Things you see and hear again and again at cross country meets

No, no, he didn't slam you, he didn't bump you, he didn't nudge you... he rubbed you. And rubbin, son, is racin'.

LOL so true

CrossFan wrote:

"You gotta get out!!!"...dumbest thing ever. I actually had a D1 college coach (actually a reputable distance running school) tell my sons, who ran for him, that "running even/negative splits is p*ssy high school running". Apparently, the way the human physiology works changes between high school and college.

I don't disagree with this coach, actually. Science says "run even splits".but the reality is that races start unevenly. I've tried to get athletes to ignore the fast starters but found that in most instances that once you are out if touch with the lead you never come back. I had one exception over the years - a girl that wouldn't get rattled by the fast starters and would come back to win but she was uniquely disciplined. For most I say stick with the lead if you are trying to win.

A real man wrote:

Drop the hammer!

This reminds me of a great HS parent story. We decided to get t shirts printed For some reason we thought a cool slogan would be "Put down the hammer". Unfortunately the mom in charge of printing the shirts recognized a flaw in our vocabulary and changed to "Put the hammer down". Subtle difference but I'll never forget the coach that saw me warming up in my shirt. He looks at me and says, "it's ok son, just put the hammer down, back slowly away from the hammer, no-one needs to get hurt today".

Parents freaking out that a team or someone is on the course even though the runners won't even be coming through for a couple minutes.

When walking the course before the race with multiple loops a grade 9 boy will come up with a brilliant scheme: "I know...I'll run out in the middle of the pack then hide in the bush here until the leaders come by, jump back in and win the race." I cringe when I hear this every time!

The gun sounds, and the runners take the first 100 as if they were running a 400 meter race.

In college, our coach had this workout: Run ten miles under an hour, with the only other requirement being that you run the first 400 in 60 seconds.

Actually surprised to hear this as most Div 1 teams are so into pack running in X-C. ND, Wisc, G'town, and Stanford are notorious for racing the first half of a race together. So, in my experience its been HS that talk about fast starts not college.

Fast starts are dependent on the course. If it narrows fast or has plenty of small trails then a fast start is needed. But most courses in college you can get away with an even pace race as passing is not limited in the middle of most courses.

people yelling out the (wrong) amount of distance remaining in the race; "you've got 400 to go".

Here's another wrote:

Spectator's trying to decipher the course map by turning it around and around in circles.

Spectator's what?

Yup, knew I'd get that response. I'll change my name to "poor speller" lol.

Tribe wrote:

A real man wrote:

Drop the hammer!

First time one of our assistant coaches yelled that at a teammate of mine (maybe 1220 meters into a 1600, right near all the officials and parents and spectators) he turned and yelled back at the top of his lungs, "I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!" At the time the entire situation was rather hilarious.

Other parent/coach lines from high school cross-country (most of which make me cringe remembering them):

"He doesn't know pain!"

"Beat that little bitch" (yes, an adult referencing another team's runner)

"You disgust me" (coach to athlete in the final 150m)

"You don't deserve to beat him"

In retrospect, maybe I had such respect for a few upstanding coaches of neighboring schools (in addition to my own) because some of their colleagues whom we saw all the time were pretty repugnant and set the bar pretty low...

And this only happened once and it was at a track meet, but a young distance coach at a rival high school started using secret hand signals mid-race to tell his athletes what to do. He'd run back and forth across the football field by the long jump runway between the 200m and 300m marks and make a series of indecipherable hand and arm gestures to his various runners. It was really strange, not terribly effective (since they didn't seem to do whatever he was looking for them to do judging by his increasing frustration throughout the course of the race) and beating them all to win felt unusually satisfying that day.

24 In The Rain wrote:

Girls crying after their race

You'll see this at every HS race. Many college ones too. Some of the crying girls will also unnecessarily collapse after crossing the line.

People racing in bulky trainers, or worse, basketball shoes. I've never understood this, especially in XC. Spikes are really cheap online, and if you could do something that takes 30+ seconds off of your time without effort, why wouldn't you? On the other side of the coin, I was at a meet today, and an entire team strolled up to the line wearing brand-new Victory Elites. At Van Cortlandt, no less. I don't even want to think about what those shoes look like now.

The teammates/classmates who dress up in full-body solid-color skin suits. I've only seen this at xc meets (regionals and states) and it is so utterly geeky it makes me embarrassed for the sport.

The practice of literally "walking" the course, instead of slow jogging/running it. I just don't get it. Will the extra running tire out our runners?

It's been said before, but it so bears repeating: the boy who is finishing in 20:00 something who unleashes the mega sprint in front of the crowd over the last 100 yards and gets the loudest cheer [though he's more than 4 minutes behind the leaders]

Boys playing hacky sack in the minutes leading up to their heat.

Girls lounging around in their pajamas [at least they look like pajamas].

I always shout "Dy-no-mite!"

.A team's 7-8 guy saying that he will sprint to the front and take out/trip the leaders.

Also: "run faster or we're leaving you in Roxbury!"

Well, these aren't things you'd necessarily hear, but they could be commented on... anyhow:

1. Freshmen doing stupid shit.

At my first or second XC race I put my warmup pants on backwards. My shorts were too big and threatened to fall down (school-issued, public schools, not enough funding). Not tying your shoelaces properly. You could name a hundred similar stupid things a Freshmen might do and I guarantee they've all happened to someone and half of them probably happened to me. Lining up for the wrong race, not being there at the start, not even getting to the race venue in the first place due to an error in driving/bus number/subway stop. I think we once got off at the wrong stop and had to run the rest of the way to the meet (we actually did really well that day). Cutting the course, making a wrong turn. As a senior I once had "relations" with my girlfriend before another meaningless midweek race, and we fell asleep on the subway car and missed the transfer (she was pretty pissed). Eating too much food before the race, getting arrested for public urination before the race...

2. The school from the middle of the ghetto comprised entirely of sprinters and throwers finishing dead last.

3. A warmup or training montage in a subway car. This is an odd one but could be funny if properly executed...

In high school there was one year I had a class that let out exactly one hour before my races, but it took almost exactly an hour to get to the meet by subway. So before my final class I'd put on my racing singlet and shorts beneath my street clothes, and as soon as class ended I'd run out of class to the bus stop (which I took to the subway). I'd strip down and start warming up in the subway car, get out of the train, run to the starting line as fast as I could, and generally arrive a minute or two before the gun went off. Once or twice I got there 30-60 seconds after the gun went off and even managed to win one of those races. You could make up stories about figuring out ways to get to the meet on time.

4. After the race we'd always invade the local fast food establishment and steal drinks and free refills from the drink dispenser. The employees actually encouraged it.

Just came back from the Stanford Invite.

Parents and coaches yelling at the top of their lungs but are way too far away from the runners to be heard.

Runners coming by a certain section of the race for several seconds and then disappearing around the next bend. XC is a lousy spectator sport.

A college female runner limping after her race in obvious pain and trying not to cry. Actually this one got to me.

Rows of porta potties all in use.

Lines of course flags and barriers set up to keep spectators far away from the finish. I mean far away.

Lots of pretty girls in bikini type running bottoms and tops. Oh, but they can't wear jewelry. Huh?