I clearly remember my sophomore year of college at Iowa State, Coach Amy Rudolph’s first year as the women’s head coach. The night before Regionals in cross country she handed us a piece of paper. The top read “Someday this won’t be your life anymore…”
The poem continued…”and when it’s not, you won’t remember the things you’d think…” Riddled in the verses were not romanticized memories of winning Big 12 titles, setting personal bests, or qualifying for the NCAA cross country “The Big Dance” (which was our focus the following day). Instead, the verses talked about laughing on long runs, braiding each other’s hair, and remembering most fondly the moments spent with teammates. I remember thinking, that is a nice sentiment. However, only five months out from finishing my collegiate eligibility, I can already see its truth.
Out on a run with my former teammates one day, I mentioned I wanted to write articles for Fan Hub but hadn’t decided where to start. My teammate who is a journalism major, suggested I should start with a recap over my career as an Iowa State Cyclone. While the idea excited me, there were so many experiences and memories packed into my six years competing for Iowa State.
I am now finishing the last year of my master’s degree as the team’s graduate assistant coach. To this day, my favorite part of my daily routine is practice. 2:30pm rolls around, and although this is the part of the day where my energy can start to wain academically, I feel energized about practice. What makes practice so special is the people. Teammates and the opportunity to train and get better, together. By far, the most rewarding part of being at Iowa State was and is the team dynamic. Over my time as a cyclone, we chose team hashtags to serve as our focus and a mantra for the season. Some of my favorites were #moveasone, #together, and this year’s #asaunit. Don’t get me wrong, I remember fondly when I achieved the high goals I set, but I also remember even more fondly celebrating with my team.
The “Harvard Study of Adult Development” started in 1938 during the Great Depression and set out to follow 268 college sophomores throughout their lives to try to reveal what leads to healthy and happy lives. Of the original college sophomores, about 19 remain alive, and it has since been revealed that among the original 268 were President John F. Kennedy and former Washington post editor Ben Brandlee. The research has grown even more since to include the original men’s offspring and their wives. If you’re interested in the study, you can watch a Ted Talk on the details, here. When the study started in their early 20’s the participants reported they believed that obtaining large amounts of wealth, becoming famous, or achieving something no one else had done before would add meaning to their lives, and while these were not bad things, time revealed this wasn’t what they valued most. When looking back on their lives, participants valued their relationships with others. Their wives and husbands, their best friends, and their family members were what they assigned value to. This resonated with me because looking back, I have assigned so much value to time spent with teammates.
During the 2021 cross country season, our team set our goals high. Though we started the season ranked 30th, we sat down in August and set the goal to become a Top-10 team at the NCAA Championships. We embraced the goal of being the underdog. We set the goal of winning a Big-12 title, though Oklahoma State was ranked far ahead of us. Our final goal was to smile on the line of every race. Because of how our training had been going, we knew what we were realistically capable of. However, after we set our goals, we rarely fixated on them. We spent this season enjoying time with each other. The whole team came together potluck style for spaghetti dinners for recruiting events. We made team bracelets, had sock exchanges, and cheered each other on constantly. We got matching scrunchies. We embraced each person’s unique talents. One of my teammates painted everybody’s nails before the race, another braided everyone’s hair. Another made picture collages and reels for the team to share and post, while another wrote pre-race heartfelt notes. Some gave inspiring pre-race speeches. Others stayed quiet, but their resolve and dedication showed through in how they worked each day. There were a few of my teammates who are now my closest friends who I was inspired by this season. They worked hard and pursued challenging goals, but never at the expense of taking care of their teammates. This season was memorable because sometimes you set your goals like this, and it doesn’t line up on the day; but this season, it did, almost every meet. We took second to OSU by 1 point at the Big 12 championships by running as a pack at the front of the race, when we were predicted to be nowhere close. We qualified to the National Championships and walked away with a 9th place finish, the highest team finish I experienced while at Iowa State. We celebrated together. Coach Amy took us to the ocean, and we enjoyed a celebratory cake.
As I think about life as a young professional, I hope I find that team dynamic again: the opportunity to pursue high goals and challenges daily, alongside people who have the same goals and ambitions, who genuinely support you in success and failure. Running for something larger than yourself lights a fire that is hard to put out. When the letter Coach Amy gave us finally concluded, it read…”someday…this won’t be your life anymore…and when that day comes, make sure you wouldn’t change a thing.” Though sometimes the road forward is uncertain, pour your heart into what you do, be intentional about connecting with, working with, and supporting your “teammates” in life, and make sure you wouldn’t change a thing.
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Good perspective and life learnings for any age. Well written.
So glad you had a positive collegiate running experience! I hope you find something that fuels your flame of enthusiasm for wherever life takes you. Goal setting, positive relationships, distance running, and working with young runners and young people has brought a lot of joy to my life too.