Rice University Athletics
Rice Memories: Lennie Waite
5/12/2020 2:00:00 PM | Women's Cross Country, Blog
In the Fall of 2006, I was a junior and about to run my first race for the Rice cross country team. I had no pressure, little expectation, and a whole lot of admiration for my coach and my teammates. I had some good races that season, and some pretty bad ones, but overall I improved, mainly because I liked my teammates and Coach Bevan made it really fun. I didn't want to get left behind and miss out on all of the adventures, so I started taking running more seriously.
Looking back, I don't think I ever envisioned actually loving cross country and being on a nationally ranked team. But when the 2007 season came around, the friendships on the team were special and the chemistry produced unforeseeable (at least to me) results. I was enjoying pushing workouts a few times a week with my friends—going stride to stride with my teammates in the last 400 meters of mile repeats on North and South Blvd— to the point that Jim often had to attach a punishment to going under the prescribed pacing. Sure, there were certain days where I had to hop on the pain train to finish two-mile repeats at Hermann Park, but for the most part, I attached myself to my friends and the training came naturally. We were truly enjoying the process.
The 2007 season taught me so many valuable lessons related to team cohesion, support, confidence, the importance of a growth mindset, and it instilled me with faith that the combination of hard work and enjoyment are unbeatable.
Now, I may have had no idea what the team was capable of in 2007, but I think Jim knew what he was doing. In my first race that season, teammate Becky Wade literally pulled me along by the arm so that I would not drop behind her when I started to fade in the middle of the race. I ended up having a great race that day because of my teammate. That race gave me confidence, opening up the door for even better performances later in the season. Our next race was at Notre Dame: we arrived as an unranked team and ended up winning the meet, beating No.2 ranked Michigan.
I can still hear Jim cheering me on in the last 1k of the race. I could feel the excitement in his voice. We knew we had done great as a team when we all crossed the finish line in quick succession and pretty high up in the field, but we had no time to celebrate because we had to get in the van to catch our fight out of O'Hare (I'm sure there was homework that needed to be done back in Houston!).
We knew before the race that the timeline was going to be short, so it was straight to the van after we crossed the finish line. We were well on our way to the airport when Jim received confirmation that we won the meet. We all went crazy with cheers in the van and there was a sense of disbelief that we upset so many ranked teams. Jim pulled an emergency U-turn in the middle of the toll road (and maybe a couple of other questionable driving moves) to book it back and celebrate with the trophy. It was a quick celebration before we were back in the van, buzzing with excitement, but almost surely about to miss our flight home. The rental van *may* not have been returned to the right place, and it was a sprint through the airport, but we made it on the flight home just in time. Talk about an adrenaline rush!
Celebrating the victory brought our team even closer, and the success became contagious. There was no pecking order on the team. Positions changed throughout the season and there was truly a sense of support from teammates regardless of where they crossed the finish line. In some races I was our third runner, other races I was our fifth or sixth runner. We all ran our best that our bodies had on the given day.
That season reinstilled my love for competing, for workouts, for dreaming big, setting goals and training hard. That season taught me that friendships, your support crew, staying process-oriented, trusting your coach, and working hard could produce some pretty amazing results. That season is always the season I remember when I start to get too focused on times, positions, rankings, or numbers. That season will always remind me of the joy of running.
Looking back, I don't think I ever envisioned actually loving cross country and being on a nationally ranked team. But when the 2007 season came around, the friendships on the team were special and the chemistry produced unforeseeable (at least to me) results. I was enjoying pushing workouts a few times a week with my friends—going stride to stride with my teammates in the last 400 meters of mile repeats on North and South Blvd— to the point that Jim often had to attach a punishment to going under the prescribed pacing. Sure, there were certain days where I had to hop on the pain train to finish two-mile repeats at Hermann Park, but for the most part, I attached myself to my friends and the training came naturally. We were truly enjoying the process.
The 2007 season taught me so many valuable lessons related to team cohesion, support, confidence, the importance of a growth mindset, and it instilled me with faith that the combination of hard work and enjoyment are unbeatable.
Now, I may have had no idea what the team was capable of in 2007, but I think Jim knew what he was doing. In my first race that season, teammate Becky Wade literally pulled me along by the arm so that I would not drop behind her when I started to fade in the middle of the race. I ended up having a great race that day because of my teammate. That race gave me confidence, opening up the door for even better performances later in the season. Our next race was at Notre Dame: we arrived as an unranked team and ended up winning the meet, beating No.2 ranked Michigan.
I can still hear Jim cheering me on in the last 1k of the race. I could feel the excitement in his voice. We knew we had done great as a team when we all crossed the finish line in quick succession and pretty high up in the field, but we had no time to celebrate because we had to get in the van to catch our fight out of O'Hare (I'm sure there was homework that needed to be done back in Houston!).
We knew before the race that the timeline was going to be short, so it was straight to the van after we crossed the finish line. We were well on our way to the airport when Jim received confirmation that we won the meet. We all went crazy with cheers in the van and there was a sense of disbelief that we upset so many ranked teams. Jim pulled an emergency U-turn in the middle of the toll road (and maybe a couple of other questionable driving moves) to book it back and celebrate with the trophy. It was a quick celebration before we were back in the van, buzzing with excitement, but almost surely about to miss our flight home. The rental van *may* not have been returned to the right place, and it was a sprint through the airport, but we made it on the flight home just in time. Talk about an adrenaline rush!
Celebrating the victory brought our team even closer, and the success became contagious. There was no pecking order on the team. Positions changed throughout the season and there was truly a sense of support from teammates regardless of where they crossed the finish line. In some races I was our third runner, other races I was our fifth or sixth runner. We all ran our best that our bodies had on the given day.
That season reinstilled my love for competing, for workouts, for dreaming big, setting goals and training hard. That season taught me that friendships, your support crew, staying process-oriented, trusting your coach, and working hard could produce some pretty amazing results. That season is always the season I remember when I start to get too focused on times, positions, rankings, or numbers. That season will always remind me of the joy of running.
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