SAC Student-Athlete Insider: Jenny Grant

Welcome to the start of another fall athletic season! It's hard to believe summer is already over and it's back to school and cross country. For me, it was especially hard to return to Tusculum knowing this will be my last year as a Pioneer as I'll be graduating in May. I was excited though to return to campus and to get to know my new teammates and reunite with old ones.

The Tusculum cross country team arrived on August 10th for the start of preseason. Upon arriving on campus, we helped each other move in. Somehow most of us ended up living on the third floor in each of our dorms, so we had a good work-out by hauling all of our stuff up three flights of stairs multiple times. The day passed by quickly with moving in, meetings, and physicals. The next day we went to Johnson City to pick out shoes and spikes. I've always had trouble finding shoes that fit since my feet are so small (size 5.5). When you are at the end of the standard distribution of foot size, there's not a lot of options to choose from and as a runner, I tend to be picky about my shoes. I like Asics shoes because I've never had a problem while wearing them (shin splints, etc.) and they are made small enough for me. However, they don't always make the smaller shoes in the prettier colors, so I had to get a brown and grey pair. I couldn't find a pair of spikes that fit so I ended up ordering Asics Gel-lyte flats from online.

We started practice on Monday and had two-a-days for the whole week. Since Tusculum is hosting the Conference meet this year, we started off our first practice by jogging through the 5k course and then running the course again at a tempo pace. The first mile loops around our practice fields, so it's flat and quick. After that though, it's up and down with all the hills. Last year, Conference was hosted by Carson-Newman at Panther Creek, which has traditionally been one of the tougher courses since it's so hilly. However, I think our course will be named hardest course after Conference. While I know it'll be a big advantage to have practiced on the course all season come race time, I can't help but wish the course was flatter when I run!

Aside from getting lots of practice on the Conference course, we ran "brazilians". Our new assistant coach introduced us to them. To complete one brazilian, we do 25 jumping jacks, sprint 125 meters (uphill of course), do 25 pushups, sprint the 125 meters back, do 25 sit ups, sprint 125 meters, do 25 burpies (jump up and immediately upon landing, jump back into a pushup position and do a pushup, then jump back up), and sprint the 125 meters again. After doing a few sets of those, we did even more core. Brazilians are definitely tough, but they helped bond us together as a team as everyone encouraged everyone else to keep going. The most encouraging moments came when someone would finish his or brazilian, only to turn around and run to the last person and complete his or her brazilian with him or her. Eventually, the whole team was working together to encourage and support each other.

After each practice, the team would hang out and get to know each other better. We played CatchPhrase and cards, tie-dyed shirts, watched the Olympics and just talked about anything and everything. One of the best times came when we played volleyball in the pool one night. It was the shorties versus the tall people since one end of the pool was deeper than the other. (I was on the shortie side!) It became pretty competitive and we discovered that most of us are not very good at volleyball. Perhaps the best point came when Paige hit the volleyball, only to have it bounce off her teammate's head and sail over the net to land where no one could reach it. It was a really cool point and pretty funny.

This week has been a lot of hard work, but also a lot of fun getting to know everyone. I am excited for the season as I've seen how hard everyone has worked this week, but also over the summer. We have not traditionally been one of the top cross country programs in the Conference and were voted to finish last in the preseason coaches' poll. However, we have the potential to have one of the best cross country seasons Tusculum has ever had and maybe surprise a few people along the way.

Classes start tomorrow and I'm ready to get my senior year started!

- Jenny Grant, Tusculum cross country