We’ve started training pretty early in the morning in order to escape the heat. Today is the only day this week that I haven’t awoken at 6 am to get ready for a steady run. I actually don’t mind it either – Kansas is incredibly cool at that time of the morning, and there’s a thick mist that settles just above the maize fields. The sun comes up at about 7.30 and from then on, it gets pretty hot. We do a shorter run or a session in the afternoon at around 4pm – yesterday was my first track session. The Americans have a lot of heavy-duty equipment to help beat the heat; one of the assistant coaches turned up half an hour before practice to set up two enormous water tanks and an electric pump. This was the water bottles, but they were also happy to spray you down after you’ve finished your session as well! The Americans are very fond of Gatorade, which is something that hasn’t really taken off at home. They hand it out after every session, and coach gave me a big pack of it a few days ago. Apparently, it was developed by the Florida Gators as a sports drink for the team, and it was so successful that they decided to sell it in supermarkets. The idea is that you should drink it as soon as possible after finishing your session so that your can replace all the minerals, especially the sodium, that you lost through sweat on your run. It’s popular in Kansas because of the heat – you sweat a serious amount. If you don’t take your running top off it ends up literally weighing you down.
The Administration Building
The bugs around here are surprisingly inactive in the heat, I have the most trouble with them whilst running in the morning. The crickets are incredibly loud and dwell in the long grass and maize fields – which is too say everywhere in Kansas. They don’t cause you much trouble, but there are other flying creatures that will. These things are pretty big and they squeak like mice. It is very disconcerting to hear such a noise come from an insect – normally they just buzz around. Nobody seems to know what they are, which might be just as well. The fear factor is offset by the abundance of beautiful butterflies – there are enormous blue Monarchs here the size of my hand. Anyway, that’s what I’ve been doing every morning. Coach doesn’t like us to go at any great lick, because it’s pre – season. He just wants us to get plenty of miles in the legs – we normally do at least 10k in the morning, at nothing faster than 4.30 kilometres. It’s a great way to start the day and really sets you up for your classes.
Classes began on the 19th, and most of them are currently online. There is a lot of pressure to keep up with your work because so much of what you do in class contributes towards your final grades. The professors all run weekly mini tests and judge your attainment not just on your presence in class, but on your involvement in discussion and debate. It’s quite intense, but it’s also very enjoyable. Classes end at 3.50, and from there onwards your time is your own.
I made use of some of this time on Wednesday to engage in a popular American leisure activity – disc golf. ‘Discs’ are essentially smaller, heavier frisbees – and the aim is to throw them into an open top metal cage. There is a nine-hole course on campus and one in a park around a mile away. I got pretty embarrassed by my team mates – most of them had been playing for at least a couple of years. It was pretty fun though; I think I might make it a habit.
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| One of Disc Golf holes on the College course. |
I’ll finish with a little account of my first track
session. The track encircles the American Football and actual Football field,
and there’s no shade anywhere. We were doing 12x400s, starting initially with a
target of between 73 – 75 seconds. Coach wasn’t sure how well I would cope with
the heat, but I was doing okay, so he lowered the times down to 70 seconds. It
felt really good to be on a track again – I can still remember my last track session
at the Oval before the pandemic, which would have been about 5 months ago. We received
our race schedules for the cross-country season – our first meet is a 5k
invitational on the 5th September. The national competition, if I
qualify for it, will be in April, because of the virus, which means that I’ll
be running it in the middle of track season!
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| The Bethel Track |
Great to read you are settling in well :)
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