MGRC Position: Captain of Transportation
Co-Founder
As a fat-assed sophmore i decided to take the plundge into the DGN cross country program, spear headed by the legendary William Kupish. My sophmore year brought many notable moments includeing:
- Running a 28minute 3mile
- Losing to "the big man" in a mile (technically no but who cares)
- Overall being one of the worst on the team
- Not going sub 6 in the 1600m (ouch)
So what is a fat boy to do? my plan was to hit summer running of 02 hard. Come back a lean mean racing machine!! Well......instead i ran about 25miles in june, couldn't run at all in july, and capped off the summer with a solid 24minute west loop race. Junior year was already in the crapper.
But wait! There was one thing that begain in junior year, that would lay the foundation for what would later become the foundamental of kindra running: BEATING OTHER RUNNERS AND THUS PISSING THEM OFF!
It begain at the Lancer invite, where a one mathew leavy tried to jag bag the race after not showing up for any practices. I, douglas kindra, brought the hammer down and stormed a 22:42 and in doing so said "NO!" to all the matt leavy's out there. After the race i gave him a sarcastic congradulations, just to rub it in. Upon seeing the buring hatred in his eyes, i knew i had found my calling. Haveing already engraved into everybodys head that Douglas Kindra = Horrible, anyone and everyone that i beat, would be labled even worse.
The rest of cc i made minor improvements on my speed, strength, and stamina, while continueing to stick it to Matt Leavy. In track i made larger improvements in the 800m and expanding the number of poor souls that felt the sting of losing to kindra.
After completeing my junior year, i knew that there was one thing standing between me and utter domination: Summer running. This time, i would conquer.....kinda.
The day after finals, founder Myke Griseta and i began a rigorous june running program that continued into mid july. But, alas, a snag was hit. My annual banishment into Michgan prevented all training, and for 4weeks, i ran 0 miles. When finally returned to DG, i found my stamina and speed sapped.....and only managed a 22:30 westloop race.
But my quest of putting the hurt on fellow runners was not lost! Looking back, the turning point was the GBW vs DGN duel meet. 2 DGN runners had challanged me, claiming that i would be unable to beat them on this day. Jacob Bradely and Juan Garcia were the challangers. At the 1st mile i held a 5 second lead, but with the hill being just past, my legs were feeling the burn. Just before the 2nd mile i could not hold on any longer. Both racers past me. I tried my very best to hang with both runners, but as we were 600m out, i felt my legs giving in and i knew i couldnt go any faster.....
But then, something magical occured, both in my brain and heart. I thought "dammit doug, you gotta give these two runners the sting.....the kindra sting" And with 400m to go, i laid down what would later be a trade mark kindra kick. Blasting past both Juan and Jake with such authority that neither considered giving chace for a second.
Offical quote after GBW meet by Jake:
"Man, i cant believe i lost to that bitch kindra"
My XC Carear would have ended wonderfuly had it not been for two words: Kathrin Laghy. The last XC race of my life, and it began and ended in utter agaony. With in the first 800m i new something was horribly wrong. As my goal of sub 19 passed, i reaslized that beating my usualy competition of Juan, Jake, Eliot, and TC was out of my reach. In fact, i was soon passed by Brother Aca-T-N, Carter, and a weakened Big Ondrovy.
With the last 800m to go, many things happened that make me really recognize my progression in this great sport of running. With Ondrovic out of site, i passed 3 girls along the course. What they said almost brought me to a stand still: "keep going, dont stop and walk, the finish is soo close."
It had been almost 2 full years sense i had heard such comments. and with it i realized i had come full circel in my running. And despite the hardest summer of training, and maximum effort in every practice, i was going to leave the world of HS cross country with a mile pace well above 7minutes. About 400m from the finish, i thought that if i once again, i could finish with a strong kick, maybe i would salvage my race, and at least leave the course with 1 bright spot in a horrible race of awfulness. Problem was, my legs were burning, my lugs were shot, i couldnt drop my arms from the cramps, and my mouth was completely full of cotton. But then, a final deffining moment in my XC Career.....
The Devil himself, Joe Newton, positioned almost exactly 400m from the finish gives me a quick word of encouragement. For what ever reason, that spurred me on like i was shot out of a cannon, and i ripped my race tag off and launched at the finish. upon reaching the finish, i colapsed in utter exhaustion.
<more later>