That's Right, I'm Buff

It's over.  I don't mean life, I am not that dramatic of a person.  I mean the cross country season.  The State championship race was several weeks ago in October and we all took a week off after that race.  All of the team had become so close over the last three months, it'll be weird not seeing everybody every day.  Luckily for me, there are post-season meets!  Woo, let winter training begin...

When the Varsity girls were literally squad goals.  Photo Courtesy of: Me :)

Anyway, I made so many wonderful memories with the cross country team this season that I get all happy inside just thinking about them.  Sometimes I will be with the team and I'll think of something that someone did and I just start smiling.  Don't worry, not in a creepy way.

I can remember back to the first day of cross country.  It was an early Monday morning, the first Monday after school let out for the summer.  It seemed like a bazillion people came to practice that morning at Willow Creek and I knew no one!  Well that's not true, but I did not have a lot of friends there.

Steve tells us all to gather around and he wants us to all go on a 'long' run.  At that time, it was four miles and that seemed like A LOT of miles to run.  Somehow I ended up in the front of the pack when we started because of where I was standing.  I felt pressure and was thinking about how I looked to the people behind me.

Am I swinging my arms enough?  Am I lifting my knees high enough?  Is my ponytail swinging too much?  Are my shoulders hunched?  How do you even run?  What on earth am I doing here, I'm not athletic?

Needless to say, those many thoughts racing through my head distracted me and I tripped on a lip in the cement.  Yup.  I tried to catch myself before I fell, but it's hard to stop when you're running.  I fell and scraped my knees and hands.  In front of everybody.  I got back up and started running.  I was mortified, I could hear the people behind me laughing.  My sweet friend whispered, as not to embarrass me, and asked if I was okay.  I just nodded my head.

Fast-forward two months to our first in August.  My sister gathered all the freshman girls around told us that we had to cheer before the race started.  What you talkin' about, girl?  We have to loudly say something?  No, just no.  However, we all cinnamon rolled our hands and screamed as loud as we could, "PARK CITY GIRLS R BUFF!"  Thinking about this moment gives me anxiety.

Some of the JV team at the Region race.  (I am second from the right)  Photo Courtesy of: Claire Breiholz

That seems incredibly long ago.  A distant memory in the long-forgotten past.  Since that time I have embraced every quirky, strange thing that comes along with being on the cross country team.  Runners are weird people.  Like, you cannot even comprehend the things that happen at our practices and races.  One time we had a dance-off with a another team that was sharing a pavilion with us at a race, but that's another story.

Me and Lauren at the State race.  Photo Courtesy of: Julia Case

At my last race, the whole girls team gathered around in one ginormous mass and cheered our hearts out.  Because, yes, Park City girls are buff.  We are strong, fierce, fabulous competitors and runners.  This cheer, that at one time embarrassed the bejeezus out of me became a symbol of pride.

Now that winter training has started, the team may be smaller, but we are still a family.  I miss the people that trained with the team during season, but I'll see them soon enough.

Thanks for all the happy memories and smiles.

Ciao

Camille