A tango in Durango
The following Friday the cross-country team traveled to Durango for the Four Corner’s XC Classic. There was an early leave time for the trip, about a five-hour drive, with a noon start. I drove from Westcliffe to Leadville the night before. We loaded up early and I followed the bus to Poncha Springs, meeting Mary and leaving my car there. It was a glorious fall morning and the view from Wolf Creek Pass literally glowed with golden aspens. We had no idea there was a tempest brewing inside the bus.
Finally, we arrived in Durango for the race at a golf course on the mesa above the town. The course was all on grass and wove around the fairways in a serpentine fashion. There was a heated discussion among the women’s squad, which triggered Harrison. Darren told him to stay in his own lane. Harrison immediately ran off screaming. This was not an auspicious lead-up to the race.
Somehow we got him calmed down, warmed up, and to the start. It always seemed once he was on the starting line he could tune out everything else and focus on racing. When the gun went off we were able to run back and forth across the roughs to cheer the runners on as they passed. The times were slow in the spongy-soft grass, but The Blur held his own in CMC’s fourth position, outrunning two runners from the Navajo Nation’s Diné College in the last half-mile and securing the team’s third-place finish. It was the first time in CMC history that the men’s team had not finished last in a meet hosted by an NCAA team.
• • •
That following Sunday we were on our way back to Leadville in the evening. The days were now getting shorter and we found ourselves on U.S. 50 at dusk. Right as an oncoming vehicle passed, there was a loud bang like a gunshot. In an instant we were slammed by a shockwave of broken glass. I struggled with trying to realize what had happened so suddenly. Air was blowing in from the side, and the entire car seemed filled with glittering dust. I pulled over as quickly as I could find the highway shoulder through the haze. Harrison and I got out and stood on the roadside spitting out glass.
After calming down we inspected the damage. There was a round hole blown in the triangular glass wing ahead of the driver side window. The entire dashboard, console and front seats were covered in shattered glass. I had no idea how such a small window could produce so much broken glass. We looked around but could only see a chunk of fiberglass debris in the highway. I wondered how that could cause a circular hole that looked like it was made by a .44-magnum slug. I actually looked for a bullet hole in the opposite interior of the car. Perhaps a flying rock did this?
I didn’t have much choice other than to continue on our way. I knew I had glass in my eyes. I stuffed some plastic garbage bags into the hole and we drove on toward Salida, where there was a car wash with a vacuum. I spent $10 in quarters and a long time trying to vacuum the broken glass. Not only was there glass in the front cab of the car, there also was a fair amount in the back seat. I even found glass in the rear hatchback area and between layers of clean, folded clothes in a laundry basket. We went from the car wash to the nearby Walmart to buy duct tape and eye drops.
With multiple layers of tape, inside and out, I was able to secure the remaining broken glass in place. I squirted the eye drops in both eyes to wash them out. The left eye seemed better, but there was something stuck in my right eye. We continued the remaining hour to Leadville, arriving there late to unpack and get to bed.
The next morning I left earlier than usual and stopped on the way home to see an optometrist. He removed what he said was the biggest piece of glass he’d ever pulled from an eye. For weeks I continued to find bits of broken glass in the car.
Notes from The Blur
Over the weekend, I agreed with my dad that if I would stop causing drama with Lexi, he would let me upgrade my phone to the iPhone 14 sooner than we had previously agreed. Before this, getting the phone upgrade had been an incentive for doing my best during the cross-country season. I had an iPhone SE 2, which by then was kind of getting old and I was mostly concerned about the battery life.
That following Monday, I walked up to Kelli’s classroom only to realize that Lexi was in there. I was so scared to go in because I still was unsure what our future interactions were going to be like. Kelli offered for me to go into the classroom next to hers, which made me feel somewhat better, although I knew I was going to have to go in her classroom sooner or later. I eventually took the risk and went into the classroom and sat down at the computer. And because I was still scared, I only stared at the computer and didn’t turn my head. I was focusing on my work like I should be doing. Once class was over, I headed to lunch. I told Lexi that I was sorry for what I had done and that I didn’t mean what I said.
Coming up next was the final regular-season cross-country meet in Durango. This race was different, especially for the girls since they ran a 6K instead of a 5K. Darren had said he would load a movie and play it on the screen in the bus, but he couldn’t get it to work. Instead, I was able to pull up the movie Home on my phone and Lexi and I watched it.
As Darren drove, Blueberry announced that he had to pee really badly. He even said that he was going to pee in a bottle on the seat. I was sitting next to him. I was so freaked out that I got up and sat down on a cooler at the front of the bus. Darren of course told me to sit back down in my seat. He also told Blueberry not to pee on the seat. We eventually stopped and of course Blueberry took longer than Darren hoped. Darren honked the horn to get him to hurry back to the bus.
Later we stopped at a gas station for everyone to use the restroom. When we arrived at the golf course in Durango, there was some apparent drama with the girls team. When I tried to ask them what was going on, Darren told me to give them space. Clearly I was getting into their lane instead of staying in my lane. Anyway, I ran off and laid down in the grass with my hands behind my back as if being arrested. All of this was not helping me get ready for my race.
One of the girls, Zoe, was so upset that she decided not to race. Then, it was time for me to race. I got a good start, but I was kind of flailing my arms all over the place, which was slowing me down. I ended up finishing 4th on the team. All the other guys did good as well.
Next, it was time for the girls to race. Abby was first on the team and Ana was second. Then Brooklyn, Anne, and Lexi stayed close throughout most of the race. Ana had been struggling with a foot injury so I made a joke from Frozen and yelled, “Do not let those feet freeze!” when I was cheering her on at one point on the course. When they finished, I noticed Brooklyn complaining about her knee and felt bad for her.
The next day, we headed to the AT&T store for me to upgrade my phone. I was so excited to get the iPhone 14 because of the all-screen design, the larger display, and the better camera. Upon waking up, it felt like Christmas morning. We went in the store and they just so happened to have one in stock. I traded in my iPhone SE and they gave me the new phone. I unboxed it in the store and set it up.
When my dad drove me back up to the college that following Sunday night, it was fairly dark with clouds in the sky. When we were on Highway 50 at the passing lane near Howard, some object came flying at the small triangle window on the driver’s side and hit it. When that happened, it sounded like someone shot a rifle at it. Shortly after we pulled over and then ended up spitting glass out of our mouths. We turned around to get a closer look at an object in the highway, which looked like a piece of some kind of machinery. However, several cars ended up hitting it. This caused me to freak out because I didn’t like seeing it happen. I soon calmed down and got back in the car. We had to stop in Salida to deal with the broken glass, but nevertheless made it back to the college late that night.
That week there was one day in the cafeteria when the team ate together like usual. I heard Ana talking about her previous roommate and saying that if she came back as a roommate she was going to end her own life. Of course, she was only joking but typically those statements are to be taken seriously and not meant to be used as a joke. And so, I blurted out loudly enough for the whole cafeteria to hear, “Don’t do that!!! You need to be on meds!” To that, everyone especially Zoe laughed really hard.
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