It was a cold, rainy Thursday afternoon at The Valley, Nov. 19 to be exact. The football team was practicing on the turf, basketball team conditioning inside. Usually the track is vacant during this part of the year because is between seasons for cross country and winter track.

Last Thursday though, there was a small green lawn table set up on the track full of red solo cups. The contents of the cups: chocolate milk. Runners lined the track to complete their final mile as a team, dubbed the “chocolate milk mile.”

The cross country runners started the race with a cup of chocolate milk. As they circled the track, they drank a cup in between each lap and continued to run. At the end of one mile (four laps), the runners sat for a minute. If the runner threw up anytime during the race or during the final minute, his or her time was automatically thrown out and disqualified.

Among the competitors was Pascack Valley Chemistry teacher and winter track coach Anthony Judilla, who received the silver medal to junior John Coyle. Judilla said that, “ [The mile] felt great. The rain and temperature made things much more difficult, and nothing’s fun if it’s not challenging.”

The Smoke Signal’s own Evan Jones though, felt very different about the race, As one of the last ones to finish, Jones is notoriously known among his teammates for getting sick while running, even if there is no chocolate milk involved. In fact, Jones threw up on the last lap, but did not let it out until the mile and the one minute rest period was up.

“I felt very bad running the mile. The chocolate milk gets heavy on your stomach,” Jones said, “The hardest part is trying not to throw up.”

All the runners agreed that the mile didn’t feel exactly peachy. Senior Zak Terzini explained his feeling going through the mile, “The first half just felt like a regular cramp and the second half felt awful. I was doubled over at the end.”

Senior Noah Malik agreed that the ending was definitely the hardest part, “My spleen was about to explode and all I could taste was milk in my mouth just curing. “

Coyle came out victorious, not getting sick and finishing the race with ease. Stunning the competition, Judilla ran away with the silver medal, beating many of the runners that probably haven’t run in a few weeks.

The “chocolate milk mile” was the last mile that the group would run together for this season. It sure was a hard, sickly mile for some, but it was not regretted by any.

Malik was the most poetic about the mile and said, “I do it for my team, my school, my family and my country. God Bless the U.S.A.”

Claudia Ralph
Claudia Ralph
Claudia Ralph
Claudia Ralph
Claudia Ralph
Claudia Ralph