BYU Cross Country Reunion!

Once upon a time, I ran for a super amazing cross country team at BYU. We finished second at Division I Nationals during my freshman year, then won it my sophomore and junior years in 2001-2002, then finished second again my senior year. Before my time, we won Nationals in 1997 and 1999 as well. To say we were a dynasty during that time period is an understatement.

I was thrilled to be a part of the team: I was constantly pushed to be a better athlete, learned a few lessons along the way, and made some of my bestest lifelong friends. A decade later, my teammates are scattered across the country and we don't get to see each other often enough. Sometimes a few come to run the marathon in April or we cross paths on vacation, but we do not see each other nearly enough!

A few months ago, I received an email from BYU stating that they were going to induct the National Championship teams into the school’s Hall of Fame. I was invited to attend an induction banquet and reunion weekend with the rest of the team.Yay!

My mom flew in on Wednesday to take care of Bruce and Phoebe, and I flew out on Thursday with Oliver. Mooner picked me up from the airport and we had lunch with Tia and Anika; these girls were my roommates for two years, and I miss them so much! We have so many good memories together: sneaking into the fieldhouse with Anika, Tia setting me up on a date with Scott, and Mooner pinning me in her "double nelson" on a weekly basis. 

The Hall of Fame induction ceremony and banquet was on Thursday night. There was an hour-long reception before dinner, and I spent most of it sitting on a couch feeding Oliver and watching everyone trickle in. Thankfully, Oliver fell asleep after that and I got to enjoy the rest of the night. We had dinner together and then were officially inducted. The NCAA trophies were dusted off and displayed, we watched highlight videos from the season, listened to a few words from each year's captain, and got a photo together. From the four Championship teams, there were about 55 runners total. 

On Friday morning, many of us went for a run. Oliver took his maiden voyage in a jogging stroller; he liked it, so I might strap him in for a few miles more often. He shared a stroller with Nan's toddler, and we took turns pushing the kids for an hour-long run.We went out for breakfast afterward, then cleaned up for our more informal reunion that afternoon. Everyone brought their families and chatted, checked out the photo book we had made for Coach Shane, ate burritos, and caught up on the last decade of each other's lives. Sure, we keep up on Facebook and stalk each other's blogs, but it isn't the same. It was good to see that everyone was pretty much the same, but we talked about our kids instead of boys or schoolwork.

Friday night was the BYU vs. Boise State football game, and our teams were slated to be honored at halftime. Suzanna and I spent the first half of the game feeding our babies (remember, they were due on the same day?!), then filed onto the field with everyone else and waved with our team. After halftime, I headed to the friend's house where I was staying and went straight to bed; Oliver was not kind the night before and it caught up to me.

We met together for the last time on Saturday morning; most of the group went for a run, but I opted to go for a stroller-friendly power-walk with Tiffany and Suzanna around Provo. We had breakfast together afterward, then snapped pictures and said goodbyes.