It is a beautiful early morning to be running along the boardwalk in New York City. The sun is shimmering on the ocean water; men are fishing for their first catch of the day; a soft breeze is blowing. But the serenity of these distractions only makes me more conscious of my own body’s lack of serenity. My heartbeat pounds, faster and faster, louder and louder. My legs are tired, but strong. My brain tells them to keep moving—pain makes the champion. I look at my teammates; they look calm, but I know they are pushing too. Two miles down, five more to go—nothing matters but this run. Yesterday’s ten-mile run doesn’t matter; tomorrow’s seven-mile run doesn’t matter either. Our job is to make this run the best.
This year’s Yeshiva University Cross Country team met with Coach Steven Begley at Pre-season 2013 up in the Catskills. We spent a week conditioning together with Captain Sarah Mizrahi, Stephanie Greenberg, Talia Rhodes, Sarah Lazarus, Corrie Mathias, Rena Thomas and Ruthie Heller, along with the boys’ team of Dov Levine, Natan K, Moshe Blockman, Shmooz Weinstein, Yossi Lipton and Yitzi Markel. Together we tackled 45-50 miles for the entire week. We trained as hard as we could, setting the bar as high as possible for our fall season. By the end of pre-season, we all realized that we had the potential to be even better than the past YU XC teams.
Fall began and we welcomed new runners to the team. Now that our team was complete, our captains lead morning workouts every day, six out of seven days of the week. Wake-up time ranged from 5:30-6:30am so that teams can get back to campus in time to daven and make it to shiur or class. Our daily routine has revolved around running, and our daily schedules are determined by when we get our runs in. As a team we do a minimum of five to thirteen miles a day, forty to fifty miles a week.
The first race, a 5k (3.10 mi), was a remarkable beginning for YU’s Cross Country team, especially because we, a Division III team, were competing against a Division I. The girls tied first place, the boys won second, and multiple teammates beat their personal records. It was a course none of us ran, and a defeat we will never forget. The top 5 teammates from girls averaged around a seven-minute mile, while the boys averaged around a 5-minute mile. It was a fantastic beginning.
I believe our teams’ success stems from our focus on pushing ourselves to be better, as opposed to our focus on winning. Many of our current runners achieve success by competing against themselves to shave off time from their runs. Stephanie has decreased her time by three minutes and Rena Thomas by over four minutes. This might not sound like a lot, but to a competitive runner it could mean making championships and winning first place. Even as we runners push ourselves to be better, we try not to dwell the past. Our focus is on the present run and the future run. With this in mind, we look ahead to the next meet as a challenge.