SAC Student-Athlete Insider: Jenny Grant

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There's less than a month left in the cross country season and only four more days of Block 2! This block has been so crazy for me with a lot of reading to do for my class, cross country, psychology research, looking at graduate schools, work, meetings, clubs, etc. After this block, we will go on Fall Break so I am looking forward to just relaxing and hanging out with my teammates.

We raced at the Warren Wilson Invitational in Asheville, North Carolina on September 22. The course was on a hiking trail and it was very rocky, hilly, and muddy, with a lot of roots. It made very sharp turns and since the course was in the woods, you couldn't see the turn until it was right there because of all the trees. It was a fun course to run though because it was so twisty and required a lot of jumping over things. It was like a little adventure. However, no one warned us about how hilly the course was and this helped the other teams. There were a few small hills every now and then, but we came upon a pretty steep and twisty hill about 1.5 miles into the race. I had a small lead over a Warren Wilson runner and I was worried she was going to catch me on the hill, so I picked up my pace a little. She didn't pass me, but I know now it was only because she knew what was ahead. After the first big hill, we ran through the woods a little ways before coming to a very steep hill. It was maybe 150 meters, but it was so steep that you had to almost walk to get up it. My legs were so tired trying to get up the hill and the Warren Wilson girl passed me. However, since we were coming upon the finish, I pushed the pace to catch up with her and eventually pass her back. She finished less than half a second behind me, so it only goes to show that knowing the course is a big advantage. It makes me glad that we practice so much on our course, even if I don't like running it. Overall, we finished second and had three in the top ten. The boys won and four of them finished in the top ten. This is the first time the boys have won a team title since 2003. Their success only shows how we are improving everyday and while we still have work to do, we are getting better and our hard work is starting to pay off.

This past weekend we ran at the Bulldog Invitational in Charleston, South Carolina. We left Friday afternoon and the car ride was about 6 hours. At the course the next morning, I was awestruck by how beautiful it was with the huge old oak trees. The weather was a little humid, but you could smell the ocean and beach in the air, which is so different from Greeneville, where all you can see are beautiful mountains and woods. It was a nice change of scenery. The course was completely flat and mostly on dirt and grass. The ground was soft from the previous night's rain, but it did not affect anyone very much. The boys ran first and finished third overall. All of our boys had a great race and two of them placed in the top ten. However, one of our boys (whose name will not mentioned... Eli...) was given the wrong directions and ended up running 2 extra miles and coming in last place. It was disappointing because he had the opportunity to run a personal best, but also kind of funny because he just kept going until he eventually found the finish line.

The girls ran next and we finished second overall and had three girls in the top ten, myself included! I even got a t-shirt! I was happy with my 5k time of 22:21 and eighth place finish, but I know I can be faster still. However, this was the last opportunity we had to run a fast time 5k time because of our three remaining races, two of them are 6k and the only 5k is Conference, which is a hilly course. I was even happier because after the race we all got to drink chocolate milk. Most people think this is gross, but it actually is really satisfying to drink after running and chocolate milk aids muscle recovery in a lot of ways. Plus it's just plain delicious so can't argue with that!

After the race and lunch, we went back to the hotel to shower and change quickly before heading out to explore downtown Charleston. We went to the Battery, which is a collection of antique houses. The houses are so unique and beautiful. They are painted every color imaginable and have wide open porches. Across from the houses, there was a park that had some Civil War memorials and the beautiful oak trees again. Even though we did not go to Fort Sumter, which is where a major Civil War battle occurred, we saw it across the river. After the Battery, we walked through the open market and saw all the local crafts for sale and then went clothes shopping along King Street, but we had to cut our time short to go meet up for dinner at the famous Hyman's Seafood restaurant. Since I am a vegetarian, I did not eat any of the seafood, but all of my teammates really enjoyed their dinner. I have never seen so much food and all of it disappear so quickly in my life. If there's one thing about cross country runners, it's that we know how to eat and we ate a lot there. Even after dinner, we still had room for dessert and the cheesecake was so delicious. I could have eaten that all day. We went to the beach for a while after dinner. We waded through the surf since none of us had bathing suits on, but since the water was warm, one of the boys dove into the water anyway. Being on the beach was really peaceful and I was sad that we didn't get to stay longer, but we headed back to the hotel when it got dark and just hung out. Overall the trip was a lot of fun. Charleston is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.

This weekend we'll race at Maryville and then we'll have two weeks until Conference! Go Pioneers!

- Jenny Grant, Tusculum cross country