Hi I’m Nathan Perez an upcoming senior for Creekside high school and I would like to thank Todd for this opportunity to blog.
Recently, 23 of my fellow teammates, 17 members of the girls team, Coach Frank, Coach Navarro, and even my older sister Alaina (our liaison) traveled to Brevard, North Carolina for the Brevard Distance Camp to run on some amazing and hilly trails.
I was particularly excited for this year’s camp not only because it was my final one, but also because I didn’t know the group this year as well as I did last year. Lots of newer guys were going, not necessarily young, but still new and I was excited to get closer to them during the trip.
We woke up dark and early Sunday morning and after a long bus ride, finally arrived at Brevard College. It felt good to be in Brevard because the weather is cooler and not nearly as humid as it is in Florida. After a quick shake out run we went to the introduction meeting, ate, and got settled in. My roommate and 11 year friend Marco and I quickly discovered we had the biggest and best room of anyone at camp, and since I had a Bluetooth speaker blaring music, we often had others walking in and out of our room to roll their legs or just to hang out.
The week started slow on Monday beginning with a morning run for the top guys an yoga for everyone else, then in the afternoon we hit one of the flatter trails (but still very hilly) and did a tempo run, and after our dodge ball team was wiped out later that night it was time to gear up for Tuesdays run. Arts Loeb.
Arts Loeb is known as the hardest of the hard at camp, it’s a 7.5-8 mile trail consisting of steep (some almost impossible to run up) trails that account for 1,700 feet of total elevation. While couple of boys went up another trail called North Slope, most of us battled Arts Loeb and won. Later on we went to the challenge courses. During the challenges something on our team seemed off for numerous reasons, so our coach told us go have a meeting and sort it out. So after a quick and helpful team meeting where things were set strait and problems were discussed, things in the team immediately seemed to click and our team seemed closer.
Wednesdays and Thursday continued to see our team chemistry improve, whether it was our Jones (name of the dorm) raid of their rocking chairs, playing gaga ball in our free time, or my personal favorite, camp championships which consisted of various challenges in a relay, musical chairs, and a dance off (which we won) where we used a wide array of silly gags to get the audience on our side, such as performing an RKO, me doing the worm… a lot, or even having a teammate imitate Jesus on a cross; so as we reached the end of the week we mounted up for our final run, Johns Rock.
Johns Rock is another difficult and steep run but halfway through the run you have an amazing view of mountain ranges in the distance. After we took some quick pictures we quickly made our way down the mountain and took a bus ride to sliding rock. Sliding rock is a smooth rock with lots of cold water flowing over that forms a natural slide. Eventually we started packing before we went to the talent show and watched our very own “triangle of love” (featuring Brendon Urban, William Rouse, and Weston White) perform “your man” by Josh Turner then after the end of the week slideshow some of the team went to the dance but most of us chilled and talked. Naturally I started listening to some tunes and one song played that really struck me, “Just One Yesterday” by Fallout Boy. The song struck me because it reminded me that this is my last season and that I need to cherish what little moments I have left with this team because I don’t get another chance to relive them no matter how much I want to.
The Trip had many highlights from meeting and making friends with new people form various teams, our silly shenanigans that cracked other teams (and even at times counselors and coaches), or simply taking an ice bath in the creek: but the best part of the trip was growing even closer to the people that I consider to be my second family.
By the time we left everyone who went on this trip was amped to share this new energy and chemistry the team had formed with everybody back at home, as well as being pumped for the nearing season. I couldn’t imagine spending my last running camp, it was a blessing to be able to go on, and it will truly be a trip to remember.
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