Thursday is one of the best days of the camping trip!! We start out the day with our frisbee football tournament, get dressed up,go out for Pizza and a movie.  We had another great Frisbee tournament with Coach Polries team winning consisting of Sophia Roehl, Josh McKeever, Adam Arnold, Seb Reese, and Torrey Westereng!

We took pictures of everyone all dressed up before going out to eat, and it was great to see the big group of seniors in mix.  After eating our full of great Pizza from Dave's in Bemidji, we all went to "The Secret lives of Pet's".  

Everyone woke up early on Friday, to perfect running weather, had pancakes, packed up our tents and belongings, and then got ready to finish camp off with running around Bemidji Lake. Running around the lake is our last big challenge of the camping trip, the runners are encouraged to run further than they ever have before.  We had people going anywhere from 3 miles to a maximum of 12.  It was fun to see everyone encouraging each other, and it was a great way to finish the trip! 

Wednesday morning we woke up to rain.  It cleared up for a great day by earlier afternoon, and after running into town to an laundry mat to dry some sleeping bags and towels, we had a great day!  The team played "Minute to Win it" and had a blast challenging themselves and each other.  Afterward everyone enjoyed a lunch of hamburgers, hot dogs, pasta salad, and watermelon.

The runners used their free time before our second run of the day, going to the lake and swimming, fishing, or playing games.  We had our second speed workout of the camping trip, relay races from our camp, down the hilly dirt road, to the river, and back for a round trip of about 1000 meters.  Everyone completed the workout and really came together and cheered for each other! It was great to see them starting to become a great Central XC family.

Tonight we will have our third and final campfire, s'mores, and running talk.  This evenings discussion will be about goal setting.  Each runner will share their personal goals for the season and their goal for the overall team.

This year's group of cross country campers arrived safely in Bemidji State Park on Monday for our annual camping trip.  After setting up their tents and having a little free time they went out and were challenged to their hardest workout of the trip!  Veteran's and Rookies alike attacked the traditional hilly loop and ran 2 minute hard runs, followed by 2 minutes of recovery, followed mercilessly by another 2 minutes of hard running, continuing until either the runner breaks the hills or the hills break the runner.  This workout is infamously called "Bemidji Ballbuster," and to be a "buster" you have to complete 12 hard 2 min portions.  This year several runners claimed the title for the first time.  It is always great to see many of them achieve the mental toughness to finish this workout.  Everyone always feels good after this workout, knowing the hardest running part of the trip is already completed.

Tuesday, after the morning run, the team filled themselves on french toast and went down to the lake for a fun, spirited volleyball tournament. It has been great to see new friendships already developing and a strong traditional Knights Cross Country "family" bond forming.