The confession of an untold track story...
In lieu of a running post...cause ya know...I'm taking it easy right now and all...I sit here icing my ankle with a fun little story for all y'all campers...so enjoy.
Way back in the days of my freshman year of high school...I ran track. Sorta. It was more or less something to do in the cheerleading off season. And basically the extent of my "running career" before I had the brilliant idea to run a marathon last August.
The Track Coach, Coach Hudson, thought all cheerleaders were great jumpers (cause well...we were...most of us at least). So yours was crafted into hurdle runner extraordinaire...200 meters if you will. And then every one on the team did the 100 meter run.
I could tell you about the time where I managed to catch my foot on the hurdle and went tumbling forward...or how Kellye and I tried to ditch practice and got caught red-handed by the team trainer...but hurdles and I...we were semi-friends. It was a love-hate relationship. When we were on...we were ON. But when I sucked...oooof...I was the comic relief for the whole team.
But enough about that. I'm going to tell you about my worst race ever...
It was toward the end of the season...I was feeling burnt out on the traditional 200 meter hurdle event and coach suggested I test the water in some different events during the last 3 meets. I tried the shot put (eh...no thanks, I totally throw like a girl)...but when one of the JV team's "star" athletes came down with mono after a tragic make out incident with the star of the soccer team (it was tragic because three other girls came down with mono from the same guy)...so yah...super fast sprinting runner chick was out...and I was in...
...the freakin 800.
Are you kidding me? 800 was a long ass way for this chick to go. At that time you might as well have asked me to run 5 miles. Anything over 200 in a race...was simply unfathomable to me.
I remember what the track looked like to a T....but I can't recall where the meet was at. Nor do I remember who else from my team was in my heat. But I do remember the race itself...and it's the only race I remember of the whole damn season. Partly because I am so effing ridiculous...and it's arguably the lamest thing I've ever done.
So the gun goes off...and me, being in 200m mode...I just start out super fast and go balls to the wall hard. The first 300 is going well. I've managed to pull out in the lead...by a considerable distance. And by considerable...I'm thinking 8 yards-ish (which in HS track can be considered considerable). I hit the start line and I can hear all of my friends going nuts. I still remember Danny and Kellye and Randy running down the side of the track screaming their heads off at me.
Meters 500-700 are a blur. I remember nausea and dizziness set in and I lost steam. And I got passed. Passed by the fast kids...the medium speed kids...and before I'd let the slow kids pass me...something happened...I passed out. I literally pulled over to the side of the track with about 100 meters to go, bent over with my hands on my knees, and basically toppled over. First Danny and Kellye rushed over with Coach Hudson shortly thereafter. I don't remember too much of the conversation...something about what I ate the night before and how coach thought we'd found my event...whatever that's supposed to mean.
So yeah...about my confession. While I did indeed feel dizzy and nauseus and on the verge of hyperventilating...what really pissed me off was that I was going to potentially get fast by some really slow folks. So, I...uh..."passed out" ...ya follow my drift? There was no real black out...it was me...pulling a really sad, pathetic whining act. Too pissed off to admit defeat. So I completely and totally bailed on the race.
There.
I admit it.
I bailed.
...and coming clean after 10 years surprisingly feels good.
But I know that no matter how slow I may be...no matter how pissed I am that people are passing me...no matter how much I want to throw in the towel...
...I will NEVER bail again.
(nor will I ever start out way too fast again.)
Way back in the days of my freshman year of high school...I ran track. Sorta. It was more or less something to do in the cheerleading off season. And basically the extent of my "running career" before I had the brilliant idea to run a marathon last August.
The Track Coach, Coach Hudson, thought all cheerleaders were great jumpers (cause well...we were...most of us at least). So yours was crafted into hurdle runner extraordinaire...200 meters if you will. And then every one on the team did the 100 meter run.
I could tell you about the time where I managed to catch my foot on the hurdle and went tumbling forward...or how Kellye and I tried to ditch practice and got caught red-handed by the team trainer...but hurdles and I...we were semi-friends. It was a love-hate relationship. When we were on...we were ON. But when I sucked...oooof...I was the comic relief for the whole team.
But enough about that. I'm going to tell you about my worst race ever...
