Houston-Area Cross Country Teams Train Through Tropical Storm Harvey
Houston-Area Cross Country Teams Train Through Tropical Storm Harvey
Student-athletes from the University of Houston and Rice University share their stories of training for cross country through the devastation of Tropical Storm Harvey.
What should you do if you're a cross country runner stuck in the throes of the most extreme storm in the history of the United States?
Find a way to train, say coaches and athletes from the University of Houston and Rice University.
The Cougars, Owls, and the countless other college and high school cross country programs in the greater Houston area have done just that, defying the waste that Tropical Storm Harvey has laid to their city. In some areas, the storm dumped more than 50 inches of rain. As the system now shifts toward Louisiana, about one-third of the fourth-largest city in the United States remains covered in water.
The Cougars' head cross country coach, Steve Magness, was born and raised in Houston and has weathered his fair share of storms, including 2001's Tropical Storm Allison, which dropped 40 inches of rain over the metropolis in five days and caused five billion dollars' worth of damage. He was in high school at the time and trained through the storm, thinking that was the worst he would ever see.
This past Saturday, Magness rose early to answer a phone call from his father.
"He asked, 'How are things?,' and I was like, 'It's okay,' and then I walked outside," Magness says. "A street that has never flooded was underwater with cars. And I was like, 'Oh shit, this is actually real.' This is beyond any other flood that I've seen which is saying a lot. We've seen a lot of floods. It takes a lot to surprise us. And we were just mind-blown. It's hard to put into words how shocking it actually was."
But still, one must go on. Magness met with his assistant coach, Nate Pineda, early on Sunday morning and the two traversed the city first on foot -- then via car -- to figure out which areas were safe for running. Satisfied that MacGregor Park was still fit for foot traffic, Magness set voluntary practice times for the following day. On Monday morning, the duo repeated the scouting process to ensure passage to the park was still secure, and mapped out safe streets from every team member's place of residence to the park.
"We didn't want people running down freeways and running into the flood which is the temptation to do when you're a runner," Magness said of setting voluntary practice at MacGregor Park. "You want to go explore and see how crazy the chaos is, because it is very post-apocalyptic, almost like zombie world."
If you take a moment to scroll through Magness' Twitter feed, you get a real sense of the damage inflicted over the past five days.
Houston athletes ran between four and five 2K loops through MacGregor Park, a welcome return to something closer to normalcy for a team that was split up after less than a week of regular practice.
"Even with 20 miles per hour winds and shin-deep puddles we're still hitting 5:00, sub-5 pace for 2K splits," senior Gabe Lara said of the workout. "We were rolling pretty fast even considering the conditions, so we're all thinking, 'If we can do this when it's hurricane-ing out, imagine what we can do later in the season.'"
Lara got creative to log all of his miles over the weekend, traipsing the same four-mile loop around a dry part of campus to complete a 16-mile long run. He and his teammates also measured a 1K loop around the parking lot by their off-campus apartment complex where they recorded "nine or ten miles."
Junior Mackenzie Ilari enjoyed the cooler temperatures prompted by the deluge of rain, though she almost twisted her ankle on one part of the course, not realizing there was water flowing through the path.
She's spent the weekend and early part of the week holed up in an off-campus apartment with her roommate and teammate, Jahnavi Schneider.
"Our coaches emphasize that disaster brings us closer, so hopefully that's one positive effect on this," she said.
Neither Rice men's coach Jon Warren nor women's coach Jim Bevan has held organized practice since Friday, but both regularly check in with team members via text messages and phone calls. The university is probably one of the safest places in the city to stay during a hurricane; as Warren tells it, the dormitories are designed to withstand Category 3 storms, and hardly any flooding occurs. Eighty-five percent of the cross country team is currently on campus, though a few ventured off to other cities, including men's team captain Marco Ruiz, a Phoenix native who went to Austin with some friends.
Ruiz got an 18-miler in with his teammates on Friday morning and then was in such a hurry to leave that he forgot to bring a pair of running shorts to Austin -- tough luck when you're trying to keep up with an 85-90 mile per week training plan. Thankfully, he was able to pick up a new pair when he got into town.
