Blog #15 – Gifts

 

By Brenna Cohoon

 

 

It has been a little over a week since my season concluded, giving me a lot of time with my thoughts.  With each day that passes, I miss the cross-country season more and more.  It is difficult to truly express how incredible of an experience this entire season was.  Between the good races and the bad ones, there were so many opportunities for growth.  I can confidently say that I learned more about myself this fall than I ever have before.

 

To wrap up my season of writing for ILXCTF.com, I thought it was fitting to share the “gifts” that I received throughout cross country this year.  These “gifts” are highlights and memories that I hope I will remember for a lifetime.

 

Our training started back in early June.  Team barbeques, pool parties, long runs at Waterfall Glen, Saturday runs, and our annual run in Chicago filled that whole first month.  Time absolutely flew by, and the team chemistry grew stronger each day both in and out of practice.

 

The team camping trip took place in late July.  We filled those couple of days by bonding near the campfire and listening to words of inspiration from our coaches and captains.  The majority of our free time was spent making a ridiculous amount of friendship bracelets. 

 

We competed at Detweiller at Dark one night and enjoyed testing our fitness before things officially got rolling.  I remember spending over an hour afterwards simply talking with some of my friends in the lodge back at the campsite.  It wasn’t until around midnight that we realized we should probably get to bed, so we reluctantly returned to our cabins to sleep.

 

The competitive racing season began with our home meet on August 24th.  I remember being disappointed after my performance but encouraged by my teammates and coaches.  I simply had to trust in the process.

 

Our rain-delayed race at the Fenton Invitational followed up our home opener and was not as successful as I had hoped for me personally.  Again, my team was there to hug me after the finish line and support me with positivity.  Even if I was upset by my own performance, I remember watching the incredible number of Mustangs finishing behind me.  It was phenomenal!  The freshmen especially blew me away.  They stepped up and proved themselves in a race that had some great competition.

 

First to the Finish was a blast.  I remember watching High School Musical on our way there, which settled everyone’s nerves and allowed for my teammates to test out their singing voices.  The race itself was a huge turning point for me.  It was the first race where I smiled, and I smiled a lot.  I believed in myself and that I deserved to be running amongst the top girls.  I cried afterwards, stunned with what I accomplished.  I cried again because I was so proud of my team’s second place finish against the best in the state.  To make things even more special, that day was my dad’s birthday, and to make him proud on his big day was so fulfilling.

 

The Naperville Invite was another tough race for me, both mentally and physically.  Instead of letting that negative energy following my performance consume me, I moved on.  I would just use that experience as motivation for the future.

 

Next was the Roy Griak Invitational.  We were up in the early hours of the morning to pick up the Yorkville teams and go on our way.  Everything, from the temperature to the hills, was so much more manageable than the year before.  It was an exciting race for the state of Illinois, finishing 1-3 for teams, and being a part of that was an honor.  I also know that I will never forget hearing the words of my teammate Olivia Duax’s favorite video being repeated the entire ride home.

 

The Naperville Twilight Invite came just a few days after Griak, and though I was tired, I knew a lot of girls were going through the same thing.  Between the energy from racing in the stadium, running under the lights, and competing against some phenomenal competition, Twilight was one of my favorite races of the year.  It wasn’t even close to my best time of the year, but that didn’t matter.  It was another race that gave me confidence in what I was capable of accomplishing later in the season.

 

The WSC Gold Championship was a race where I pushed myself, resulting in even more confidence.  Witnessing our team finish 1-7 for only the second time in school history was thrilling.  I had tons of fun watching everyone else’s races that day and celebrating the awesome season that everyone had.  It was sad that it was the last time during the season that everyone would compete, but there was more than enough to be proud of.

 

At Regionals, I remember laughing at my teammate Becca Diddia’s bib number before the race.  While running, I can still feel that sense of panic from when my left spike came untied.  I just prayed it would stay on when I splashed through the creek at Katherine Legge Memorial.  Cooling down with my teammates and Abby Lopez from Argo was a blast.  We finally got to know Abby a bit after competing with her on a few different occasions.

 

Sectionals was another exciting race.  I had so much fun racing with Abby and I am extremely grateful for her positivity that pushed me.  She helped me push any doubts I had out of my head.  I was ecstatic watching my teammates finish so well and felt such an immense amount of pride to be their teammate.  Knowing that we were finally seeing what we knew we could do completely confirmed that all of the hard work we put in was paying off.

 

The weekend of State was such an awesome experience.  We had a fun bus ride down to Peoria, lots of the time filled by playing with a Bop-It.  Once we arrived, some of my teammates had fun customizing their State gear with nicknames or other inside jokes printed on the back.  We enjoyed our time hanging out in the hotel rooms playing cards and eating dinner at Avanti’s. 

 

I remember the butterflies that filled my stomach during that pre-race talk with the team.  This was more of a feeling of excitement than anything.  I woke up on race day, as excited as ever.  Seeing everyone who came to support us was such a blessing - to fully comprehend that we have that much love surrounding the team is impossible.

 

The race itself was amazing but celebrating afterwards was my favorite part.  To see the pure joy on everyone’s face was priceless.  Although it was very special receiving that trophy, things just didn’t settle in right away.  Our head coach, Coach Plunkett, said that the time we spent together while training and simply enjoying the company of one another was even more special to reflect upon.  Although it sounds cliché, the journey is sometimes more rewarding than the outcome.

 

Competing at NXR and seeing what our team could do one last time in such a competitive region was a great way to cap off the season.  Things did not officially end until two weeks later, after I ran at Foot Locker and we received the news about NXN.  As sad as that final moment was, there were a lot of “gifts” there, too.  We spent some quality time together that night, and I couldn’t ask for anything more from those girls.

 

I am so unbelievably proud of all my team accomplished, but I know we are hungry for more next year.  This entire season was such a terrific gift.  These moments would not be so special if we hadn’t worked as hard as we did for the last few months.

 

I would like to take this final opportunity to thank everyone who has supported me along my journey of running and writing this fall!  I hope to continue growing and sharing my experiences during track season this winter/spring.

 

Photo Credit: Olivia Duax