This year started out differently. I came off of my summer training with minimal miles logged due to an achilles flare-up followed by a lingering round of plantar fasciitis in both feet. After 9 consecutive seasons for UGA, I had to take my first redshirt.
Cross country season, however, carried on without me, and I began to realize how it truly feels to be a redshirt.
You wish for nothing more than to be on trips with your teammates
Dressing up for flights, team pasta dinners, exploring new college towns. I love everything about the ritual. I never knew how hard it would be to see my teammates packing up for trips and feeling left behind in Athens.
Results stalking is inevitable
And you subconsciously determine your place in each meet.
What seems like freedom transitions into boredom
There were several times during my 9 consecutive seasons when the idea of redshirting sounded great. All the traveling gets exhausting. There were times when I missed my friends and I missed big events in Athens. No Georgia-Florida game. No 'Twilight' festival. No 2013 ESPN College Game Day where Georgia took the nail-biting win against LSU.
So at first, redshirting was great. I had my weekends completely free. I didn't have to follow a strict schedule and I had time to just sit. I could focus on school, my grades were the best they had ever been, and I felt like a normal student for once.
Then I became jittery. I had never spent more than four consecutive weekends in Athens. I wasn't sure what to do with all the time I had on my hands because I never had this much time on my hands.
Your funds disappear out of nowhere
All of a sudden, I fit the true definition of a broke college kid. The only explanation was that my credit card had been stolen over the course of the semester. I had not changed my spending habits. Not my fault. My roommate, also redshirting, expressed the same mysterious realization. Then I calculated our "per diem" allowed for meal money and travel expenditures. During one cross country season, I estimated I was earning nearly $900 in compensation. My current source of income as a redshirt: $0. No more fancy dinners or shopping sprees.
Racing feels like another lifetime ago
Ultimately, I missed competing. I missed gearing up in my Georgia uniform and the adrenaline rush that could only come from toeing the start line. I missed the feeling of exerting every bit of energy I could manage. I missed the post-race "runner's high," a rare sensation, but 110% satisfying and rewarding. I was still putting in tough workouts and training, but nothing compares to the thrill of racing.
Seven long months have gone by, but finally indoor competition has begun. My semester spent as a redshirt has reconfirmed my love for the sport and heightened my excitement for my last two seasons with UGA. Even when traveling home from meets on a miserable Red-Eye flight, I vow to be thankful for traveling at all.
