Running in Oxford

Today I had my first experience running with the Oxford Cross-country team. Back in the states, cross-country is a fall sport, but here they run it year round. I arrived a bit early at the meeting place and wasn't exactly sure what to expect or if anyone was even going to show up. I was the second person to arrive and I wasn't even sure if I was in the right place. In just a few minutes runners began to trickle in and before I knew it there were about 25 people there.
When the time came to go, we just took off running. I did not really know how far or for how many minutes we were going to run. There was no coach and no meeting like I am used to back home. As we started going, I kind of just went along with the flow of runners and I got to talking to a grad student who was from Chicago who was running next to me. (It is kind of funny how many people from Illinois I am meeting here.) The group maintained a pretty good pace for the most part, stopping at different places to wait for those who couldn't keep up. This experience was very different than practice back at home.
After the run was over, I was invited to come back Tuesday for a repeats workout. I am looking forward to running with a new crowd of people for a while.
There is a rich history of running here at Oxford. The cross-country program is about 125 years old. The track here at Iffley Road holds the distinction of being the place where Roger Bannister (Now Sir Roger Bannister) became the first person to break four minutes in the mile back in 1954. There was fierce competition to be the first person in the world to accomplish this feat, and after many attempts, it was finally done here at Oxford. Bannister became a national hero overnight for the feat and over 3000 people watched him break the mark. No matter how many times the current mile record is broken (it is now 3:43), Bannister will aways be remembered as the first to break four minutes. It is humbling to be running at a place with so much prestige.