Sharing the lake with our MAAC friends from New Rochelle

Upon arriving at Minnewaska this morning on yet another stunningly sunny day, we noticed three reddish/maroon vans in the nearly empty lot. I surmised that perhaps our MAAC friends from Iona College might be in the Gunks for some beautiful mountain training. Leave it to Marthy to do some "recon" and determine, indeed, that the maroon and yellow Gaels were in attendance.

A few minutes later down on the trails, we saw the Iona coaches getting their miles in. And about a half-hour later, the men and women cross country runners arrived at the lake. After the Red Foxes were done with their run, it was one big MAAC cross country party in Lake Minnewaska. It was a nice, late-summer reunion of competitors and friends.

One of our athletes said it was kind of cool to see our MAAC rivals training in the same venue as us. I mentioned to him that they are not rivals, because it's not a rivalry if you never win. He took offense to that. So, for his sake, I looked up "rival" in the dictionary. Here's what I found:

a person who is competing for the same object or goal as another, or who tries to equal or outdo another; competitor.

 

OK! Sounds about right then. Anyway, we get along very well with our "rivals." They are good guys/ladies, great runners and excellent sportsmen. It would be nice if it were more of a traditional rivalry in the sense that I am speaking of, but we will continue with our Sisyphean task of chasing them for as long as we are able.