Re: Chapter 1 - Would have to be my first XC season in '74.
Sophomore year in HS. Went to Vanny for the first time with the Varsity. Probably was Manhattan Invitational.
During the prerace jog over the course, I remember asking my older teammates why certain trees had paint marks on them. They told me that's where a runner died in a previous race. I BELIEVED them ! (hey, I was a sophomore)
So gun goes off...250 sprinting mental patients head for a small opening in the woods only a couple hundred yards away. Once in the woods, all I care about is staying in the middle of traffic and away from those trees and the "cliff" towards the end of the backwoods. My race and time meant nothing to me. Just wanted to survive !
Aaaahhh, sophomores...idiots.
Re: Chapter 2 - To this day, I still feel I went out too fast in almost every XC race I do (including yesterday in NJ Champs). The difference is..back then, I would panic...now, I just "offer it up" (it's a Catholic school thing).