More than any other sport, cross-country running is the most like life.
Every race is different. There are no monotonous tracks offering identical conditions.
Life and cross-country tracks are full of bumps, hills and uneven terrain.
Daniele Riendeau is having success at races, and, according to her coach Jonus Holdeman, is also doing well at life.
Riendeau, a junior, recently won her first individual title at the Harrier Classic in Boston, Mass. For her effort she was also honored as Conference USA's Cross Country Athlete of the Week.
A 5K runner for Memphis, she hasn't been running all that long.
"I started running really late," Riendeau said. "I started running when I was only 17, competitively. And I really took it seriously when I got to college."
Holdeman still recruited her even though she wasn't an experienced distance runner.
However, running is just one aspect of each recruit.
"She's a scholar athlete in the classroom and very involved in extra-curricular activities," Holdeman said. "So she's a really well-rounded person, which is the kind of person we try to recruit."
The feeling of promise was mutual between Riendeau and Holdeman.
For Riendeau it was Holdeman's program and his personal skills that attracted her to The U of M.
"I like his training methods and program," she said. "He sort of focuses on more distance and more mileage. I just felt like he knew what he was doing. I also just like how he treated me as a person than just a runner."
The person that Holdeman met on Riendeau's trip to Memphis was one of intensity, which carries over to the track and in her everyday life.
"She's really intense most of the time, and, like I said, her competitive persona as a runner mirrors that," he said. "She's just a person that doesn't like to lose. If anything my job, as her coach, is to get her to lower her intensity somewhat, to achieve better balance in her life, running, school and all that other stuff."
In the last two seasons Riendeau has been the team's top finisher in eight of the last nine races.
Last week's 5K win for Riendeau in Boston vaulted the Lady Tigers to a second-place finish, the highest for the team in the last four years in non-dual meets.
The reason for her success is obvious to Holdeman, and one of the reasons is her late start.
"She has done the work required to excel," he said. "She came in running a relatively low number of miles. Over the last two years she's steadily increased the number of miles she has run, which we know is one of the key factors in becoming a good endurance athlete."
All athletes take tolls on their body with training and competition and fortunately for Riendeau she's avoided major problems.
"She's done it smart without suffering major injuries," Holdeman said. "We've had occasional setbacks here and there, but nothing that has kept her from training or competing consistently."
Another factor for Riendeau's and he team's success is when and where they train.
Running in hot and humid Memphis allows the team to perform better in cooler climates.
"We go and run in a cooler environment, that's when it really shows," said Holdeman.
In Boston, Riendeau beat her personal 5K best by 30 seconds and has beaten her personal best in two of the four meets this year. Her 5K time was 17:54 and it was 72 degrees, according to Holdeman.
The improvement between races and between seasons gives Riendeau hope that she can complete her ultimate goal either this year or next.
I'd really like to go to nationals," she said.
