8 Months of Bleakness

It all started out on Tuesday November 18^th, 2014, when I was running for the first day back from a two-week break after the horrifically ended cross country season.  My right iliotibial band decided to flare up in pain and after 8 months of little to no running, and about 15 methods/attempts of rehabilitation, I’ve made a whopping 0% recovery towards running full tilt again. 

These past 8 months have been extremely frustrating because something that I love tremendously has been taken away from me for a reason I can’t fathom.  In addition, the constant pondering on if it’s better or not, and the anger resulting after every failed attempt have generally turned me into something I never thought I’d be. I’ve turned from someone who brings light into the room, into someone who sucks it out and leaves it in darkness.   Before coming to this realization, I felt worse that being stuck in tunnel with no light at the end,  atleast they can walk towards the end of it.  I felt as if I was dropped in 30 000 ft deep dark well without any ladder to bring me up into the light, absolutely no hope. 

I’ve changed my outlook this injury and have realized that running is not what defines me, as I’ve been told by friends and family time after time.  It’s a big part of me, but it isn’t me, and realistically, 99% of the people you become close to in life won’t give a darn about whether your 3k PB is 8:57, or 9:57, they give a darn about your character, and how you look at the world.  

            Trying to come baack over and over again and getting denied repeatedly has taken such a mental toll on me that decided to give up on the strength, stretching and foam rolling mumbo jumbo and just let it heal on it’s own bidding rather than me banking on it being better tomorrow or next month ect.

            In doing this you can learn to see the joy in other things in life such as family, friends, biking long distances and Phil Collins.  I could also be speeding up the healing since so many people say that being in a happy mindset helps recovery… who knows?  Crazier things have happened right?

            I find my situation comparable to Tom Hanks in Castaway.  Right after being stranded he was at the end of the beach waiting for rescue as I was trying to run every week in hopes of being better.  Neither of us benefitted.  When Mr Hanks realized that this was getting him nowhere and he decided to make due with what he had, by spending his time doing things that would actually benefit him such as building shelter, learning how to fish, and becoming BFF”s with that volleyball, Wilson. 

            Although my situation is not life or death, it is similar because I’ve realized that the time I’ve spent trying to get better has been a complete waste of time since I’ve had no success with it AT ALL.  So I’ve started spending my time doing things I enjoy without worrying about this stupid IT band.  In summary I’m not giving up on running, but I’m not going to put my life on hold and try to get better, because it’s just not practical anymore.  

            I don’t blog so this is probably my first and last post, but I just felt like venting. 

-Stu-Ped

CIS-SIC Men's Cross-Country Championship (After Party) Results

Race Date: Nov 08, 2014

Conditions: Sloppy.

  Team Summary Results 

Place                       Team                                Finishers (Top Three)                Point Total 

                                                                           1              2              3

1        St. Francis Xavier University                   1              5              7                       13

2        Universite Laval                                       3              10           16                      29

3        Lakehead University                                12           13             19                      44

4        Dalhousie University                               2              18             25                     45

5        McMaster University                               6               26            28                     60


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                                                                  Overall Finish List


Place                     Score                   Name                Team                  Average Pace (Drinks Per Hour )   

1                              1                  Riley Johnston           St. Fx                          5 

2                              2                  Nicholas Wood          Dal                            4.5 

3                             3                  Charles PT                  Laval                         4.3

4                             4                  Fuzzy                          Manitoba               10 (Incapacitated for 5 hours)

5                            5                   Lee Wesselius              St. Fx                         3.8 

6                            6                   Blair Morgan                McMaster                  3.5 

7                            7                    Cal DeWolfe               St.Fx                           3.4 

8                            8                    John Kuto                   St. Marys                    * 0.5 

9                           9                     Graeme Wach            Dal                              3.1

10                         10                    Nicolas Morin           Laval                           3.09 

11                         11                  Russell Pennock          Calgary                        2.95 

12                         12                 Jackson Bocksnick     Victoria                         2.7

13                         13                 Dylan Brown                Lakehead                      2.5 

14                         14                  Tyler White                  Lakehead                      2.2 

15                         15                  Nick Favero                 St.Fx                             2.17

16                          16                  Alex Ricard                Laval                             2.15 

17                          17                   DST                           Guelph                          0.1 (Supplied a fish)

18                          18                  Alex Neuffer               St.Fx                            2 

19                           19                  Will Russel                Dalhousie                    1.8 

20                            20                  Ryan Fuller                St.Fx                           1.7 

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AP All Canadian Justifications

Riley Johnston - Passes out naked in bath tub with condom on face. Ejected from Rob Roy's within 5 minutes. Allegedly made out with Speed Goggles. 

Nicholas Wood-  Pukes in the Airport twice the next day; is not allowed on the plane and spends an extra day in Newfoundland. 

Charles PT - Third on the course, and also third in the AP. There were Snapchats of his bare ass in circulation? 

Fuzzy - Hammered at 5:30pm, harasses St.Fx coaching staff asking for liquor since he "lost" all of his. Passes out by 8pm. Is revived at midnight and rejoins the party without his shirt or pants?

