A CalBears.com Blog by Taylor Dutch and Collin Jarvis Welcome to the Cal cross country blog - Bear Country. Throughout the 2011 Golden Bear season, senior Taylor Dutch and junior Collin Jarvis will be providing exclusive insights into the team. Make sure you check the blog regularly for updates and information about Cal cross country.

November 7, 2011 - Only Two Weeks to Go

It's hard to believe that we only have two weeks left of this season. It's been close to six months of getting up early for morning runs, pushing ourselves everyday through tough workouts, and running every race with a purpose.

I was just talking to one of my teammates the other day about how different this particular season feels compared to others in the past. We talked about our altitude training camp in Lake Tahoe in August and the team chemistry that developed there. We talked about our commitment to the season that was established together in the summer. We talked about seasons past and the change in attitudes over the years. We talked about this season being our last as seniors and how scary it is that the next couple races will be our last as Cal cross country runners.

This year just feels different. Not different in a good or a bad way. It just feels special, like history could be made right now and we are all in the thick of it. All of this hard work has been a buildup for something incredible that is in our hands. From the time I was a freshman, the goal of our team has been to qualify for NCAA's. It has been a dream that has been close to being achieved multiple times but has not yet come to fruition. Now, in this season, with these girls, I can see now more than ever that this goal has a light at the end of the tunnel, and this team is about to make it happen.

Go Bears!

- Taylor Dutch

October 21, 2011 - A Day in the Life of a Distance Runner

You wake up to the sound of an alarm ringing in your ear and you swear it's the loudest alarm you've ever heard, but then again, everything seems that loud at 5:30 in the morning. For the first five minutes that you're awake, you weigh the pros and cons of getting out of bed or just pretending that you slept through you're alarm. Once you manage to sit up and wipe the drool off your face, it's time to get moving. You don't have to worry about putting anything on but your shoes, because you slept in your running shorts just like every other distance runner does. By 6:15, you're outside of Haas Pavilion waiting to be driven to the trails for your morning run with the team.

After a 40-minute run, it's back to Berkeley for a quick breakfast of oatmeal, banana, yogurt and orange juice mixed with liquid iron, and then class. In between classes, you frequent the training room to tend to the aches and pains that are constantly present in the muscles and ligaments of a distance runner, as well as eat your lunch, which of course consists of a salad and a peanut butter sandwich - just like every day for the last year. But being the routine-oriented creature that you are, you don't really mind.

By mid-afternoon, it's time for the second workout. On your way over to the track, a kid rides by on his skateboard and reminds you of the high risk/high reward activities that are no longer a part of your life. You make it to the tennis courts (where the vans meet to go back to the trails) and then head back out to the trails. This time, it's a nine-mile run, but it's on your favorite running trail, so nine miles suddenly feels as smooth as a song played on Friday night jazz radio stations. Once you're finished, you head back to Haas Pavilion to massage sore muscles and ice any aches and pains.

When you leave Haas for the final time, it is already 6:30 p.m. After a cold and seemingly endless walk home, its time for almost every distance runner's favorite part of the day: dinner. Afterwards, the only things left to do are finish homework and fall into a coma-like sleep.

Sometimes before you fall asleep you ask yourself, why do I wake up every day and go through this routine? It has its perks, but is it really worth it? In your mind, the clear answer to that question is another: Why would anyone not want to do this? And before that question is answered, you're asleep getting ready for another day.

- Collin Jarvis

October 5, 2011 - 1 Team, 1 Heart, 1 Mind, 1 Goal

It's been about a week and a half since we traveled to Minnesota for the Roy Griak Invitational, and there is still something that I cannot get out of my head from the trip. Usually after traveling, there are always memorable moments that we all share as a team and build off of for the following week of training, but one quote really stuck with me. Our coach, Tony Sandoval, always has a team meeting the night before the race, and it's usually to talk about the course, race strategies and bib numbers, that kind of thing. This team meeting was a bit different though. He kept emphasizing the idea of synergy and both men and women doing everything together, and to bring his point home he ended the meeting by saying, "We are all 1 team, 1 heart, 1 mind, 1 goal." At first after hearing this quote, I remember thinking, "OK, love the idea but that was pretty cheesy."

The next day was the typical racing routine: activation run, eat, stretch, head over to the course, get lots of butterflies sitting in the tent, warm up, race. Unlike most meets however, this invitational had the men race before the women. We watched the men fly over the hill into the finish as we warmed up and did our pre-race drills on the grass, getting even more excited and anxious for the gun that would soon sound off our own race. We toed the line together and exploded with the gun, attempting to get out fast in order to avoid being crammed by 270 runners, as the first 300 meters would quickly funnel everyone in. The course was a rough one, by far the hardest course I have ever raced while competing for Cal, but we all raced tough and worked together through the whole thing. After we had all crossed the finish line and were taking the chips off of our shoes, our men came running over to congratulate us. Their faces showed the biggest smiles I've ever seen. We were attacked with hugs and pats on the back for our performances. They were sharing in our success and happiness over having a great race and the results hadn't even been calculated yet. You could really tell that they were genuinely excited and happy for us, and that is when I realized something.

Even though we race at different times and different distances, the Cal men and women share something that is difficult to describe in words. It's something that you have to experience to truly understand, but we take pride in each other, care for each other, and truly want the best for one another. Tony's line makes perfect sense to me now. I can be proud and say that I am part of this "1 team, 1 heart, 1 mind, and 1 goal."

- Taylor Dutch

October 4, 2011 - The Freshman Experience

Every single person who comes to this campus as a student is exceptional, and ever since Cal was established over 140 years ago, excellence has been the priority. This however, has one fatal flaw: how does one continue to be extraordinary when surrounded by excellence?

I will never forget the moment I realized that I was going to become a Golden Bear. It was a medley of emotions that ranged from the excitement of Christmas morning to the dread of doing a statistical analysis of California's SAT scores. It's hard to believe that moment was over two years ago, and now I am watching another group of freshman come in and experience the same things that I did (albeit in slightly different ways). It's refreshing to watch them come together as a team, and exciting to know that they are undoubtedly the biggest class of talent that Cal distance has ever hosted.

As an older teammate, I have spent time watching this new class of freshman and reflecting on my freshman year, trying to answer that fatal question: How did I manage to be extraordinary in a place like UC Berkeley? Or an even more fatal question: Am I even extraordinary? After the better part of two months thinking about this question, I came to a rather simple conclusion: yes. I am extraordinary. And it's all because of the group of people I call my teammates. From observing these newcomers, it became clear that being a part of the Cal cross country team was what makes us exceptional. This team gives us instant access to opportunities that only a fraction of a percent of people in the world will get to share, along with access to a group of incredible friends. In a place as exceptional as Berkeley, these opportunities are what elevate us to be extraordinary, and I can only hope that in time this new group of talented kids will come to the same realization and realize how truly lucky they are to be apart of this. It has changed my life for the better, and whether they realize it or not, I know it will do the same for them.

- Collin Jarvis