Christina VarvisMark Lawley
Engineering 4
Hometown: Fort McMurray
Team: Cross-Country
How did you get in to cross-country running?
In junior high, I ran on the track team kind of as a way to stay in shape for hockey in the off-season. In high school, my sister’s math teacher was the coach of the cross-country team. So at the start of the year he asked everyone in his class, ‘Who here ran in junior high?’ And so she raised her hand, and he said ‘You’re on the team.’ I was her twin brother, so I was told I was on the team as well. I ran on the track team in my Grade 9 year, then I actually started competing in grade 10 in the cross scene, that was when running started taking over from hockey as the main sport I was doing. And I just really enjoyed the team atmosphere in high school.
What’s the difference between running on trails in Edmonton versus Fort McMurray?
The Edmonton river valley has trails in a really long area, but if you’re going out for half an hour on a trail, you don’t have a lot of options. Whereas in Fort McMurray, they have a trail system that’s in a circle almost. So if I was going out for an hour, there was probably 6 to 10 choices of different paths I could end up taking. So that’s a lot nicer.
What’s it like being in one of the lesser-watched varsity sports?
I’ve gotten used to it. You don’t expect to have a huge crowd with a lot of the races, unless it is a big race. We have two teams: the men and the women, and only one’s racing at a time so we cheer each other on when we can.
How does a cross-country team feel compared to a hockey team?
My running teams have all been less dysfunctional than my hockey teams. Maybe it’s just because you don’t have to rely on each other as much. Like on a hockey team, people would often just get mad at each other, maybe the forwards think the defence are doing a bad job, and the defence just really want the forwards to back check. Whereas with cross-country I feel we just do a better job of working together — it’s usually a pretty good team atmosphere. With some of the team sports, you come together when you really need to but in between there’s a lot of bickering sometimes.
Have you ever had someone say to you, “Run Forest, Run”?
That’s the most annoying thing ever. I actually haven’t seen that movie but I’ve heard the quote enough times.
What’s the funniest thing that’s ever happened to you on a run?
[pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]I heard you coming and I thought you were a bear because of all the panting.[/pullquote]One time I was doing some hill repeats, so I was breathing pretty heavily coming up to the crest of the hill. And so a trail kinda runs sideways on top of it. And so as I came over a guy was just staring at me, he was like, ‘I heard you coming and I thought you were a bear because of all the panting.’ I’ve gotten that a couple of times
I get comments about the running shorts I use sometimes. Because they’re often pretty short. I’ve had people drive by and yell, ‘I can see your ass!’ And I’m just like, ‘Thanks … I don’t think you can.’ I kinda just go with it. At least it’s funnier than ‘Run Forest Run.’
