Sunday, August 24th
Run: Today was my day off.
The first day of practice is a joyous occasion, where you meet with old friends after a summer apart, and discover all the new people who will soon become a part of the team. I always feel like a spontaneous “joy run” is called for, in which we all will all bound out the door to enjoy the exhilaration of running with people after the dog days of summer. At UWEC, however, as I suspect is the case at many universities across the country, the first day of practice is in actuality a time for Paperwork. And believe me, it deserves that capital.
I personally think The Powers that Be should have a form stating that you agree with and will sign anything they give you, if it means you can run cross-country. Because that’s pretty much what it boils down to. Instead, everyone trouped into a big room where we watched a video that went over all the NCAA rules, while telling us to make sure to read the details.
During the video everyone was of course hunting out all the places on the paperwork that required writing and filling them out, all to the soothing banter of the cohosts on the video (with such witty commentary as, “That is a good question, Jay.” And “It may surprise you, Lisa, but I was never recruited.”) An hour later, we were blindly signing anything they put within reach of our pens, and I’m surprised the Athletic Department didn’t try to slip in a statement to the effect of: I will give all my future earnings to the UWEC Athletic Program. I probably would have signed it.
