Run your heart out!

Listening to the peacefulness of the morning can be soothing and calming for most people. Nobody is walking around campus and few cars disturb the quiet morning sound. But there are a select group of college students who use the early morning to get a head start. They wake before the sun has fully risen to start their days. At 6:40am the students gather on the steps in front of Elwell to be transported by the seniors in their cars to the upper campus and the Redman Stadium. 

Here I meet Caroline, she is a freshman hurdler and sprinter for the team. She has dark brown hair with a slight curl to it and big brown eyes with a touch of gold in them. She is wearing a huskies sweatshirt and black sweatpants with Bangor Track and Field written down the left leg. “Waking up this early was ok for the first two days, but now I have to make myself wake up. It’s getting harder and harder each day!” she remarked. Here are some links to help you have a clearer picture of what hurdler's and sprinter's do. Not many people are talking this early in the morning but the team is nice and welcomes everyone as they file out of the building. The cars fill up fast and you have to move it to make it to a comfortable seat, otherwise you are sitting in the back of a car with three other people or even in the trunk of the car on your ride up.

When you first arrive at Redman Stadium it’s a lot to take in. Built on a high point on the upper campus, you definitely notice the stadium from wherever you are coming from. The maroon and gold banners on the outside of the stadium walls show the huskie pride to everyone who comes up there. It looks very intimidating standing by the gate to get onto the field. The stadium seating on the side of the field stretches up 20 or 30 benches. The track and turf seem to go on forever. There is a slight mist that gives it a surreal feeling (Figure 1). 

Early Morning Track Practice (Figure 1)

The workout begins. The practice time is only an hour but during that hour there are no long gaps that have the athletes doing nothing. The team creates a long line that stretches across the football field. Most of the athletes sport a Bloomsburg sweatshirt or shirt, creating a vision of maroon and gold. The seniors lead the plyometrics. One plyo in particular makes everyone groan as their joint pop and muscles stretch. They go from standing to leaning down to touch the opposite toe as the other leg swings back to be parallel with the ground. The athletes need to loosen up their muscles before they run so that they don’t damage anything that might get pulled or tight during the workout. Here is some more information on the plyometrics that are performed.

The team seems to flow as one as they continue into two laps of the track to increase their heart rates and their muscles warmed up. You can hear each breath that they take, and see the puff of moisture from the exhale. Then there is this organized chaos as everyone stretches out their muscles again. They seem to all do the same stretches as each other just in different orders.

All the while the girls have fun chatting and laughing at one another and the guys are being guys and making fun and pulling pranks on each other. “I’m not really sure what to think of this team yet. They seem to have fun, but are also determined to make themselves the best that they can be,” Caroline says laughingly. There is a sense of enjoyment while they prepare for whatever Coach Empie and Coach Artman have lined up for them for the day. Coach Empie is about 5'6" tall with short light brown hair. His attitude that tells you that he's very serious about what he says and wants the team to accomplish. There are no dreaded feelings for the workout they are about to start. They know it will be tough but they know that the more effort they put into the practice the more skills they will develop to use during competition. “The workouts are about the same as my high school team we just have less time to complete what needs to be done here, so I guess it is a little harder. We also took a lot of breaks during high school practices,” Caroline jokingly states.

Coach Empie announces that because it is Friday the team will have a “fun Friday” a cheer can be heard from all of the athletes as they find out that they will be playing soccer for practice. The team gets split up by their birthday month to create the teams. As the game gets set up everybody starts talking smack about the other team, but they all take the jests and give it back just as playfully. The game starts and your can hear one of the girls scream as the ball comes at her and she tries to get out of its way. The guys run at the ball and the testosterone starts to flow. The guys fight for the ball and kick wildly flailing their legs to get the ball. There are still lots of laughing and name calling going on throughout the game. The teams cheer and groan as one when a goal is scored. At 7:50 Coach Empie calls the game January to June has won (Figure 2). The whole team applauds the fun game that they played.

Girls Track Team (Figure 2)

The team stretches out and cools down, grabbing a drink of water as they go. They all slowly pick up their bags that are left scattered across the semicircle of track at the end of the field and walk toward where the cars were parked and everybody piles into the cars to be taken back to Elwell. Some of the team members break off and head towards the bus stop to be picked up instead of being squashed in a car. When the team gets back on campus the majority of them run to their dorms to take a shower before classes start.  

During the time they were away the campus has gradually begun to awaken and there are more signs of life and preparations for the day ahead.  The shared experience of these early mornings create a bond among the group.  Training while the rest of the campus is still asleep requires dedication and sacrifice but each day they are on the steps of Elwell, ready to get back up there and reach their goals and excel as athletes.