It has been over nine months since I wrote my blog wrapping up last season. It feels like it hasn't even been nine weeks. While I wasn't writing blogs or racing, I was training for the Boston Marathon or doing some charity runs. But now I'm back to MVNU and it is time to start a new chapter in my cross country career.

My name is Nate Winters and I am a senior on the cross country team. I'm a chemistry major from Hilliard, Ohio, and I've run for four years here at MVNU. I'm also on student government, so my first week of practice was split between student government planning sessions and practices. I think that this is going to be a great year for MVNU cross country.

We returned most of the runners we had last year. We lost two seniors, but gained two freshmen - Chris Rednour (Mark's brother) and CJ Larue - and senior Chad Lawver. I think they are all going to be great additions to our team this year (running-wise and personality-wise). Another great addition to our team is Todd Hawkins. Todd is going to be our assistant coach this season. Todd is the man to go to when you want to know anything about the marathon, or if you want to meet someone who can run really fast marathons. I'm really excited to have all these new faces around this year.

Our first week has been a bustle with activity. We had our first practice on Friday and then had a two-mile, two-person relay race for area junior high and high school teams on Saturday. This was a fun way for teams to start the year before they dive into the competitive racing season. Since school has already started for Coach Wilson, we couldn't really go anywhere for team camp. However, Coach did come up with some great activities for us to do, and we got to make some day trips so that we got to see some different scenery on our runs. On Monday, we went to the Kokosing River Lake in Fredericktown in the morning and to Highbanks Metro Park in Columbus in the afternoon. Both of these places are two of my favorites because of the scenery that they provide. After we ran at Highbanks, we went to Fleet Feet to get some new shoes, and then to Noodles & Co. for dinner (all runners love pasta).

Tuesday morning, we loaded up some vehicles and went to the town of Danville. We ran the 4.5-mile trail to the "Bridge of Dreams", the longest covered bridge in Ohio. Some of the brave ones cooled down in the murky water by swinging into the water from a rope. That night, Coach said we looked tired after our 4-mile time trial, so he decided to take us to his house for a movie instead of going to a Columbus Clippers' game (good decision). The movie of choice was Soul Surfer, a very inspirational film indeed.

On Wednesday, we went back to Apple Valley for a team campfire. We circled the wagons around the fire and settled in for a good time. A very competitive game of corn hole overshadowed the team bonding that went on. Two of our team's three Eagle Scouts ingeniously started the fire and kept it going. S'mores were made and junk food was passed around. A couple musicians on the team played worship songs on their guitars, while the rest of us sang or pretended to sing. Coach organized a "Get-to-know time" with an interesting question that prompted interesting answers. "What is something that you haven't done, but would like to do in the future?" (Naz appropriate, of course).

Apple Valley was a beautiful getaway for the team to kick back and relax. We then devoured our Subway sandwiches in the mellow confines of King Beach, located in the heart of Apple Valley. As we were eating, we conversed with the new faces on the team and shared a few laughs. Then it was time to GET YOUR TUBE ON!! Coach Wilson's father in-law has a nice boat, which gave us a whirlwind of a ride on the busy waters. While people were waiting for the next boat ride, they played volleyball, Frisbee, and threw the ol' pigskin around. King Beach was a happening place this day because of the awesome weather, which brought out many unique people. The ride on the tube was a thrill in itself. The waters were rough and the turns were sharp. Little Jake Pessia could not hold on any longer and splash!! The fun in the sun wore on people and after six hours it was time to head back to MVNU. Later that evening, people got hungry and grouped up in packs of seven and went to several of Mount Vernon's finest restaurants - Fiesta Mexicana and Alison's Finer Diner. The day was a success and the night was relaxing.

After a busy week of non-stop activities Thursday night was a night to do nothing and relax, but some of the team got together anyways and watched "Date Night" movie.
Friday mornin,g we had an easy 6-mile run, then we spent the rest of the day avoiding the move-in day chaos.
We have our first race coming up this week. Thursday, we are running a 5k at Kenyon. The ladies run at 6:30 p.m. and the men run at 7 p.m. If you're in the area and want to see a good race, you should come!
Note: I would like to give big thank you shout-outs to Jace Wolford and Kathleen Finley. Jace co-wrote this week's blog, writing about the parts I missed when I was doing student government stuff, and Kathleen took the picture.