Full Swing

            As school has started for many of our area students this past week, I cannot help but reflect upon my time as a teacher.  I miss it.  I miss my classroom. I miss my fellow teachers and principal.  I miss the stress of the schedule that only an elementary school environment can produce.  I miss the reward of seeing a young child light up when something “clicks”.  I miss being a part of a greater purpose that you can only find in a school—even more so when that school becomes a part of who you are.  I am thankful for my time at The Palmetto School and wish everyone there all the best as they press forward into the 2015-16 school term.

            Charlotte Country Day School starts this Wednesday and this past week of cross-country has been a whirlwind.  This was the fourth week of official practice and we concluded the week with our first competition—a two-mile preview meet here in Charlotte yesterday.  I have been involved with running in many different facets since my surgery June 1, but this first time back at a race made me really miss what I love to do most.  This meet was small—only seven teams—but the wet grass, seeing everyone in spikes, music blaring, teammates screaming—it all brought back so many memories that helped remind me how unique our sport is.  We have a team filled with young runners, many who competed in their first official race.  Here is a short recap from our head coach Allison Brown as she highlighted the success of our team in a great way:

“We had a full, fun week, including a great course preview practice at Myers Park High School on Friday, followed by the Charlotte Running Company Mecklenburg County XC 2 Mile Preview Meet at Myers Park High School Saturday morning. For some of our runners, this was their first meet ever, and I am proud of you all! Ella Dunn, in her first ever cross country race, finished 7^th overall in the junior/senior girls race, with teammate Molly Mazeine close behind her in 11^th place. In the junior/senior boys race, Alex Domeier finished 13^th with Peter Mitchell right behind him in 15^th place. In the freshmen/sophomore boys race, Jake Morris finished 12^th, Benjamin Whetstone 15^th and Max Gilbert 17^th.

The actual distance of the course was 2.1 miles (about 3400m). The results are also posted online at http://racesonline.com/events/charlotte-running-company-cross-country-run/results/2015-xc-preview/dashboard, and I’ll have a hard copy of all the results at practice on Monday.

I’d also like to give a shout out to Country Day rising 8^th grader Sophie Spada who earned first place overall female in the open 5k at 8am with a time of 21:34.9, which is fantastic on Myers Park’s hilly course. Well done, Sophie!”

Charlotte Country Day XC Team at their first race.

Please follow our team on twitter this season @CCDSXCountry for many more promising updates as our season gets into full swing September 1.

            RunningWorks also had one of their signature races of the year on Saturday as well—The OrthoCarolina Classic 10k/5k.  RunningWorks was one of the focus charities for this event and over 1000 runners participated in one of Charlotte’s most popular summer races.  RW was charged with manning the course monitors for the event and we had several athletes compete in the 10k and 5k races on an unusually cool Saturday morning in August.  One of my “team” members, PerformanceTherapy of Charlotte, was a title sponsor for the race. Mike is truly one of the best at his trade and we at RunningWorks are forever grateful for his support.

Meredith Dolhare, Mike Danenberg, and myself at the OrthoCarolina Classic.

            Life is good. I love what I do.  Therapy is going extremely well and I may get to take my first running steps in almost four months at the end of next week. Every day, I am surrounded by runners: the people I love most are runners, those I coach are runners, and those I serve are runners. I cannot wait to feel the joy they have been experiencing again very soon. I have received many gifts in this life, but none can compare to influence and impact running has had on me.  Full-time training is on the horizon.  My body is ready. My mind is ready. And most importantly, my heart is ready to do the thing I love the most once again.