Jesuit XC

Woke my eyes this morning and I intended to go for a bike ride. I saw the grass plateau on my way to the end of Bonnie Brae- the one that looked like the one we used to run on- the one we used to finish our Marcus 5K on.


So I biked to North Lakes Park- where we ran the Marcus 5K- every year- for 4 years. It was called the Marcus Invitational. I ran my first XC race on that turf. First race: 19:21, Second race: 18:10 for 5K.


I saw the plateau- this time the real one. I parked my bike on a big metal pole and I started running the old grassy trail. At the starting line, I began to reminisce about September of 2004 (exactly 5 years ago), when the other teams attempted to shut us down by tripping, kicking, and spiking us. Some of us fell at the start, but we ALL got back up.


We ran that race hard because it was our debut race into the UIL (we were the first and only private school in the league)- we were a 5A school and so those from Flower Mound, Marcus, Lewisville, Rockwall, as well as the others in the 5A race despised our team, particularly because (1) we were an all-guys school, which meant harder competition and (2) we were good.


The reason we were good was because our coach pushed us to the limit- we all thought he was crazy making us run 10 and 12 mile days. We were forced to get up at 6:30 for an "optional" warmup (before actual practice). In reality, it meant that if we weren't in that warmup, we could be punished or even cut from varsity, etc. But that only made us better, now that I look back on it...


...Back to the race: we all felt they were jealous of us, but we paid no attention to it. When we got up after the scuffle and the trip up, our uniforms were dusty, and some of our mouths had dirt or sand in them.


In the end, we all finished in the top 20 (individual racers- out of maybe 200). Most of us achieved our personal records in the race. We were the first place team overall, beating all the other teams by over 50 points. We were a powerhouse to be dealt with. If they wanted to race with us, they had better be fast...even if they wanted to trip us up.



Well today I visited that site- the place where we got tripped up, got back up, and eventually made our presence known to all those teams in north Texas...right here in Denton. Oh, the glory days...


In October Jesuit is putting on an Open 5K at the park we used to practice at, called Norbuck Park. If you are a runner, or just want to see what a XC race is like, then check it out.