Week 10: Time to go to work…..
Team Captains, All-Comers Meet, Cow Chip Bingo, Time to Fly
“Working hard at what they love is what a human being does best.” He recites these words in his mind as he lowers the bench press bar back on its rest. 10 reps. Four times. Not too shabby. But it’s really little more than a warm-up for what’s to come. A one hundred-minute long run, at 80% race pace. But Bryce Nisly has been here before. He looks down at his running shoes, the soles almost worn through. Time for a new pair. After a couple deep breaths, he lays back down on the bench and rips out 10 more reps. Call it overtime if you want to, but Nisly is only focused on one thing. Getting stronger, faster, and tougher. It’s his senior year, and he’s told himself there’s no time to waste. He rises from the bench and opens the door to the weight room. The sun is just coming up. A rooster calls from some nearby farm. It’s runner’s hour, that golden time of the morning when the world is just yawning itself out of a deep sleep. Nisly does a few quick static stretches, sets his timer on his watch, and begins running.
The first few miles go by quickly, and before he knows it, he is deep into the rural countryside. He passes a tractor and the farmer gives him an approving nod. The farmer knows what hard work looks like. Twenty minutes into the run, and Nisly is starting to feel it. The steadily increasing heart rate, the sweat forming in droplets on his brow, the road beneath his feet. He rounds a wide bend and starts down a straightaway that must be three miles long. There are no cars on this barren stretch, and Nisly feels like he’s alone in the world. But in the distance, a form is emerging from the air like a mirage. Closer, closer. Nisly keeps on moving forward. What is it? He can’t yet tell. A few hundred meters pass, and now Nisly can make it out more clearly. It’s a human. Another runner. Nisly feels a twinge of kinship, a communal understanding about running and why people do it. Soon, the advancing runner comes into sharp focus, and Nisly can see that the runner is none other than Nicholas Johnson, his teammate, friend, and rival. Nisly pauses his run to say hello to his buddy. But Nicholas Johnson blows right by him without uttering a word, too focused on his run to stop for small talk.
You see, Nicholas is a senior as well, and although he doesn’t yet know it, this is going to be a big year for him. He’s gotten taller, tougher. His sinewy muscle has been honed into the classic cross country mold. Should he have stopped to talk to Bryce on this desolate country road? Maybe. But if anyone understands the rigors of true focus, it’s Bryce Nisly, and Nicholas is sure he won’t take offense to the slight. Nicholas checks his watch. 30 minutes down. Ten to go. Time to up the ante. On a whim, he veers off the road and runs headlong into a cornfield. It’s mid August and the corn is tall, blocking out everything around him. He heads in the general direction of the school, but even that is a guess. The stalks of corn slice at his skin. His head knocks against a heavy ear of it. There are clouds of small gnats in the air, nagging at his eyes, sticking to his sweating face, but Nicholas tunes it all out. He’s not sure when it will happen, but eventually the field must end. The dirt below him is uneven and he can feel his ankles adjusting to the rugged topography step by step. He remembers the words of his coach, Michael Van Winkle. “Be strong everywhere, but especially in the ankles.” Nicholas glances at his feet, his shoes beginning to be covered with the rich dark soil. Van Winkle’s mystical voice returns to him. “If you suffer enough, you will begin to understand the journey.” Johnson pummels ahead, sometimes batting down the stalks with his hands, sometimes dashing right through them. Acre after acre, more like a fox than a human, Johnson heads in one direction. Eventually, he emerges onto a road. Sabine-Bigelow. He’s close. He knows that in less than a mile, he’ll be back at Fairbanks High School, just in time to wipe the sweat and dirt away, and begin the first day of his senior year. The busses are starting to slowly roll in. Children’s faces stare wide-eyed out the windows at this begrimed athlete who is now nearly at a dead sprint, heading towards the weight room and the finish line. Johnson smirks, knowing that his morning was more eventful than the typical student’s. Because that’s what it takes to be great. And this is a fact that Nicholas Johnson understands well.
To be continued……
By: Jeff Powell
Fairbanks Cross Country 2024 Team Captains
Elizabeth Phillippo, Sadie Miller, Ava Lahmers, Nicholas Johnson, Bryce Nisly, Zeke Gingerich
All-Comers Meet
With our Team Captains set and team in tow we are ready to lift up our anchors and sail onto the All-Comers meet this Thursday at Westerville North High School. We have not been to this meet before but it looks like a fun one. Just 2 miles for the high school and the races are split into a Freshman-Sophomore and a Junior-Senior race. There will not be any team scoring just individual results. This is a great opportunity to ease into the CC season. Expectations and goals are to keep everything simple.
Race Goals
Build your Race Pack
Spikes
Water Bottle
Snacks
Uniforms
Execute Raceday warm up
Get to the Line On Time
Quick Start, transitions to 5k Rhythm, finish fast.
Execute Cool Down
Just a quick reminder that we are not taking a bus to this meet, parents will be responsible for transportation.
Check Remind for more meet details.
Cow Chip Bingo
Back by Popular Demand!!!
September 3, 2024 at the FARMBanks XC Invitational
Click on the link belong to buy your bingo squares and please share with friends and family.
https://givebutter.com/cow-chip-bingo
Time to fly…..
On Friday we passed forward the Team Captains Log. The Captains log is a private written account of our team captains experiences, only to be read and written in by the next seasons team captains. For the 2023 season with a smaller team we had just 1 team captain per squad, Bryce Nisly and Rachael Hoover. This season with a bigger team we elected more team captains. Bryce continues on as a 2 year team captain carrying with him the Captains Log while Rachael passed forward the Captains log to the 2024 girls.
Thank you Rachael for all of your time and dedication to the CC program. You are the GOAT and will be greatly missed. We wish you all the best at Bowling Green University and we will be watching for your CC times this fall.
Time to Fly!!
