Last Hoorah

I am currently sitting on a bus going to Boston, Massachusetts for my last cross country race ever.  Eight years.  Eight years of XC all comes to an end Friday November 13th at roughly 1:35 p.m. ET.  I’ve spent these last two weeks or so reflecting on my time running.  Whether it is reminiscing with teammates, going through high school pictures, or reliving everything with the best two people in my life: My Mom and Dad.  My Parents have seen nearly  every one of my races over my career.  As far as I know, there was only one race in my collegiate career that both of them couldn’t attend, and it was over 8 hours away.  No other parents have even come close to the amount of support they have shown not only to their eldest son, but the Bonnies XC program as a whole.  It is no surprise to anyone that they will be out in full force at Franklin Park Friday with my Dad probably pretending to be our head coach!  

I can vividly remember my first ever captains practice the summer before my freshman year of high school.  The captain’s Mike Thielman and Joe Seitz went around asking people why they came out for cross country and I answered with, “Because I love to run.”  Now that got a couple of laughs from the guys because who really does love to run?  Well, eight years later I can honestly say I love running even more than I did back then.  I only joined XC to get in shape for my #1 sport, basketball.  As a young 14 -year old, basketball was the only sport I cared about.  Well.... that was all about to change.  I was quickly sucked in and fell in love with it right away.  I had some natural talent, nothing crazy though.  I now understand that me getting to this point in my career took all of the cards falling into place, and those cards, were all of my captains.  

First, I was blessed with the best captains of all-time.  Freshman year, like I mentioned previously, Seitz and Thielman, then Ryan Perry and Tom Calandra, junior year was Don Seitz and Carl Copeland.  Then my senior year was me alongside the kid who got me into this wonderful sport, Brian Dobmeier.  When he first asked me to join XC, I flat out told him, “well, I’ve never skied before but I’ll give it a shot!”  I also need to thank Ted Langlois and Josh Lewis because the “fresh four” will always live on and I love those guys.  The good fortune continued into Bona where I was blessed with a number of great role models.  Between Terence Petty, Harley Thompson, Nick Masiello, and Steven Kibbe, I had not only the nicest guys ever, but people I truly looked up to and missed so much this year.  Along with these great upperclassmen, the guys who came up in my class were just as impactful on my life.  Joe Ferencik, Caleb Lecker, and fellow-captain Ben Collins all influenced my life more than they could ever imagine.  

I’m going to soak up every moment on that line Friday afternoon because this is really it.  Sure, I’ll run marathons, various other road races, play basketball intermurals, but it won’t be quite the same.  Competing for the team, working towards a common goal is what I will miss more than just about anything.  I called my parents and they were upset because this was the end.  This may be true, it is the end, but all good things must come to an end and it is time to go out on a great note.  LAST ONE, FAST ONE!