Another Running…

Did you think I was running away from home again? Nope, this is a completely different running I am happy to write about.

In early spring I tried out for my junior high school track team and was selected to be one of the long-distance runners for my grade level. I was so surprised to be selected since my confidence in my abilities was still challenged, but it was evolving thanks to my improvement in my bowling skills.

I participated in the tryout on a whim because my friend said that I should. He knew I needed to do something to help me recover from the trauma of running away the way I did and being held in a detention facility that sacred me into nightmares of being assaulted and abused again.

And for me to be selected for the track team was an achievement beyond my comprehension. I was thrilled to represent my school.

In the 1970’s, junior high school long-distance running was primarily the one mile run and the half-mile run. I was told by my coach that I would be running both distances in my grade group.

I remember telling my mom about making the team and she was happy for me. I think she was also surprised that I was going to be a long-distance runner. I think I was too.

After making the track team I counted the days until practice began. I looked forward to beginning my training. I think I was ready for this new adventure.

One the first day of practice, I remember the coaches calling out our names and which group we were going to be in. Our long-distance coach gathered his group and then took all of us out to designated area to begin training.

My practice group was a very small group and consisted of eight graders and ninth graders. No seventh graders tried out. We were known as the milers and half milers.

At the start of each practice season, we did a lot of stretching, leg exercises, crunches, and breathing exercises. I know, it sounds boring, but it did help me, especially the breathing exercises. I did not know how important breathing was in long distance running but I did begin to master it quickly.

As the track practices intensified, I became my school’s best mile and half-mile runner. This helped my confidence explode and I was noticed not only by my fellow track teammates, but the girls who watched our practices as well from the grass hill.

As the weeks of practice progressed, I could not wait for our first track meet. I was getting excited about competing against other runners.

And then the team was given our official school track uniforms. My assigned number was 21, Blackjack.

Several weeks before our first official track meet our coaches scheduled a joint practice meet with another junior high school. They had some very good and exceptionally fast runners that I would be competing against. I just didn’t know how good they were.  But I would soon learn.

As we rode the bus to our joint practice meet, I was having visions of winning my two races. This is something that I really wanted to do. For me, it was all about becoming a champion. That was becoming a dream of mine, to be celebrated.

As we prepared for the first race, which was the mile run, I looked over the field of runners. I then learned who the favored runner was.

It wasn’t me.

There was this other boy who was a little shorter than me in height and he was the favored. I didn’t know why. I had longer legs.

All of us mile runners were called to the starting line. I knew my strategy for running the mile and I was ready to go.

The starters pistol fired and we began our run.

It would be four laps around the track. I remember the first lap being close and I was comfortably in the main group. This was the same standing for the second and third laps.

And then the fourth lap began.

As I began to add speed to my stride, so did he, the favored runner. And then he just broke away from the main group.

I added more speed and again so did he. But he was much faster than me. As he crossed the finish line, I was close to twenty feet behind him.

I finished in second place.

It was a good race, and I knew that I would need to improve my running skills to compete with him at the big track meet where all the junior high school track teams would be competing.

I remember thinking that I need to beat this boy if I want to be celebrated at my school.

When the weekend of the big meet came, I felt ready. I had been working extra hard for weeks and had gained speed in my running. This meant that my time was improving.

All the runners for the mile competition gathered at a specific area for pre-run stretching and warmups. I saw the boy who had beat me at the practice event. He was my target for the day. I kept telling myself that I can beat him.

Time for the race.

We took our positions. I practiced my breathing and shook my arms to loosen up.

The starter pistol fired shortly after the notice to get ready was given. The race began.

Once again, my strategy was to not lead the group of runners, but to stay in the middle of the pack and develop a pace that I was comfortable with. The other boy who previously beat me was doing the exact same strategy.

Laps one, two and three we never changed positions. We were consistently side-by-side. And then came lap four.

About halfway through the fourth lap I began I increase my speed, and so did he. We were still side-by-side and were now leading the group. With a little less than one quarter lap remaining his speed increased. I increased my speed, but he was moving faster than I could.

He crossed the finish line first and I finished second. He beat me again by around twenty feet.

He was faster now than our previous race.

After the race I congratulated him and praised his running skills.

That same day I went on to finish third in the half mile run competition. I think I lost a bit of my energy running in the mile race. I gave it everything I had.

Being on the track team and finishing in the top tiers was one of the high points of my young life. And this season did bring me back to being happy. While I did not become a champion, I did regain a level of confidence that I sorely needed.

As track season ended, I knew the school year was nearly over. Summer vacation was nearing and that all important tanning season would start. Once again, I planned my days at the pool with the two brothers and the weekends hanging out at the bowling alley.

And of course, my favorite, Wednesday night all you can eat pizza at Pizza Hut.

While I never made the champions pedestal as a long-distance runner, I could say that I was always pushing to get there. And there was an important lesson I learned being on the track team in a sport where the individual needs to shine.

And my new internal maxim would be, “No matter what the challenge is, never give up.”

What is interesting is that I had already learned this maxim when I was ten years old, I just forgot it.

Now, when I am competing against others, all I need to do is just look at my left arm and remember that challenge to save my arm. And all the effort I put out to make sure I could always use my left arm the way my friends did.

I now felt that I could become a real champion one day. My new confidence tells me to just do it.

And I will…

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