Lee Wesselius - Referred to by a pair of Newfies as "the desperate skinny guy hammered out of his mind". Got in a fight and hooked up with literally half a dozen girls. 

Blair Morgan - Impressive wine chug, nice suit. 

Cal DeWolfe - Got in two fights, ejected from Rob Roys within 20 minutes for dumping beer on a competitor. 

John Kuto - Drinking pace was unimpressive but gains major points for inspirational quotes. 

Graeme Wach - Streaked through the hall naked. Took a bite out of a cod fish, spat out its eye and some scales, but said it otherwise tasted "okay". 

Nicholas Morin - Was still chugging beers when everyone else in the hall had called it quits. Impressive stamina. 

Russell Pennock - ROY on the course, ROY where it counts. They're not the same thing. Interested to see what this guy can do when he matures. 

Jackson Bocksnick - The stache carries him into the AC slot. 

Dylan Brown - #ChundyNation 

Tyler White - Flip Cup MVP for Lakehead. 

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The introduction

Hello fans.

Or more realistically, hello to some close friends and relatives. No better time to get this thing started than right now. Classes have begun, readings have been assigned, and most due to the haze of summer still simmering around the StFX campus, the grind of school and studies is still being placed on the backburner. So put those books away, take out your laptop, sit on the Burke house lawn and give this a read.

I'd guess that an introduction would be appropriate. As our blog indicates, we are the inhabitants of the little house on top of the big hill. We attend the big university in the middle of the small town. Need more specifics? We like to wear hats and shorts.

Still not satisfied? I guess we could reveal names. Over the course of last year, we all acquired a few. Some for obvious reasons, others 'just because.' In no particular order...

Stuart MacPherson - Also known as 'Stu-ped' for reportedly always making the 'stooopid little mistaake' on tests...probably our least creative spin off. Lets just stick with Stu.

Cal Dewolfe - We could have called him 'The Wolfe' or something intimidating or cool like that, but we don't. DBC is his one alias, for reasons you may find out. He is a member of the DBD, along with DBR. There may be a future story on all of this later on.

Lee Wesselius - Has earned himself many names. We may refer to him as All-Star, Whistles, or Jerks. He even has a twitter account chronicling his endeavours as an all-star.

Alex Cyr - He is known as 'Slimy Cyr' for reasons unknown to himself. This name has taken on many derivatives such as Slim and Slim Jong Il.

Alex Neuffer - Known as Naughty Neuffer, simply because you won't like him when he's angry.

What's this blog about? I guess it's about a lot of things. Like running. Or school. The odd funny story may sneak in there, too. Most of our posts will be collaborations. In reality, unless otherwise specified, you could say they will all be. It's like one of those things where people share a name, but we're not doing that. Brandgelina can keep the fame (and Caleeufferalert was taken). We have an idea  of what our posts will look like, and we want to advertise them, but we don't want to give much away to the audience. Besides, a combination of settling into the routine of schooling and racing downtime makes for a somewhat anticlimactic time of year. That being said, here is a brief insight on what we've been up to:

Lee broke his phone screen.
Cal stopped heal striking on runs.
Cyr won a rap battle.
Neuffer cleaned the kitchen and went for a bike ride.
Stuart spent his time roaming youtube in deep search for new videos to quote.

And there is more.

We have also been somewhat busy on the racing scene before taking a little breather to prepare for the year ahead. While Pembroke Stuey ran a solid 5000m track race in 15:34, the rest enjoyed an all-inclusive vacation on the 3rd best maritime province, PEI. While there, we entered the Gold Cup Trot 5k race, and left the city abuzz by recording the said 'fastest race in PEI history.' Most of the damage was done by Whistles, who entered the race with a 'if ya ain't first, yer last' attitude. Dubbed 'The Crazy Sprinting Man' by a few confused locals, he cruised to a record-breaking time of 15:08. The chase pack was comprised of DBC, Naughty and Slimy, who all enjoyed the greatest race of their summers. Results can be found here:

http://peiroadrunners.pbworks.com/w/page/84089476/2014%20Gold%20Cup%20Trot%20Results

The boys of 18 Greening minus Stu plus Ellen

I figure that the best way to go at this advertising business is not only to give you a look into the past, but also to give you one into the future. As the XC season hype is spreading faster than the Ebola virus  (and may take as many victims), we have a jam packed schedule ahead of us, starting with a time trial race scheduled for tomorrow amongst the team. Next week is where the action begins, and it doesn't stop. Here is a detailed look:

http://goxgo.ca/sports/xc/2014-15/schedule


So here it is. The beginning of another XC season, and one with potential. As athletes from a smallish school, we have the reputation of tilting with the heavyweights, so nobody should really count us out. Students of X campus who see us trotting in our shorts a bit more than you would want to, be assured that we're on a mission. We do not show our thighs only for the pure enjoyment of the task (although I'll admit, it's a factor), we do it to reach the end goal illustrated in our minds that is as clear as the mud which we run on. Don't count us out.

If you still don't think that looks can deceive, watch this. One of the runners of the team (or maybe it's his brother, I can't seem to tell the difference between the two) shows off some unpredictable, and maybe unprecedented, skills.

Uphill

Slim and the All-Star