When we spoke by phone on Monday afternoon, Ruiz said the street he lives on in Houston was completely underwater and he wasn't sure when he'd be able to return.
"It's definitely been a challenge," he said. "I feel a little out of touch because I'm not there with everybody. But it's shown us we can be resilient as a team, not only in running but life events together. Guys are helping each other out on the team, giving extra water, resources, saying, 'You can stay on my couch.' It's been touching to see our effect not only on our own teammates, but we've had groups of guys go to volunteer with the Red Cross and have an impact on the greater Houston community. There are a bunch of people who are in greater need than ourselves. [The situation is] tough but I think it'll be rewarding in the end and if we can persevere through this, we can a really great team."
Both Houston and Rice are closed until after Labor Day Weekend, setting a second "back to school" date at Tuesday, September 5. Both schools started classes last Monday, August 21, leaving some student-athletes with a bit of homework but mostly a lot of time to kill.
Many have volunteered their free time to helping with disaster relief efforts in the area. Bevan said a group of the Lady Owls volunteered ripping out carpet and helping with evacuees at the George R. Convention Center on Wednesday.
"There's a lot of things more important than our cross country team with what's going on," Bevan said. "We'll take this as a life-learning situation and everything we can do to help the city and help people who need help. With regards to cross country season, that will come on its own but it's not the concern right now.
"You wonder how their bodies are going to feel after all of this. Runners only do a few different movements. Ripping up carpet, lifting . . . I think they're gonna be pretty sore!"
Photos courtesy of Marco Ruiz.
Find a way to train, say coaches and athletes from the University of Houston and Rice University.
The Cougars, Owls, and the countless other college and high school cross country programs in the greater Houston area have done just that, defying the waste that Tropical Storm Harvey has laid to their city. In some areas, the storm dumped more than 50 inches of rain. As the system now shifts toward Louisiana, about one-third of the fourth-largest city in the United States remains covered in water.
The Cougars' head cross country coach, Steve Magness, was born and raised in Houston and has weathered his fair share of storms, including 2001's Tropical Storm Allison, which dropped 40 inches of rain over the metropolis in five days and caused five billion dollars' worth of damage. He was in high school at the time and trained through the storm, thinking that was the worst he would ever see.
This past Saturday, Magness rose early to answer a phone call from his father.
"He asked, 'How are things?,' and I was like, 'It's okay,' and then I walked outside," Magness says. "A street that has never flooded was underwater with cars. And I was like, 'Oh shit, this is actually real.' This is beyond any other flood that I've seen which is saying a lot. We've seen a lot of floods. It takes a lot to surprise us. And we were just mind-blown. It's hard to put into words how shocking it actually was."
A patient man waiting to cross the street. #hurricaneharvey pic.twitter.com/jSEvyXvTJf
— Steve Magness (@stevemagness) August 27, 2017
But still, one must go on. Magness met with his assistant coach, Nate Pineda, early on Sunday morning and the two traversed the city first on foot -- then via car -- to figure out which areas were safe for running. Satisfied that MacGregor Park was still fit for foot traffic, Magness set voluntary practice times for the following day. On Monday morning, the duo repeated the scouting process to ensure passage to the park was still secure, and mapped out safe streets from every team member's place of residence to the park.
"We didn't want people running down freeways and running into the flood which is the temptation to do when you're a runner," Magness said of setting voluntary practice at MacGregor Park. "You want to go explore and see how crazy the chaos is, because it is very post-apocalyptic, almost like zombie world."
If you take a moment to scroll through Magness' Twitter feed, you get a real sense of the damage inflicted over the past five days.
Before and After. Flooding is insane. #HurricaneHarvey pic.twitter.com/2pSOTpVUsk
— Steve Magness (@stevemagness) August 27, 2017
The flooding is real. Before and after. No more highway. #HurricaneHarvery pic.twitter.com/NpHM7mnvtl
— Steve Magness (@stevemagness) August 27, 2017
How bad is highway 288 and the bayou flooded?