It was toward the end of the season...I was feeling burnt out on the traditional 200 meter hurdle event and coach suggested I test the water in some different events during the last 3 meets. I tried the shot put (eh...no thanks, I totally throw like a girl)...but when one of the JV team's "star" athletes came down with mono after a tragic make out incident with the star of the soccer team (it was tragic because three other girls came down with mono from the same guy)...so yah...super fast sprinting runner chick was out...and I was in...
...the freakin 800.
Are you kidding me? 800 was a long ass way for this chick to go. At that time you might as well have asked me to run 5 miles. Anything over 200 in a race...was simply unfathomable to me.
I remember what the track looked like to a T....but I can't recall where the meet was at. Nor do I remember who else from my team was in my heat. But I do remember the race itself...and it's the only race I remember of the whole damn season. Partly because I am so effing ridiculous...and it's arguably the lamest thing I've ever done.
So the gun goes off...and me, being in 200m mode...I just start out super fast and go balls to the wall hard. The first 300 is going well. I've managed to pull out in the lead...by a considerable distance. And by considerable...I'm thinking 8 yards-ish (which in HS track can be considered considerable). I hit the start line and I can hear all of my friends going nuts. I still remember Danny and Kellye and Randy running down the side of the track screaming their heads off at me.
Meters 500-700 are a blur. I remember nausea and dizziness set in and I lost steam. And I got passed. Passed by the fast kids...the medium speed kids...and before I'd let the slow kids pass me...something happened...I passed out. I literally pulled over to the side of the track with about 100 meters to go, bent over with my hands on my knees, and basically toppled over. First Danny and Kellye rushed over with Coach Hudson shortly thereafter. I don't remember too much of the conversation...something about what I ate the night before and how coach thought we'd found my event...whatever that's supposed to mean.
So yeah...about my confession. While I did indeed feel dizzy and nauseus and on the verge of hyperventilating...what really pissed me off was that I was going to potentially get fast by some really slow folks. So, I...uh..."passed out" ...ya follow my drift? There was no real black out...it was me...pulling a really sad, pathetic whining act. Too pissed off to admit defeat. So I completely and totally bailed on the race.
There.
I admit it.
I bailed.
...and coming clean after 10 years surprisingly feels good.
But I know that no matter how slow I may be...no matter how pissed I am that people are passing me...no matter how much I want to throw in the towel...
...I will NEVER bail again.
(nor will I ever start out way too fast again.)
posted by Iron Jayhawk at 9:36 PM
11 Camper Comments:
OMG...that's nothing compared to my story from back in 4th grade running the 480 m - all by myself. UGH! That's before I found out that I had asthma and the last one in my class who they picked to do it. UGH!!
That was a good story.
For what it's worth, I think we are all automaticly excused from everything we did in high school.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure all of us have done some pretty silly things in high school. Plus, you can hold your head up high with the fact you didn't join those other girls with the mono problem. :-)
You did that? You?!?! No way! Oh well, the past is the past. You've conquered the marathon; an 800 is cake now. Great story girl!
awesome awesome story.
i don't even HAVE a story like that beacuse i didn't even TRY anything like that!
I actually did pass out in track when I was in middle school -- back in the day when I thought I needed to be much thinner (the crazies of those ween-teen years), and I used to always skip lunch: Sorry, Mom, but I used to throw my lunch in the garbage everyday.
Anyway, one day after an hour and a half of practice and very little food to last the entire day, I passed out after a one mile run -- thunk! Just toppled over into the grass.
After that, I always ate my lunch.
Oh you didn't! You are a brave girl to be admiting to it now. But, I agree that we are all excused from our high school years. We all did silly things back then.
Sounds like my biking experience...only I didn't fake it... so, it's not really, except the part about never bailing again. We have this ENORMO hill by my house & it beat me last week (I had to push the bike up). It will not be doing that again. OK, so it's a stretch, but great story!
Oh...that was in highschool honey. And think of how wonderful you are now!!!
nice post. and i do believe that we are all excused from our high school schnanigans.
Oh My! That is too funny!
All along, as I was reading, I was recalling an incident in jr.high track... I was running the 1600 by choice and on the first lap there was not one, but TWO hurdles left in my lane !! I had no choice but to hurdle them as we had to finish the first lap before we could cut into the inside. I ended up with 2nd and at the end of the meet, after gorging on a big burger, they asked if I wanted to re-run the race! No thanks. :)
Post a Comment
<< Home