Begin again …

There are really two “New Year’s days” on the calendar. There’s January 1, which starts the new calendar year. And there’s July 1, which starts the new fiscal year. Since this is not a financial blog, we’ll discuss why the July 1 “New Year’s Day” has meaning to us in the Marist Running world. The months of May and June are transitional in our world. There’s graduation, the end of another academic year, and the end of the outdoor track season, which culminates the three-season cycle. This year, the “championship season” was extended into June with our athletes at USATF Juniors and the USATF (senior) Championships. Now, those meets (and everything else) are over, and we turn our attention to the 2018-2019 academic (and running) year.

It was kind of fitting that we had our team BBQ a little earlier this summer, on Saturday, June 30 – a good capper on the 2017-2018 year. Several recent alums came back for one final hurrah with their (now former) teammates and it was great to see them. They are and always will be an integral part of our family. But in a few weeks, when we reconvene for preseason cross country camp, those men and women will not be here with us. It will be odd for us, but even more peculiar for them, as the rhythm of the sport and the academic year has guided their lives for, well, pretty much their entire lives. But alas, time marches on, and we now focus squarely on the next season. There’s always a next season. And so, we begin again, in my case for the 28^th year of coaching at Marist. We have finalized our XC schedule and it is below. The blog posts may be fewer in the coming weeks as we head into “summer mode” … but our minds are preparing to begin again. Again. Here’s the schedule.  

2018 Cross country schedule

Saturday, Sept 1: Marist Season Opener, Vassar Farm and Ecological Preserve

Saturday, Sept 8: Siena/Pre-MAAC meet at Colonie Crossings

Saturday, Sept 15: Rider Invitational at Rosedale Park

Saturday, Sept 29: Paul Short Run at Lehigh

Saturday, Oct 13: Lafayette Invitational (a new meet for us)

Saturday, Oct 27: MAAC Championships at Colonie Crossings

Friday, Nov 9: NCAA Northeast Regional at Buffalo

Saturday, Nov 17: ECAC/IC4A Championships at Van Cortlandt Park