I know that in my last blog I eluded to continuing the “What not to do” trend, but for running I may actually (surprisingly) have a few worthwhile tips. Although right now running is an individual task (like everything else), most of my “lessons” were learned with groups of people by my side. Many of these may seem like common sense, but you’ll be surprised at how quickly running makes you think that doing absolutely anything else is a better idea than continuing your tempo-pace. So for the new quarantine runners and future cross country team runners here are some guiding words…

 

1. Don’t steal stuff

It seems obvious enough, kind of the law… yet somehow I ended up having to answer to Iverson about how a whole dining room table somehow appeared in our locker room, so some people clearly aren’t following this rule *cough* sophomores *cough*. Back to the point, no matter how tired you are, when you see things on the side of a road (table, sign, cone) you don’t need them as much as you think you do. This more relates with a group of people, you might think on your long run that you have the time to build your own trial with cones or some other creative idea, but when you get back to home base, chances are that item will be forgotten about (or end up sitting in the corner of the locker room).

2. You can’t run on water

Halfway through a run, you might be feeling invincible (invincible or dead). You might suddenly have a “great” idea on how to make the run a bit more interesting. You probably don’t. Just stop and think for a minute “Would Iverson think it’s funny?” if the answers no then you probably shouldn’t carry out whatever plan you had. Coaches are all game for a laugh or for finding new, hidden trails (like the ones at Blackwell), but they do want you to come back after the run. Running on a frozen river, in the clearly marked archery range, or through Fresh Thyme isn’t always the best idea. Trust me from experience you do not want to have to call your mom while completely soaked on a below-freezing day to pick you and your friend up (miles from home) because you guys “thought the ice was thick enough”. 

3. Be prepared to think on your feet 

Nosebleeds, broken jaws, freezing hands, directionally blind navigators, all possibilities of what may be encountered on a run. Know your surroundings pre-run… just in case you have to treat an injury or make a call. That way you won’t have to sprint down the street and flag someone down because one of your friends slipped on ice and somehow landed jaw-first (or something of the like). On a more serious note, make sure you know what you’re getting into before heading out on a run. For runs like Great Lakes Relay, you can end up running dozens more miles than planned if you get lost, so you need to know some basic survival skills. The last woman who got lost at GLR knew to strip down and sleep in a tree for a few days until help found her; it’s an awful lot to expect someone to be able to remain that calm, but maybe just try to run your longer runs with an older chaperone if you don’t know the area you’re running in. Even if you’re going on a shorter run, if you don’t know the area make sure to bring any necessary materials. This was crucial in my GLR running group when we ended up running about 10 miles instead of 6, but luckily we had our members’ inhalers and ankle braces.

P.S. even if you bring a phone on your runs, if it’s longer, bring materials; always assume the worst of your cell-service company and phone battery.

P.S.S don’t try to write your page long directions on your arm or leg in case of rain or honestly because it’s difficult to read and chances are you won’t be looking at your leg every .1 miles.

4. Try geocaching and podcasts!

Okay these might actually be helpful ideas. If you’re running for three hours straight you’re going to get bored of your playlist. Without other people to keep you entertained during this quarantine, it’s time to turn to other methods (as mentioned above). Personally, I haven’t found any super good podcasts yet; I’ve tried quantum theory podcasts, ones on aviation/engineering, and news-oriented ones, but trying to learn complex theories while running or being bombarded with statistics about the bleak future isn’t fun when you already feel like you might not make it to the end of the run. Plus the last thing I want to hear while running is “freshly euthanized bird carcasses are used for bird testing engines” or anything about “high energy particle excitations”. Ones I would recommend would be anything centered on debating (IQ2 has a youtube channel that you can play and run while listening to), Tedtalks, “Stuff You Should Know”, and the Alive Center podcast (Co pres of the Alive Center Alexa Betjemann forced me to include this). Now onto geocaching, this you probably can’t do right now (unless you bring rubber gloves and hand sanitizer), but people put geocaches everywhere. Every cross country trip – whether we’ve gone deep into the forests near Canada or in small Iowa towns – our team has found geocaches. This gives you a new path to run and a goal for fun runs. 

5. Be a little immature

You really have to know the time and place for immaturity on this one; I’m definitely not saying to make jokes during your interviews or anything like that (unless you want a long conversation with Iverson on how you want to portray yourself and the team to universities and competitors). But, we can’t all be Alex Morris with the perfectly structured running and diet schedules. My advice here is to be spontaneous sometimes. If your running group wants to go on a 3 am run (and all of your parents allow it – this is key unless you want to explain why you snuck out to run), go with them! If you spend your team trips locked away in your hotel room or tent doing homework, you’ll miss out on 4am arm wrestling competitions, hair dyeing, TPing your coaches house, and so many other random ideas that tired runners and coaches think up. For the quarantine runners, this could mean maybe deviate from your scheduled workouts every once and a while and just go for a fun run. If you call ahead you can even run to a friend’s house and talk to them outside (from 6 ft apart of course). Or just run in the middle of the night or at sunrise ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

I would write more but this definitely reaches the word count; all in all hopefully some of these optional tips help you out. The one thing that’s not optional though is that if you do decide to join NNHS cross country in specific, you are required to work at Panera. Otherwise, have fun running! (if that’s even possible)