Hannah Ace (Class of 2017)
Photo by Debbi Persinger
I don't really remember the first time I heard about the workout, but I vaguely remember knowing that it was going to be hell going into it the first time.
The first time I ran it was sophomore year. I started the run to the hills with the four other girls on varsity at the time (all older, I was still new-ish to varsity and I think didn't know them super well quite yet which made it all the more intimidating.) Me and Emily Causey fell behind the other three about halfway there so we ended up running there by ourselves. I remember getting to a fork in the trail and thinking we were supposed to go one direction based on Roemer's directions beforehand, but Em insisted it was the other way. I assumed she knew better since she was older and, I presumed, had run this before.
We ended up going the completely wrong way, wandering around for a while, backtracking, getting lost again, backtracking again, etc. all while tacking on extra miles to the already long day. By the time Roemer found us, we were close to the hills, and everyone else had already started. We joined in with them, but Emily started having issues with her asthma, so after running two hills (Roemer let us cut the last since we were late and had already run extra) she drove back with another coach. Everyone else had finished up and left as well so that left me alone to run back with Roemer.
This was the first time I'd done this workout and the run back is one of the worst parts, and Roemer was keeping quite a pace while trying to hold a conversation. So I remember just trying to keep up the best I could and trying to talk to him but thoroughly dying the whole time. I tried to figure out how far I'd run that day when I got back and figured it was something like 10-11 miles, which was the farthest I'd ever run at that point. I remember not being able to walk for the next two days or so. I still hold a slight grudge against Em for getting me into that (with love of course).
I went back and tried to run the loop (without the hill workout) after my first year of college. I was not in the best shape of my life and just the loop itself destroyed me. I got to the top of Fall's Road hill (I had only run it once, at a medium pace) and had to stand at the top for a very long time trying to catch my breath. Every time I started running again for the next 20 minutes or so I had to stop because I felt like I was having an asthma attack (I don't have asthma).
The summer before my third year of college I had been training for a race (just for fun) and was in pretty good shape. I was running with Roemer at the school one day and I mentioned I wanted to do some hills around here before I went back to school, where I was going to do the race. Roemer very excitedly suggested we do the Fall's Road hills loop together, because he wanted to do it once before the season started anyway. I really don't know why I agreed, and when I left I was just thinking to myself, "WHY did I say yes to that." Thankfully the season started in about a week and I was going back to school soon, so the timing didn't work out. That was a close one though.
For me one of the biggest things about the XC experience at Hereford was the team and the bonds I formed with the girls on that team, and I can think of a lot of times that was exemplified in this workout.
There was one year I remember vividly when we had planned to all get breakfast together after the workout, and that was the only thing that was getting us all through. Early on in the run there, my friend Hannah was excitedly babbling about the "old fashioned breakfast" she was going to get afterwards. I don't know why this particular memory sticks out but I remember all of us running there together talking about what we were going to get at breakfast afterwards.
By the time we were running back (almost back to the school) we looked at our watches and realized we had been gone for something like three hours. We were all furious, yelling about how we had been running for three. Hours. We looked up to see Roemer running towards us, happily as always, wanting to take a picture of us in our hell. We were not shy about yelling at him about how long we had been doing this workout for-- he took it in stride as always.
The next day the rest of the team had gone to a league meet and varsity was left to do basically whatever we felt was appropriate to shake out our legs after the workout. We were all feeling dead - as you do after Falls Road hills - and as team captain I made the call to do something very easy. The plan started off as running a three mile loop, swimming in the river on the way, then getting snowballs. That changed to driving to the loop, running two miles, driving to swimming, then getting snowballs. That turned to driving to the track, running one mile, driving to the river, deciding we were too tired to swim, deciding we were too tired for snowballs, then going home. Classic day after Falls Road hills mood.
As I said before, for me the biggest thing I took with me was my team and everything we shared - the funny memories and the hard ones, including the pain of Falls Road hills (and other workouts and races). I made some of my best friends on the team that are still my best friends years later. I have friends from the team that I can go years without talking to and then randomly text, "Hey remember that one horrible thing that happened at that meet or during that workout?" and we're able to laugh at it now, which feels like something really special. I really miss having all those folks around to laugh with and commiserate with every day after school.
Workouts like falls Road Hills also really shaped me into who I am today-- I feel like I can take on anything because I know the level of physical pain I can endure and the mental strength I have to get through really tough, stressful things. Sounds intense, but it's true. I always feel super cheesy saying this but my time in track and XC in high school was definitely one of the most formative experiences I've had and probably the most significant part of my high school experience aside from my actual education. I probably would not have agreed with myself at the time but I wouldn't give it up for anything.
Including Falls Road hills, I suppose.