Pavements to Somewhere
By Alex Bonus
Photo by Nate Hill
I’ve crossed the finish line, but this crowd is unfamiliar.  My surroundings, unexpected. Until now, it was a place I’d only dreamt about, and this is not what I predicted.
My cross-country season is over. Practices have ceased. My races are done. Like so many other senior athletes — and like generations of athletes who have come before me — my status as a student-athlete has effectively come to an end.
I’ve wondered about this day for years. How I would feel?  How I would cope?  It’s the evitable finish to a 4-year race that, before today, was obscure and insubstantial, existing only in my mind as a quietly ignored but perpetually imminent mystery.