Cross-country in abundance at Greater Louisville Classic in Kentucky.
Greater Louisville Classic [Runner’s High]
cross country
No. 81 [Runners]
“What’s been the toughest part of the transition from high school running to college running?”
“Mostly the daily physical abuse from Tim Simon.”
[Tim Simon is one of his XC captains, and he actually appreciates Tim.]
Nos. 78 & 80, Revisited [Runners]
“I threw up three times after the race today.”
“And I know you’ll run tomorrow. What’ll make you put in the miles tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I’ll run tomorrow. Definitely. I have to push harder and not let it happen again.”
No. 79 [Runners]
“I’ve started around 800 races and meets—cross-country and track. This is my 18th year. … When the meet is over, I don’t have to run to the locker room or my car. I’ve only had a few people tell me that my start was bad.”
“If you could give one piece of advice to high school cross-country runners, what would it be?”
“One? Ah, well, it’s important to know the course. And for the coaches, it’s important to know the rules.”
Nos. 76 & 77, Revisited [Runners]
“It was during the summer of 2013, and we just started—we didn’t even know each other, did we? It was seventh-grade year for us. We wanted to join cross-country, and they said they were doing a ‘square’ that day. And we had no clue what it was. It’s a six-mile run. So we were nervous, and we ran together, and, well … Almost about halfway through—or we thought it was about halfway through—it wasn’t. It was one mile in, and we died. We just stopped. We were walking. We were so out of shape. … We also got pretty lost. Our coach comes around to see who’s still running and picks us up, and we got picked up. And he’s like, ‘Why are you still out here, ya losers?’ He was kidding, he was kidding. … It was our first impression of cross-country, and it wasn’t a good one.”
[They told me the “Square” is not a fun run. It’s not shady, it’s hilly. Then they told me about the “Megasquare”—a nine-mile run.]
Hooray Run 