By Pat Gregory, Dartmouth Men's Cross Country/Track & Field, Class of 2018
It is my final year to compete at the Ivy League Heptagonal Cross Country Championships, and I am most looking forward to getting another chance to experience the camaraderie that only seems to exist at this intensity in the Ivy League. Getting on the starting line with a group of people that you have spent the last four years preparing for that moment with is a very special and unique experience.
Last year at the meet, a close friend of mine, Julian Heninger, put together the best race of his season on the day that mattered most. Having seen the way that he prepared himself for that day, watching him bare down over the last 500 meters was a really moving moment.
I always enjoy a fresh coffee cake the night before a big race. The morning of the meet, I will relax myself by sticking to my morning routine of brewing my own coffee.
Typically when I am not training, I am reading or writing. It is a busy lifestyle, but I have found that usually a day with a good run is almost always ultimately more academically productive than any time I take a day off, anyway.
The Ivy League is special because there are no athletic scholarships. You know that every person you are competing against is competing for the love of the sport, and the fact balancing the academics can be so challenging means that they are that much more dedicated. To me, that is the essence of true sport.
It is a different level of respect and honor that you don’t typically feel when competing against other programs. Because there is so much history in this competition, the stakes are just that much higher. Years and years of alumni are invested in how the teams perform, and it is simply just more important.
Pat Gregory is a senior on the Dartmouth men's cross country and track & field teams. The
2017 Ivy League Heptagonal Cross Country Championships take place Friday, Oct. 27, at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, N.Y.
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