By Mark Walters

After two back-to-back weeks of racing, it’s time to rest the horses and prepare for cross country’s post-season, or championship season. With three collegiate cross country races left in my career, these next few weeks will be bittersweet as I enjoy my last go at it while realizing exactly that, it’s my last go at it. For the faithful readers, the ones that might have been wondering about the absence of this memoir in last week’s Chronicle, I can explain. With the debate coverage, it was due earlier than usual and it was a matter of getting more sleep. I had been behind on it in the days leading up to the night I would have written my memoir, and with a big race coming up at Penn State, I needed to catch up on my hours. I could’ve banged something out into the morning hours, but not only would it have been subpar, it also would have kept me up at least an hour later which when running at the level I intend to run at, it’s the little things such as sleep, eating right, and avoiding soda and beer that can make a difference. Having run at Penn State exactly how I planned, I have the confidence I need going into championship season. The Penn State National meet was a springboard for me, a race in which I started to show what I’ve been working for so sedulously. It was a race that gave me some confidence after running subpar races due to the tough training throughout the season. Keeping true to post-season form, the confidence and fitness is finally starting to translate in practice. Tuesday was perhaps the best workout this team has ever run collectively. If I’ve ever said that before in these memoirs, this one outdid it. By a mile. We were at Eisenhower Park as usual, doing something a little different. One 2400 meter interval, followed by 10 minutes of up-tempo recovery, then 4×1200 meter intervals, with 3-4 minutes of rest in between each. Goal times were issued according to percentage of effort of our miles in our last race at Penn State. Coach Pete wanted us at 7:50 something, I ran 7:49. Everyone was well ahead of their goal times, and as we crossed the line feeling great, we were all fired up. I told everyone that after the 10 minutes of up-tempo recovery, we would be embarking on a distance half the 2400 meters we just easily accomplished, thus the hard part was over and we should be rolling and feeling even better. Better, you bet. Just like on the 2400, we all exceeded our goal times with the 1200s, feeling good as we did so. Sophomore Eric Tremblay noted that he felt like he had several gears during the workout. Mike McCristall mentioned on the cool-down jog back to Hofstra how we’re not used to feeling this good at this point of the season, a little less than two weeks before the conference championship race, essentially the most important part of our season. It’s something I’ve been thinking and saying all season. Back during the mile repeats that I struggled through, I reassured myself that I was fine. Sure enough, I ran a faster mile Tuesday with half a mile yet to run, and felt wonderful doing so. The work is starting to pay off, and with the tapering of miles and sharpening of turnover, we’re looking and feeling like we need to in order to be successful at the CAA (Colonial Athletic Association) Championship race November 1st in Manassass, Virginia, hosted by George Mason. A post-practice locker room meeting was nothing but a display of confidence and eagerness, something that is almost surprising after some of the frustration that we’ve experienced earlier. After a workout like that, well, let me just say it’s one of the reasons I run in the first place. One or two more of them, some quick stuff to feel the speed, less miles than usual, and all the anticipation a college kid can handle. So here we go. Little room for error, but what have we got to lose?

Mark Walters is a senior staff writer for The Chronicle. He is the senior captain of the Hofstra men’s cross country team. This is his memoir of his final season wearing the blue, yellow, and white.