It was a solid life experience. Any Olympic aspirations came to a quick end. The CU-XC letter winners and scholarship recipients are state champions at the HS level. I was only an individual state qualifier at the 4A level. My HS PR in the 5K was 16:10. The guys CU want can consistently run sub 15:30s out of HS and get below 14 minutes in college..
When the varsity would travel to Mt Sac, the scrubs like me would drive to some place closer to home to race, like Ft Collins. It meant a lot to get to wear a CU singlet and run for the BnG.
During work outs we sometimes were joined by running royalty like Olympic medalists Frank Shorter, Rosa Mota, and Rob DiCastillo. It was a special experience to work out with celebrities and try your best to our kick them during an interval workout.
We went on one 10 mile run where the goal was to make the pace of each mile faster than the last. The cream of the crop were hitting 5 min miles at the end.
My proudest accomplishment was during a 5x1 mile interval, where your go full speed for one mile and then jog a quarter, then do another mile. I was able to get all 5 intervals under 5 minutes each. The tactics CU uses to improve you do work. At my best, I ran a 32:20 10K.
I don't remember much of my sophomore year because it's exhausting to train at that level and get school work done. There would be a 6AM distance run, followed by an 8AM Econ class. Then there'd be an afternoon practice that involved pain.
I was glad to use a junior year abroad as an excuse not to walk on for a second year.
