"This is how the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper." From The Hollow Men, by T.S. Elliot.

The race at Cedarville had ended the way so many others had. I crossed the finish line and walked around trying to catch my breath and trying to find my teammates. Gradually, I found each one of them, and congratulated them on a great season. Then, I removed my timing chip, tossed it in the bucket with a hundred others, and walked out of the finish area. I was officially done with my college running career.

It's hard to explain the feeling of a sports career coming to an end. I guess the best way to describe it was that I was experiencing a thousand different emotions, but none of them were good. Part of me was sad, part of me was happy, part of me wanted a chance to do some things over, and part of me wanted to see what the future had in store for me. Probably the most powerful emotion that was going through my mind was that I had failed.

I had started the day with the high hopes of being All-American again this year. Those hopes had quickly been quenched when the lead pack broke away from me and the rest of the field started to pass me. My legs felt heavy as I ran, but my heart felt heavier. I finished with a disappointing time and place, and no All-American status. I was simply a former athlete who had run some good races on other days. However, as I saw my teammates coming toward me to congratulate me, I was reminded of the words that the angel Clarence penned for George Bailey at the end of It's A Wonderful Life: "No man is a failure who has friends".

We had a lot of fun this week at practice. We had some themed dress-up days including: crazy hair day, crazy socks day, and a dress like Nate day (Background: I almost always wear matching shorts and shirt, so the rest of the team decided to match their shorts and shirts. Ironically, I didn't wear a matching shorts and shirt on that day. I had no idea that they had planned that day, but I was very flattered.) We also had are annual, "take pictures of things on the run day", so we are all looking forward to see how those pictures turn out. They will be revealed at our team banquet.

The NCCAA race is at Cedarville every year, and that means that we get to end our season with an overnight trip. Former runner Mark Porostosky wished us off at school and last year's only senior Dave Clark joined us for the trip. (It's always a pleasure to see these two guys and their smiling faces.) This weekend, we finally got to eat at one of my favorite pasta places, Buca De Beppo. Buca is known for its generous, family-sized portions and its fun atmosphere. The staff was really fun and did a great job of serving us, and everyone had a good time.

There was great weather for the race, and the team ran good times (I was the only exception). Afterwards, we joined the other teams for an awards banquet in Cedarville's gym. Then we made the trip home with our heads filled with the dreams of our next season.