EPISODE 200 | Immense Gratitude, Deep Reflections on Running, Plans for the Show

And Thankful for my friends and my teammates as well.

Let's not forget about them, like all my best friends, all my friends in general, all my teammates, because I just got back from the Seattle Prep cross-country freshman camp Every single year, the Seattle Prep cross country team, boys and girls, goes up to Whidbey Island for a day.

We do this run called the Bluff Run when we first get there.

And after the Bluff Run, we come back to this campsite at Camp Casey, which is this historical campsite near Fort Casey, which has a lot of American history ties.

And so there are these, not barracks, but these cabin houses near this big field that's near the water.

And it's this beautiful day full of games and I don't know what other to say, like companionship and growing the team culture.

And it's so special getting to go back there as a senior, a rising senior and being a captain of the team and just getting to remember how sweet this sport is and how grassroots this sport is.

I think it's so easy for me to forget like, yes, I'm out here to run fast times and I'm out here to go try to win some state titles for my team.

But at the end of the day, this team culture, this grassroots fun element, bonding and loving your teammates, that's what's most important.

And that's what's so foundational to everything that this sport is about, especially in high school.

And especially when it comes to cross country, it's just building a group of guys or a group of girls that have your back.

And There's not much else to say except for that.

It's this wonderful thing.

And my coach Hans said it today that like, I think, or maybe it was coach Amy, but that it's more than just about running.

Like humans are made to do hard things and they're made to do hard things together.

And what's so beautiful is we get to start that process back out in June and together and building a team and building that.

And I think it's such a beautiful thing.

I love running so much.

And there are so many beautiful facets and areas of the sport, not just individually, but the team culture aspect.

And sometimes I do admittedly forget about how special team culture is, especially when you're grinding training with your bros.

It can be easy to lose sight of that, but today was such a fun and amazing and exuberance and Lovely reminder of just how many people I'm surrounded with who are just such a blessing in my life and my teammates and my coaches and everybody.

It's just so fun.

We play games and we build team culture.

We run.

And it's very simple, but it's so powerful.