#14. Cross-Country (Wednesday, October 12, 2005)
What was your best day…of going on adventure in your own backyard?
Reading up till now, you’ve probably noticed that most of the great days I’ve listed here are really just a combination of various cool things converging into one block of time, in a way that makes the experience as a whole much greater than the sum of its parts.
This day was definitely Exhibit A when it came to that. (Warning: overuse of the word “cool” coming up.)
On the surface, nothing particularly interesting happened. I ran an extremely muddy cross-country running race. I finished something like 56th out of 80. That’s it.
But if you look closer…there was a lot more going on.
First, since our school was hosting the race, all of us took a trip to the forest – where the race was being held (and which I had never been to before) – the day before to help set it up.
Of course, the coach Mr. Novak only needed like maybe two or three people at a time helping him put down cones and trail markers; so it was basically just a fun after-school field trip for me and my best friend Nigel Healey (who I had followed to cross-country1) to chat about every random topic imaginable for two hours. And it was in those two hours of nerdy back-and-forth where I got my first sense that our relationship had truly shifted – from Nigel simply tolerating me, to him thinking of me as just as good a friend as I thought of him.
In addition, doing all that while winding through the deep forest with a big group in the crisp autumn air just had a really cool sense of adventure to it. Plus, we didn’t even know what part of the city this forest was located at, so Nigel and I’s complicated bus ride home was another adventure in itself.
Wednesday race day comes. And all morning, as Nigel and I continue chatting and annoying each other while preparing, the coolness of this forest setting still has not left me.
During the race, Nigel – who for some reason is still wearing the Russian Communist cap that he wears all the time2 – runs up ahead and stays ahead, but remains in visible range throughout the race. Then, just when we get to the end, I make a final burst and kind of finish at the same time as him. But when we enter the exit line out of the track, he pushes me in front of him, saying that I finished first.
We congratulate each other on a good race then walk back to our tents. But before we go in, Nigel has some business to do. He steps a bit outside the forest area (I follow him), and he lurches out a vomit. I stand there as he vomits again. One of the teachers walks by and asks if he’s okay. Nigel nods, then starts heading towards the washroom up the hill. I try to boost him up on my shoulder as we head up. I wait for him there fifteen minutes and we head back.
Nigel: And that’s what happens when you run a 7K race and are completely out of shape.
Jeff: Well, I’m not really in shape either.
Nigel: Sure. But at least you didn’t have to be carried up the hill just now, did you?
Jeff: Fair enough. (points to tent, for us to get changed) Let’s take our pants off together.
Nigel: (after pausing) Let’s…not.
Jeff: Glad to see you’re feeling better.
After changing, we’re just sort of hanging out waiting for the other races to finish. Shortly after the last one ends, Mr. Novak asks us what we’re doing. Then tells us, a bit annoyed: “Don’t just stand there doing nothing. Help me pick up all our supplies from the track.”
I’m thinking, sweet. Let’s relive the adventure from yesterday again! And that we do, as Nigel and I meticulously clean up all the cones and trail markers. This is a winding track with lots and twists and turns, so we do frequent calling out to make sure we don’t lose each other. And that just makes the whole thing even cooler.
Once we’ve collected everything, we return to the main tent to find that…everything and everyone is gone, including the school bus we took to get here. Mr. Novak just LEFT US THERE.
I find it pretty funny, but Nigel is not a happy camper at all. We end up taking the same complicated bus route we did yesterday to get home; all the way, he rants to me that he won’t be running cross-country after this year, so long as Mr. Novak is coach.
So yeah, I ran a race and had some cool (in my mind at least) adventures with my best friend. And that’s pretty much all that happened.