It has been over three months since my last post. Summer has finally come to a close and my favorite time of the year has been well underway for little over a month.
In late August, I was thrilled to return to Amherst to begin another big year of races, workouts, long bus rides, early Sunday morning runs, and hours of dinning hall chats. With the start of a new year, we also welcomed eight fresh new faces to our program. While these young men all hail from different corners of the country and different walks of life, they have all seemed to do quite well making the adjustment to life in the Pioneer Valley. It has always amazed me how, in just over a month, those once-nervous first-years who didn’t know any team running routes nor have ever raced an 8k, are now well versed in all that is Amherst College Cross Country. They have made a fine adjustment to collegiate workouts, tasted their first 8k, and are no longer afraid to dish out a little banter to an upperclassmen.
While they are now well involved in the inner workings of our program and have been on campus for over a month, they are still just freshman and still adjusting to a big life change. One thing we have always tried to stress with our first year athletes is to approach the first semester and or year without expectation, specifically when it comes to running. You’re far away from home, you’re living with a stranger, taking on intense academic course load, and you’re also part of a collegiate sports team. Why make something you love and enjoy, this stressful and burden in your daily life? We will never pressure kid with lines such as, “We really need you to step up this fall and be part of our conference team!” or “You’re going to need to score this weekend at Regionals!”. If first year’s make large impacts at big meets or in the post-season, we really see just see that as an awesome bonus. You have to remember that the college is four years and for distance runners that means the possibility of twelve seasons of running, so there is plenty of time to score points and run fast.
As we now find ourselves at the halfway point of the season, temperatures are dropping and championship season is rapidly approaching. The guys opened up their season with a competitive 6k race across town at UMass in early September and capped off the month with a strong showing at the Purple Valley Classic. These next two weeks will be two big tests, as we head to Franklin Park for Open New Englands on Saturday and a week later we will be at home for the famous Little 3 Championship. We certainly have big goals for both meets, but all that matters right now is checking off today’s ten mile run through the woods of Amherst.
Luke Maher 