Cross Country 101: Intro to Strategic Running

Professor: Dr. Young
TA: Dave Getz; currently in his 2nd year working on his BR in Titanic Running
TA: Ben Getz; currently in his 2nd year working on his BR in Greek Strategy, specializing in the story of Marathon

Welcome class to Day One of Intro to Strategic Running, I’ll be your professor leading lectures and your TA’s this semester will be Dave Getz and Ben Getz. Also if we’re lucky we may have a few guest lectures from Dr. Gifford, who has his doctorate in Strategic Running and Running with Injuries, and is working on his Masters in Greek Strategy which he will complete this October. He is also an accomplished writer including his works: Coaching the Modern Runner and Proper Forums for Advising the New Age Teen.

Today’s lesson is on the basics of cross country scoring. I know it sounds easy but in order to move into deeper topics we must cover the basics. Also keep in mind that the first exam is this Tuesday and will be closed book. The exam is made to be hard, but I know all of you can pass with flying colors if you listen carefully in lecture and get a good night’s sleep the night before.

Now then…Cross Country is based on lowest score wins. The score is the sum of the places of the first five runners from a team to cross the finish line. The sixth and seventh runners are there to try to get in before the fifth runner from the other team. I think that everyone knows that this appears simple but we will still give an example. Say a team gets 1, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12, and 34; while your team gets 2,3,4,6, 9,10, and 13 . The scores would be: 32 for the other team and 24 for you so easy enough to say you won. This would be if the first guy finished one second faster than your man (or person) or a minute faster. So you wonder though where is the strategy in that then. Relax I’m getting there, the key is the Pack.

This is a very secret strategy that is rarely heard of but when mastered is quite powerful. Simply put it plays off the math involved in cross country. Numbers that are close together add up to a smaller number than nonconsectutive numbers (not together). An example: the sum of 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 is 15 whereas the sum of 2 + 4 + 6 + 8 + 10 is 30. And in this second case would even be beaten in a dual format by the 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 9 which is only 25. So we have learned so far what? That a pack is good, low score wins, and strategy is important.

Now I know that you will get addition studying and go into further details on this with your TA’s, but one final topic to think about before your discussion sections. How can one sixth man in front of a fifth change anything?

First person to post the correct answer will receive extra credit. Remember the exam is coming up and…okay there’s the bell have a good afternoon everyone. Class will be again tomorrow, we’ll be talking about Strategy in Ancient Times.