Letter to all of my cross country and track girls,

I am running again! It brings back so many memories of you all to be on a cross country team… even one that’s in West Africa. lol

This morning we ran the full course again, all five miles and two hills of it. It’s getting easier, and it’s always beautiful because we run up this hill that overlooks the whole suburb of Medina and there’re these trees up there that look perfect for picnicking underneath. and then there are the sunrises (because this five mile routine gets started at 5:30 every morning!).

the girl who is our pseudo coach is such a badass… her name’s Gloria and you can tell she’s a really strong athlete just by the way she walks and interacts with all of the other teams at the field. last friday we had a practice meet for all of the first year students (and internationals) and right before the last event, the 4 by 100, Gloria pulled on a pair of shorts over her dressy black Bermudas and donned a bright Volta jersey over her satiny blouse, kicked off her strappy sandals and took her place on the starting line. Then she took off and in just 100 meters gained so much on everyone -- by the time the last leg of the race started, their team was basically 100 meters ahead. it was like the continuing students were showing off – “Freshmen – you can run on our track, but you better know that we own it.” it was amazing.

my own race was not nearly so dramatic. I came in an exhausted last in the 400 m, but somehow losing that much was kind of liberating. So the next day I gamely started in the 5000 m (that’s three miles! 12 laps!) with my roomie and one other girl who’s rumored to be incredible. We’ve been reading African American literature for one of my classes and there’s this Zora Neal Hurston essay, “How It feels to be colored me” that described how I felt as the obruni facing the African girl in this epic race.



"No one on earth ever had a greater chance for glory. The world to be won and nothing to be lost. It is thrilling to think, to know that for any act of mine, I shall get twice as much praise or twice as much blame. It is quite exciting to hold the center of the national stage, with the spectators not knowing whether to laugh or to weep."



Everyone knew that she was going to win (and she did) but it was still a giddy feeling to make them all hold their breaths about it for awhile. anyway, I was happy with my run and got so much love and support from my team – it reminded me of the best part of track and cross country meets, cheering each other on and then exhaustingly being done and free to cheer for everyone else.

and volta got 2nd out of all the girl teams!!!

this is to all of you that I’ve shared the sweat and the pain of running with -- the intimidation of Jones and his dark sunglasses and the dust of crystal springs and the beauty of rancho and the slurpee 7 11 runs behind Mitty and the Mrs. Fields melted chocolate chip cookies and the bleachers and don’t-touch-my-shoes abs and the runs through the park and past that “never give up!” church and those classic bus rides with our rowdy boys… thanks girls! I miss you and all of those goods times.
hope you’re all well and let me know what you’re up to.

with love,