(Fall, 2012) Despite the rain and clouded skis, the flooded paths and ankle deep mud, I ran through fields, water meadows, and over the winding country roads.
The cross country trails, though guaranteed to leave my shoes brown and toes pickled, provided an endless source of running routes. The main trick, though, was finding them. And that's where friends came in...
While I was in Oxford, I sought out the area running clubs to train with, and much to my surprise I was able to train and race with Oxford's cross country club since I was affiliated with the university. While there were a few grad students that ran in the club as well, I definitely felt like the old man in the room. But, the few grad students that were there made me feel at home during our daily runs or weekend adventures.
During our runs, they took me across rivers and through the deep woods as they often steered away from paved trails. By the end of the term, I compiled a map of all the hundreds of miles that I covered while running in Oxford:
Click here to view the large version of the map.
Of course, it wasn't all bogs and water meadows that I ran through, though there were some memorable runs (such as Wytham Woods, Old Boars Hill, and Shotover). My favorite places by far came with trails: Christ Church Meadows, the Thames River Path, the Meadows Lane/Barracks Lane loop, and the Roger Bannister running track. For those of you that aren't familiar with that name, Roger Bannister was the first man to run a sub four minute mile.
The English, understandably, are quite proud of the accomplishments of their runners. The wall along the stands by the track (shown above) is plastered with images of Olympians from Oxford.
During my three months in Oxford, I logged nearly 700 miles of training (a decent amount considering that doesn't include the two weeks in the states over Thanksgiving nor my time in Germany). When I wasn't jogging through the mud, or running laps around the Roger Bannister running Track, I trained with the cross country club. In the end, all of the hard work and determination to get in shape for Frankfurt paid off as I managed to make the Varsity team. And thus, I finally had a collegiate running experience to talk about.
One more post about Oxford, then on to Paris.
The cross country trails, though guaranteed to leave my shoes brown and toes pickled, provided an endless source of running routes. The main trick, though, was finding them. And that's where friends came in...
While I was in Oxford, I sought out the area running clubs to train with, and much to my surprise I was able to train and race with Oxford's cross country club since I was affiliated with the university. While there were a few grad students that ran in the club as well, I definitely felt like the old man in the room. But, the few grad students that were there made me feel at home during our daily runs or weekend adventures.
During our runs, they took me across rivers and through the deep woods as they often steered away from paved trails. By the end of the term, I compiled a map of all the hundreds of miles that I covered while running in Oxford:
Click here to view the large version of the map.
Of course, it wasn't all bogs and water meadows that I ran through, though there were some memorable runs (such as Wytham Woods, Old Boars Hill, and Shotover). My favorite places by far came with trails: Christ Church Meadows, the Thames River Path, the Meadows Lane/Barracks Lane loop, and the Roger Bannister running track. For those of you that aren't familiar with that name, Roger Bannister was the first man to run a sub four minute mile.
The English, understandably, are quite proud of the accomplishments of their runners. The wall along the stands by the track (shown above) is plastered with images of Olympians from Oxford.
During my three months in Oxford, I logged nearly 700 miles of training (a decent amount considering that doesn't include the two weeks in the states over Thanksgiving nor my time in Germany). When I wasn't jogging through the mud, or running laps around the Roger Bannister running Track, I trained with the cross country club. In the end, all of the hard work and determination to get in shape for Frankfurt paid off as I managed to make the Varsity team. And thus, I finally had a collegiate running experience to talk about.
One more post about Oxford, then on to Paris.
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