camp site, and Coach has a bit of a surprise for us. After getting a good breakfast in we head out in the vans towards a bluff. When we get there it is absolutely beautiful. Great trails and neighborhoods to run through right on the coast it was stunning. The girls did a loop that went around the bluff along with a few guys while the rest of us ran out onto some trails following signs to a farm, then cutting back and doing the bluff loop again. It was a great area a lot of people out and about walking and running. A few people had picnics, and every one was friendly. Afterwards we did band exercises before heading back. We showered up and hit the beach for a while. It was our last night there and what a night it would be. We caught the sunset at the beach and Josh snapped a team photo with the fiery red sunset in the background. As the sunset further we laughed and enjoyed each other’s company. The freshman felt more loose and comfortable around us. That fiery red sunset only mirrors the admiration we have for each other and the sport of running. That night we all became more then teammates we became family. We headed back to the campsite to start up another fire. As we did so we all agreed to sleep outside under the stars with no tents. We lay down in a row head to head and watched the stars before our eyes faded.
Day 6- We all awoke to a nice crisp morning, the cool air and sun surround us we get out of our sleeping bags and step onto the dewy grass. We all grab something to eat for breakfast, the sun starts warming up the earth and quickly, it’s going to be another hot day. We hung around for about an hour before heading out on a nice 3 mile tempo. All guys looked pretty good and stuck together for most of it. Our top two Jonas and Andy extended the tempo a little but stuck together. As we jogged back to camp we had people asking us if we had been running for the whole time, and we all laughed and said yes. They where stunned and shocked but we knew that it wasn’t even that bad compared to what lies ahead. As we packed up and showered to go home, we could only smile at our hardships to come. We packed into the vans and headed back to University of Hartford more ready then ever, and not just as a team or group of people who want to run but as a family.
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| The XC Team |
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