Blog #11 – Those Forever Moments

By Brenna Cohoon

Wow.  Last weekend was absolutely incredible.

The weekend all began at 8:20 on Friday morning.  My team met to decorate the windows of our minibuses that we would drive down to Peoria.  We then exchanged “sister gifts” with each other, a tradition that we continue each season.  Afterwards, the staff and students at DGS put together an amazing State send-off for both our boys and girls cross country teams.  An entire hallway was filled with fellow students cheering us on and wishing us good luck the following day.  They reminded me that I wasn’t just representing myself, my teammates, and my coaches - I was representing the entire Downers South community.  I wanted to make them proud.

The buses were off at 9:00, full of energy, as always.  Our coaches must have loved the screaming and singing that penetrated their ears throughout the three-hour drive.  We stopped for a quick lunch along the way, and eventually arrived at beautiful Detweiller Park.  With our bus pulling up, my teammates and I peered out of our windows to examine the conditions of this magical course.  Things looked great, as far as we could see.

We purchased and personalized our State gear while our coaches set up camp in our usual location behind the awards stage.  We then went on our run for the afternoon through the course, taking in the beauty of the trees around us while things were still peaceful. 

I realized that the next time I would see everything, the air would be filled with that familiar electricity felt at this meet every year.  Our run was concluded with some strides before we headed to our hotel.  There, we had some free time before heading to Avanti’s for our “pasta party”.  After dinner, the rest of the evening was filled with chatting, playing card games, and a team meeting, where we discussed our goals, strategies, and capabilities.  We all went to bed that night feeling hopeful and ready to execute our dream of bringing home a trophy the following day.

Everyone was able to get a good night’s sleep and we were in high spirits for our brief shakeout run Saturday morning.  Everyone was giddy with nerves and ready to get to that glorious starting line.  We then had breakfast, packed our bags, and left the hotel for Detweiller Park. 

Melissa Weidner, who has become our team DJ over the last few years, played all of our favorite meet day songs.  The playlist includes various pump-up songs, along with a classic, “Let It Grow” from “The Lorax” (that one is for you, Kennedy Warden).  We were full of energy pulling up to the course, sticking our heads out of the windows of our minibus and waving at the incredible amount of people - over 15,000! - present for the Illinois State Championships. 

Before we began our warmup, we got to say hello to some DGS alumni who came to support us, as well as the fan bus of current Mustangs.  When our run concluded, we headed to the line to check in, lace up our spikes, and stay loose.

We made our way to lucky box number 13 and did some dynamics and strides.  Time was ticking down to the final minutes before the race began.  I was a little nervous, as anyone would be at the State Meet, but I was mostly excited because I was confident in how everyone would be able to perform. 

I trust my teammates more than anything and knew that we would achieve our objectives.  I love them so much and could not wait until the next 18 or so minutes were over. I could not wait to hug them, telling them how proud I am, regardless of the results or regardless of how we ran.

The race was put in the starter’s hands, followed by the whistle, and then the gun. 

We were off, and we were going fast. 

I made certain to get into a good position towards the front of the field so I wouldn’t have as much work to do in terms of moving up later on in the race.  People started settling into place about 800-1000 meters into the race, and the mile came up shortly afterwards.  As I passed, I was a little shocked to see the time of 5:20 on the clock, as that is only 5 seconds off of my personal best 1600 time.  I didn’t let that scare me, because I knew I was ready to improve my personal record for cross country, and that a start like that would only help me.

The second mile was a bit more of a struggle, and I fell back quite a few places despite my efforts to surge in the back triangle.  It turns out that sometimes, you have to make moves to simply stay in the race rather than completely take control of it.

As we approached the second mile, I had fallen from my spot in the top 10 to around 12th or 13th.  There was a tight pack of us that had been together for almost the entire race.  My time at the two-mile mark of 11:06 gave me further confidence that I could comfortably break the 17:00 barrier for the first time. 

I reframed my mindset, focusing on the girls in front of me, knowing that I had to pick things up over the final mile.  I had to pass some people to not only achieve my personal goal of finishing in the top 10, but more importantly, score fewer points for our team.  Every point counts, as I learned last year when we were just 1 point away from 4th and 10 away from 3rd.

My rejuvenated positivity carried me further, and I found myself with only 800 meters to go.  I kicked into another gear and didn’t stop pushing until I finished the race in 8th place with a time of 16:40. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t know my exact time or place until I headed back to our tent.  In that moment after crossing the finish line, I needed to watch my teammates finish and find out how they did.  It was easy to find those blue striped jerseys in the finish chute as I went back to congratulate and embrace them.

I finally made my way to my coaches, parents, and other Downers South supporters, all who greeted me with hugs and huge smiles.  I had a pretty good feeling that our cross-country team had earned our first ever trophy in school history.  Sure enough, Coach Plunkett shared the news that we had taken third place, causing more tears of joy to fall. 

One of my favorite moments was shared with Olivia Duax, a senior on our team and State Series alternate, where we simply squeezed each other and sobbed.  There’s something about running that always makes me so weepy!  It has to be those endorphins.

Our cooldown took place around the course as we cheered for our boys team during their race.  We then rushed over to our tent to prepare for the awards ceremony.  While waiting for the individual top 25 awards ceremony to begin, I got the chance to speak with many kind and talented runners.  It was an honor to be among such an accomplished group.  

When that ended, I had the absolute privilege to go back up on the stage, but this time with my second family by my side.  Nothing could beat that feeling as we looked out upon the crowd, holding the trophy that we had wanted to win so badly for the last 3 years.  Although not everyone had run the individual race for which they had been hoping, we did what we had to in order to get the job done.  I am so proud of everyone’s performance.

A massive thank you goes out to all of the amazing supporters who came to watch us race.  Their support fueled our adrenaline and contributed to the awesome experience on Saturday.  This was a successful race not just because of the 7 girls who toed the line or the 14 who travelled with us, but the entire team.  Thank you all for pushing us throughout the entire season and for providing your constant optimism.  Finally, thank you to Coach Plunkett, Coach Farthing, Coach Johnson, and Coach Arenberg for setting great examples for us while keeping us motivated.  We couldn’t do what we do without you!

As exciting as State turned out to be, we are not done with our season just yet.  We are competing at NXR Midwest this Sunday and have high hopes. 

Our race at State gives us great momentum heading into this weekend, and we cannot wait to see how everything develops.

Photo – © 2018 Laura Duffy