Casey Blogs Days Three And Four of Cross Country Camp

Morgan Casey is a sophomore on the Iowa State cross country team and will be blogging throughout the Cyclones' week of team camp in Decorah, Iowa.

Tuesday, August 16:
Last night was the annual camp game night where we teamed up for a variety of events. We began with an egg toss and Stephen (Saylor) and Beth (Olson) won the event. Despite dropping their egg more than once, it did not break. We also had some relay races such as dizzy bat, which is always great fun as long as you aren't Kyle Donnelly who fell three times and ended his leg of the race two groups over from where he started.

We also played "chubby bunny," the contest to see who can stuff the most giant marshmallows into their mouth and still say the words "chubby bunny." Nick (Schulze) put up a good fight, and nearly won by default because his intimidation tactics made me laugh and nearly choke. But there was no stopping me when I managed to arrange nine marshmallows in my mouth and sort of mumble the words. For some reason being the chubby bunny champion really isn't as glamorous as it sounds though.

This afternoon was the big canoe trip down the Upper Iowa River. The river was extremely shallow, so it made for some slow going at times, but we all made it back with very few rollovers. My partner was Cullen (Wannarka), a freshman from Oregon. The coaches always pair up members of the opposite sex, as well as people from different classes in order to help us get to know someone we might not spend a lot of time around on a regular basis. It was really nice to get to know Cullen, and I hope to spend quality time with our other newcomers in order to get to know them too. It's a long season and I'm sure there will be many opportunities to do this, and I look forward to it.

Today was the first of 17 workout days. We ran a 60-minute "Happy Jack", a run in which every 10 minutes you increase your pace. Decorah is a very hilly area, and I can't say any one of us truly appreciated running up hill for an entire mile straight, then having to pick up the pace as soon as we got to the top. On the bright side, the view from the top of the hill was spectacular. One of my favorite things about being back with my team is that the monster hill in the middle of a Happy Jack doesn't seem quite so monstrous when you're running with teammates. Had I been running this workout without the company of Taylor (Petersen), Sam (Bluske), and Katy (Moen), I might have found it easy to give up. Not one member of this team would completely quit because we have been taught better than than to drop out. We are Cyclones after all. Standing alone we are strong, but standing together we are stronger, and that's exactly how it ought to be.

Wednesday, August 17
It's Wednesday afternoon, and our last full day of camp. By this point in the week everyone has gotten pretty tired, so it's mostly just a free day to do as we please. Right now we are snacking, chatting, and enjoying some card games. After our team meeting about goal setting, we might get out some Frisbees, or perhaps I'll be due for another nap.

This morning we did our typical Wednesday run, an extended recovery run. Every Wednesday we target our aerobic system without putting ourselves over the edge, so that we may feel better later in the week. I think most of us were pretty tired after yesterday's workout, so we took it pretty easy and most of us got an easy ten miles or so in. After the run we treated ourselves to the cold spring. There is an ice cave in Decorah that has a stream of frigid water running from it, which is very refreshing to a runner. To most, spending 15 minutes sub 40-degree water sounds like torture, but by singing some silly songs and trying to catch fish with our hands we were able to distract ourselves throughout the first few minutes until the numbness set in.

Later this evening we will have a team chat about nutrition, led by coach's wife, Michelle, who is a kinesiology professor here at Iowa State. After that we will go into town for some Whippy Dip ice cream because all good runners know that a well balanced diet includes ice cream!

It's hard to believe that camp is coming to an end so soon. It feels as though we have been here an entire month, yet at the same time each day goes by so fast it doesn't possibly feel like 24 hours. It's been a great few days of camp and an excellent opportunity for our team to grow closer before going home to Ames and getting super busy. By this time tomorrow we will be in the vans halfway back to Ames, and probably asleep. Fortunately for us we have an entire year to continue growing emotionally closer and physically stronger as a team, and then we get to do it all over next summer.

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