3 years

“Three years of training together and I’ve finally broken a sweat” -Josh, early this morning during our 1000s workout (scorching hot, even at 9am)

Although we have established that Josh has a sweating problem (not the typical kind; he doesn’t sweat enough!), that is not really the point of this post. I am leaving Rochester on Monday, so naturally my thoughts have turned to memories of the past three years. When I think about my six years of graduate school in Rochester, I generally split them into halves: the first three years when I wasn’t running, and the last three years when I was. It is incredible how much better the last three years have been. I’ve made many great friends, gotten myself into great shape, and feel better about life and everything else in general. But, I didn’t intend for this post to be bittersweet, because it already sucks saying goodbye to everyone.

While visiting my parents in Connecticut last week, I had the opportunity to run in a XC race series that I participated in almost exactly three years ago, in August 2008. This was  at the very beginning of my “adult running career.” The Wickham Park XC series has been around for many years, and the course has never changed. It is a strange distance–2.6 miles–but it is a very fair course. Back in 2008, I covered the distance in 15:36 (results here), and I was quite happy about being able to run six minute mile pace. This summer, I finished in 3rd place in 13:16 (results), which works out to 5:07 pace. It was really satisfying to be able to look back and make this comparison. I guess all the hard work has paid off, and although I will miss my friends, I am looking forward to finding out where running in a new city will take me.