— Steve Magness (@stevemagness) August 28, 2017
First picture is from thursday
Second is from today. #HoustonFloods pic.twitter.com/c6A9VEce9i
Before. During. After. #houstonflood pic.twitter.com/rjxuL6fviK
— Steve Magness (@stevemagness) August 28, 2017
Houston athletes ran between four and five 2K loops through MacGregor Park, a welcome return to something closer to normalcy for a team that was split up after less than a week of regular practice.
"Even with 20 miles per hour winds and shin-deep puddles we're still hitting 5:00, sub-5 pace for 2K splits," senior Gabe Lara said of the workout. "We were rolling pretty fast even considering the conditions, so we're all thinking, 'If we can do this when it's hurricane-ing out, imagine what we can do later in the season.'"
Lara got creative to log all of his miles over the weekend, traipsing the same four-mile loop around a dry part of campus to complete a 16-mile long run. He and his teammates also measured a 1K loop around the parking lot by their off-campus apartment complex where they recorded "nine or ten miles."
After a serious and exciting workout today coach reminds us that we are #HoustonStrong. @stevemagness @UHCougarTF pic.twitter.com/MKAmh5JCJo
— UH Girls XC (@werun4froyo) August 28, 2017
Junior Mackenzie Ilari enjoyed the cooler temperatures prompted by the deluge of rain, though she almost twisted her ankle on one part of the course, not realizing there was water flowing through the path.
She's spent the weekend and early part of the week holed up in an off-campus apartment with her roommate and teammate, Jahnavi Schneider.
"Our coaches emphasize that disaster brings us closer, so hopefully that's one positive effect on this," she said.
Neither Rice men's coach Jon Warren nor women's coach Jim Bevan has held organized practice since Friday, but both regularly check in with team members via text messages and phone calls. The university is probably one of the safest places in the city to stay during a hurricane; as Warren tells it, the dormitories are designed to withstand Category 3 storms, and hardly any flooding occurs. Eighty-five percent of the cross country team is currently on campus, though a few ventured off to other cities, including men's team captain Marco Ruiz, a Phoenix native who went to Austin with some friends.
Ruiz got an 18-miler in with his teammates on Friday morning and then was in such a hurry to leave that he forgot to bring a pair of running shorts to Austin -- tough luck when you're trying to keep up with an 85-90 mile per week training plan. Thankfully, he was able to pick up a new pair when he got into town.When we spoke by phone on Monday afternoon, Ruiz said the street he lives on in Houston was completely underwater and he wasn't sure when he'd be able to return.
"It's definitely been a challenge," he said. "I feel a little out of touch because I'm not there with everybody. But it's shown us we can be resilient as a team, not only in running but life events together. Guys are helping each other out on the team, giving extra water, resources, saying, 'You can stay on my couch.' It's been touching to see our effect not only on our own teammates, but we've had groups of guys go to volunteer with the Red Cross and have an impact on the greater Houston community. There are a bunch of people who are in greater need than ourselves. [The situation is] tough but I think it'll be rewarding in the end and if we can persevere through this, we can a really great team."
Both Houston and Rice are closed until after Labor Day Weekend, setting a second "back to school" date at Tuesday, September 5. Both schools started classes last Monday, August 21, leaving some student-athletes with a bit of homework but mostly a lot of time to kill. Many have volunteered their free time to helping with disaster relief efforts in the area. Bevan said a group of the Lady Owls volunteered ripping out carpet and helping with evacuees at the George R. Convention Center on Wednesday.
"There's a lot of things more important than our cross country team with what's going on," Bevan said. "We'll take this as a life-learning situation and everything we can do to help the city and help people who need help. With regards to cross country season, that will come on its own but it's not the concern right now.
"You wonder how their bodies are going to feel after all of this. Runners only do a few different movements. Ripping up carpet, lifting . . . I think they're gonna be pretty sore!"
Photos courtesy of Marco Ruiz.