Editor’s Note: The Pendulum asked several cross country experts about their No. 1 piece of advice for any aspiring cross country runner. Their responses indicate a wide variety of paths to take.
Christine Engel — head coach Mental toughness and self-discipline. Being a distance runner, sometimes you’re out there, for the girls maybe 13 mile runs by yourself, for the guys maybe 15-16 mile runs. Over the summer, the majority of them are training by themselves, and it gets pretty lonely. Having that fortitude to keep training and be disciplined every day. Taking care of your body and all those things.
Ari Rothschild — sophomore men’s runner It’s a simple sport — the more you put into it, the more you get out of it. Doing the little things, working hard, listening to coach, listening to your teammates, keeping your teammates accountable as well as keeping yourself accountable, making sure you do all the right things, do your mileage. Making sure you’re doing everything you can to make yourself better each day, and each day is an opportunity to get better.
Sean Magee — redshirt sophomore men’s runner You need to be good at not getting bored. You need to be able to either go for a run or sit on a bike for an hour and just find ways to entertain yourself while that’s happening.
Ben Perron — junior men’s runner The one thing I would say that characterizes a great cross country athlete is dedication. It’s ultimately one of the most, if not the most, key ingredient to success. It takes training on a day-to-day basis. It really requires a lifestyle devoted to success on the cross country course. It really is a lifestyle, persevering through the thousands and thousands of miles throughout the year, the workouts, the workout routines, the dieting, nutrition, just living the life of hopefully an accomplished athlete. To me, it requires a lot of dedication.
Luis Vargas — sophomore men’s runner When you’re out there running, you’ve definitely got to have something that will motivate you mentally, because that’s 90 percent of our sport: mental. If you don’t believe you can, you won’t.
Jimmy Stevenson — junior men’s runner One motivation you need to hold on to and never let go of is don’t let past performances get you down and make you lose motivation. Because if you do that, you’re going to start thinking you can’t do it. You always need to be positive and believe in yourself that you can accomplish those goals. The better you get, the more you surprise yourself. That’s happened to me on numerous occasions, and you just keep going. Keep heart with the spot.
Emily Tryon — senior women’s runner Listen to your body. Push it when you need to, but if you’re feeling like something is hurt or if you’re too fatigued, you need to listen to that too. It’s really important.
Christine Pacewicz — senior women’s runner Don’t ever give up. It’s hard. I started off as a volleyball player and a track athlete. I started running (cross country) my sophomore year of high school, and every year you just put in the mileage and you step it up and you never get up. It’s going to be hard, and then one day it just stops being hard and it becomes really fun.
Allyson Oram — junior women’s runner Trust yourself to know that you’re capable of anything you set yourself up for.