Beyond the Course: A Perspective Series by Alissa Niggemann, Madison Mooney, and Emma Helstrom

MADISON, Wis.-- During this unusual cross country season, fans will get an inside look at the Badger cross country teams courtesy of our student-athletes. This week we get to meet Madison Mooney, a sophomore from Broomfield, Colorado. For this week's post, Madison shares how she trains at home and the importance of running with other competitors.

Training with the competition

Eight years.

That's how long I have been a runner. Eight years of cross country and track seasons. Eight years of running endless miles. Eight years of summers waking up with the sun and winters running through blizzards and ice. Eight years of sweat, grit, tears and triumph.

Running requires a unique commitment to the grind compared to other sports. Every individual runner has the responsibility to train their hardest to result in a team's success. There is no room for someone to slack off or have an "off-day" as we see in other sports. This dedication of creating a lifestyle that revolves around success on the cross country course glues all of us runners together.

Through these eight years, I have met hundreds of other runners. Some as teammates and some as competitors. Each and every one of these women and men are all striving toward the same goal -- to be the fastest they can be.

We know that we can't achieve this goal without our competitors.

That is what makes being a runner so unique. In this sport, we want our competitors to succeed. We want them to get faster, because that is what will make us faster.

Over this holiday break, while I have been at home and separated from all of my teammates, I did not have to worry about training alone. Other runners returned home from college and were in need of training partners as well. I have connected with runners that I met throughout the previous eight years, and we have spent the cold winter days of this holiday break gritting through the miles and workouts together – making each other better.

The team at Colorado State University welcomed me to join them for a long run last week. I met some of the girls on the team at a trailhead in Fort Collins, Colorado, and got in a quality 11-mile run filled with good conversation. This is a usual at-home training occurrence for me. Over the previous summer, some of my teammates and I had met up with runners from the teams at Florida State University, University of Colorado, University of Portland, and University of Florida. These runs created an appreciation for running and opportunities to connect with runners from all over the world.

My teammates know that I will get the job done while I am away from campus. I have my competition to thank for that.

This is the beauty of the running community. All runners understand the struggle of battling through arduous miles and having to sacrifice things to maximize our training. This shared commitment makes the running community so great.

Eight years down and a lifetime to go of creating friendships through this sport. I am fortunate to be in an environment where my competitors are rooting for my success and I am rooting for theirs, and we can become faster as a whole because of it.

On, Wisconsin!

Madison Mooney

University of Wisconsin Athletics

Beyond the Course: A Perspective Series by Alissa Niggemann, Madison Mooney, and Emma Helstrom

Training with the competition

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