10
Friday, October 24, 1975
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University Daily Kansan
CONVIVIEN
Over hill, over dale
Cross country coach Bob Timmons urges KU runner on
There is no escape.
Five hard miles of grass, dirt, hills and sweat lie
starting line and that colorful,
be-finished finishing chute.
To the cross-country runner, however, the distance of the race is of only passing concern. He has run hundreds of miles in practice, and a 15- or 20-mile jaunt is commonplace.
So for Jim Groninger, a University of Kansas freshmen running here in his first college race against Iowa State University and Southern Illinois University two weeks ago, the sport isn't just a jog and a stretch. It's thinking as well.
Yet it's impossible to keep your mind off the race, to ignore what you'll feel with a mile to go, said KU's John. "It's like a waterlock" he later took.
Relaxing doesn't mean remaining inactive. It means keeping the mind and body loose, free from tension. It means preventing nervous energy from becoming dissinated.
While going through his regular pre-race warmup—one and a half miles of jogging, several wind sprints and builds and lots of stretching—Groninger imagined in himself that he would do in an hour, when he was finally in the race.
"I try to go over the race in my head and try to feel
that I'm running in the race," he said.
"But the best thing to do is relax."
"You don't control your energies. You let them flow," he said. "Thinking about the race just comes naturally. You run the race over in your mind many, many times."
Does that include thinking about the inevitable pain?
"You accept it as a part of praying."
Bill Lundberg described "psyching" before the race. "It's not the most exciting of feelings," he said. "But it's something you have to put up with. It's good to have a friend, and you're better butterfly. But once the race gets started, it's over with."
Another Jayhawk runner, Tom Koppes, who had been suffering the effects of a minor cold, leaned on the hood of his coach's blue pickup truck after the race and said, "I'm just dead."
Gnigger said, "It felt like it started hurting right after they fired the gun. I went through it. I'm alive. I'm safe."
KU's McDonald (l), Roscoe and Lundberg lead pack
Runnerup Lundberg (l) congratulates winner Roscoe
Story by Ken Stone
Photos by Don Pierce
David Crenshaw
Jayhawk John Roscoe snapped the string first for the grueling win