They cycle of life is a perplexing concept. At first, you are under the care of your parents, but of course in the end you act as a caretaker for them. One thing that all people fear, is going backwards and becoming dependant as you were as a small child. In The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the title character progresses through life in exactly that way.
As a runner, I fear going backwards as much as anybody. To be able to go fast at one time and not as fast the next is a scary thought. One thing people often say about the sport that they like is that it is a race against the clock and your own personal record. What they seldom consider, is what happens if you lose?
As a junior last year, I ran the Catholic Memorial Invitational course in an eye opening 16:27. This is a highly respectable time, especially considering the limited competition since we were mistakenly placed in the small school race that year. I finish cross country well and had respectable seasons on the track as well. In the meantime, I worked into the best shape of my life this summer, only to have it all go to waste due to a leg injury. I spent quite a bit of time on the shelf, not able to participate in key workouts or push myself to full tilt. The result is that this weekend I ran an equally as eye opening 17:23 on the same course. That is the second slowwest I have ever run there, only faster than my first race on the course from my freshman year when I was 14 years old. Last year's time drew attention for how impressive it is; this year's was alarming to a lot of people. I am seeing a doctor to try and get it worked out, but for now I am less worried about moving forward as I am about preventing falling further back.
No comments:
Post a Comment