Returning to school for my final season of cross country feels kinda strange. I'm suddenly the oldest person on the team, and almost feel like a mom to the new rookies. We got four new faces this year; Svenja (Meyer) from Germany, Alicia (Gard-Kaminkow) from Jacksonville, Bailee (Hedstrom) from St. Augustine and Maycee from Fort Meyers, who all will be great contributions to the team. At the same time I truly miss my old teammates who graduated. It's funny how strong relationships you build through pushing your body to the limits, numbing limbs in the cold whirlpool, laughing at anything that appears funny at 6.30am, tears when things go wrong and the joy and happiness when we achieve success. Even though the 2010 seniors will be missed, I am confident this year’s team will achieve the same level of team environment - both on and off the track.

Speaking of track, the school is putting down a new surface for us to run on, which we are all very thankful.

Official training started this past Monday with a long run. Coming from cold training conditions in Norway (50-60 degrees), the first session in the 90’s always becomes challenging, thus it is good to have teammates to hang onto. Saturday, we will have a 2400-meter time trial which in many ways sets the tone for the rest of the season. Hopefully, the crazy Russian won’t step on my feet and knock my shoes off this year (yes, it was my fault, i know).

Furthermore, the most important thing that happened so far is Kelli's (Midden) push up victory over Coach (Ron Grigg). There is nothing more lovely than watching a teammate crushing a man's dream of being the strongest. Congratulations Kels!

As a conclusion of the first blog entry, I would like to take the opportunity to excuse myself and the rest of the team as we wander sweaty and gross into the dining areas in the am. We are tired and hungry so carefully approach if necessary (we do bite).

Tune in later in the week for more updates on the life of the running dolphins.