Lessons from a High School Cross Country Coach...

"Practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect." -Coach Walter Shields, 2000 Needham High School Yearbook

For the first time in ages, last week I looked through my high school senior yearbook (gasp!), and saw this quote in there from one of my cross-country coaches. I could not help but think of it during my Thursday run.

Thursday's run marked the second time in less than a week that I ran the last nine miles of the marathon. I know you all must be thinking that I am crazy to do Heartbreak Hill twice in a week, but I forewarned you that this training would bring out the crazy in me! I have been told time and time again that mastering these hills was the best training for Boston out there.

However, I'm not going to lie, my second go-ahead at the "Back 9" was much more difficult than the first.

Maybe it was because I was anticipating that a hill that I remembered from the first time would show up sooner than it actually did. Or maybe it was the fact that it was BITTER cold on Thursday, but I do have to stop blaming the weather. Maybe I should not have tried to cram two runs of 10+ miles into two days time just to feel better about hitting the slopes in the upcoming weekend. Or maybe, just maybe, I realized that running passed Fugakyu twice in one week without stopping in for a Jalapeño Tuna Roll would be utter torture. Whatever it was, it was harder this time around.

On my run, I thought about Coach Shields' comment and all the running advice he gave me throughout four years of high school cross country. For one, I could only assume that he would have wanted me to make this "practice run" more like the real thing. But, before I can have the "perfect practice," I realized I need to learn the course a bit better. I am hoping by the end of next month I will feel comfortable enough that when I "do the Thursday," I will be running on pace with what I want for the real thing.

I also realized that when I hit the second hill after the turn by the fire station, that I was leaning forward and almost parallel to the ground and refused to look up at the hill that was before me. This was yet another "lesson" I learned from Mr. Shields in order to avoid psyching myself out on the intense hills of the difficult Needham Cross Country route.

But then again, the Needham High Cross Country route was only 2.7 Miles long...

As I iced my calves and popped Advil on Thursday night after a well-earned Fugakyu dinner, and then hobbled onto a bus for a ski trip on Friday afternoon, I could not help but think: "Man do I miss the simplicity of training for high school cross country meets!"