Track and Field Blogs - Ryan Warrenburg

The Club Cross Country Championships is the culmination of our fall racing season. Last year was the first time we had run as a scoring team, and we won the championship. This year our goal coming in was to defend the title.

We knew we would have to run well in order to win again this year, as there were some good teams entered. We showed up to the course the day before and it was covered in slushly snow, and as I figured, by 1:30 on race day with 4 races under its belt, the course had turned into a 3000 meter mudpit. Woo-hoo!

I woke up the morning of the race, and against my deepest desires, had a waffle instead of the biscuits and gravy, I figured that could wait a day.

At the start of the race I went out hard to the front and was able to pick my spots the best I could through the mud. I was fortunate enough to have one of those days where it just feels good, and I was able to stay in the front and win the race by 11 seconds over Patrick Gildea. My teammate Jon Pierce, who came to the front and helped break open the race halfway through, finished behind him in third. Joe Driscoll improved one spot on his placing from last year, finishing 8th. Thomas Morgan was our fourth man in 17th place, and Brendan O'Keefe finished 27th to round out our scoring.

When the scores were tallied we won, beating Team Indiana Elite, 46-77. It was a great day for ZAP, and we were all really pumped to win the title again.

Even more exciting for us this fall has been where we are from a training standpoint. Everyone finished the fall relatively healthy, and we all got in some really great foundation work building towards the Trials. I am really excited to be heading into the winter training cycle and doing what I can to elevate my game.

Right now I've got a few days of R&R before I step back into training to get ready for the Midnight Run in NYC on New Year's Eve and the focus of the winter, the US Cross Country Championships in February. The fall didn't really leave me beat up at all, so I am still eager to get out there and keep putting in the work. However, it is always nice to take a little break, if nothing more than mentally, every once in a while.

Good luck to everyone out there taking finals!