Athlete of the Week: Charles Cahillane (2021, Co-Captain Cross Country, St. Johnsbury, Vt.)

When did you start running competitively?

I ran track at my high school in Vermont but mostly played soccer before college. It wasn’t until I expressed my interest in joining the XC team at St. Lawrence, at the end of my freshman year, that I was encouraged to join by the coaching staff for the 2018 season.

Why St. Lawrence to continue your athletic career?

Like I said, I didn’t join the XC team until my sophomore year at SLU, although Coach Newman and the members of the team that I met on my first trip to the university had a big part in my decision to come here. I visited during my senior year of high school with Ian (one of my best friends and a star sprinter getting recruited) and was introduced to the team during my overnight. As a lot of SLU students say, I felt instantly at home with the people I met and even got to go to my first Java performance that night with members of the team.

What’s the hardest part about running cross country?

Cross country is a grind – it’s a huge time and energy commitment. My past two seasons I’ve gotten injured because I didn’t know how to take care of my body; it wasn’t until I started summer training for my senior year that I finally figured out what worked for me and was able to handle the high mileage expected of cross country athletes. Other than the high mileage, I would say the hardest part of XC is having to run alone, especially during our summer training months with quarantine; while it can be relaxing at times, cross country is a team sport and having teammates to talk and do workouts with fosters a positive environment that, at least for me, makes me want to show up to practice and run every day.

How has the team been practicing with the COVID restrictions?

We’re in a very fortunate situation – we’re a small team and Jackson, my co-captain, and I made sure to reach out to Coach Newman and the athletic staff weeks before returning to campus with plans on how to safely conduct unofficial training sessions until official practices began a week ago. I may need to be fact checked on this, but I believe we were the first SLU team that was able to conduct captains’ practices with permission from the school. Now that official practices are underway, we’re following many of the same procedures that we used for our captains’ practices in addition to University guidelines: we’ve divided the team into two training groups, always carry masks with us on our runs, check our temperature every day, and make sure to fill out the co-verified daily symptoms check before entering our locker room.

What’s your advice to beginner runners?

If your heart’s in it, never give up. I was late to the game with running long distance for my athletic career, and I wish I took to the time early on to do some outside research about what

worked for me. Running is a hard sport, and it can be frustrating when you don’t see results early on. Trust the process, talk to experienced runners to come up with a personalized training plan, and you will see results over time.

If you could go out for a run anywhere in the world, where would it be?

South Island, New Zealand. I’m a huge Lord of the Rings fan and the paths along lakefronts and through the mountains are ideal for trail running.