Hello, Islander fans!
Thank you for checking out my first blog of the 2015 Cross Country season. If you are a returning reader, I'm glad you are back. If you are a first-time reader of "Running with Rossi," I hope you continue to follow my blog about women's cross country throughout the season. 
It was a busy summer for the Islanders. Many of us took summer classes, worked internships or summer jobs, or traveled around the country with family; but all of us spent hours running the streets, trails, and tracks of our hometowns to prepare for our upcoming season.
Summer training isn't always the easiest cycle of our season because it is easy to become lazy and lose motivation to train when we are so distant from our teammates. For me, it was the fear of letting down my teammates that drove me to train this summer. However, summer training can also be an enjoyable cycle because it allows us to go back to where it all started. This kind of renewal is important for student-athletes because it puts things into perspective for us and resets our minds from previous months of training.
Nearly two weeks have gone by since the Lady Islanders started their first official day of practice. I can tell the entire gang really committed to their summer training schedule because of how well we have been running at practice. It feels great to be training with the team again.
Our team consists of four freshmen: Haley, Cynthia, Linda, and Isabel; four sophomores: Carissa, Taylor, Amy, and Liz; one junior: Brandie Garcia; and five seniors: Ashley Mills, Samantha Hardin, Regina Salinas, Shelby Polasek, and me, Alexandria Rossi.
The Class of 2019 has had a great start to their career as a student-athlete here at the Island University. The transition from high school to Division-1 athletics is a drastic change for freshmen because it is physically and mentally more challenging. After the first day of practice – hill repeats at West Guth – one of the girls told me she never did anything as challenging as that (running hills) in high school. And it is true; the freshmen girls will experience many "firsts" this season like running more than twelve miles at once and running over forty miles per week. The most important "first", however, is when they put on their Islander's singlet and toe-up on the starting line with twelve of their newest sisters. I have full confidence that the freshmen are prepared to run their first collegiate cross country race which will be this Friday at UTPA. Not once has a freshman, or any of my teammates for that matter, complained or given up during a workout; we've only supported and cheered on each other to give a little more of themselves, to become a little bit better than they were the day before. Welcome to the Island, freshmen!
As for the seniors, let's recall our memories of what it was like to wear that Islander singlet and to run a collegiate meet for the first time. Though the season has just begun, it will be over before we know it. Ladies, let's enjoy this season and seize every opportunity to lead our team to success, to forge relationships with each other, and to take full advantage of what it means to be an Islander Student-Athlete. Once this is over, it is over. Let's not leave the Island wishing we had trained harder or been a better teammate, etc.
As always, I thank you for taking the time to read this blog. Please keep the Islanders in your prayers as we travel to Edinburg, Texas to compete in the first cross country race of the season.
Go Islanders!
-Rossi
