Track

The other day I was in the back seat of Glenn’s car while we drove to a BU Mini Meet with Cody and Tanner. Cody is 20 years old and new to running. Like many newbies, he’s totally in love with the sport and wants to do as many cool running things as he can. He was talking about doing a Tough Mudder and I had to chime in with my opinion. I let him know that I thought those events were kind of a gimmick and not that tough. I told him that I’ve run 50 miles on rugged trails and I’ve done mountain races and trail races. But we were heading to do the toughest thing a person can do…compete in a track race.

How can track be the toughest thing one can do? Well, it’s the only running race where we demand absolute perfection from ourselves every time. We’re looking to run personal records every time we step on the track. We’re trying to beat the clock. Tenths and hundredths of a second become crucial. The clock never lies. Especially in indoors, there is no blaming the weather for a slow time, or the course was long or muddy or wet or poorly marked…etc. We need to be perfect in our warm up, in our pre-race nutrition, and our tactics during the race. Don’t go out too fast or too slow. Don’t get boxed in. Don’t run in lane two more than necessary. Don’t seed yourself with too slow or too fast a time, so you get in the perfect heat. It all is important.

At that meet later in the day, I was gunning for my lifetime p.r. in the 800m of 1:58.0. I ran a strong race, winning my heat in 1:58.22. I was very happy. If I had run 23 hundredths of a second faster, I would have been ecstatic. How’s that for tough. Where could I have gotten those 23 hundredths? Should I have started my kick earlier? Should I have gotten out faster in the beginning? Was I just not fit enough? Will I ever break 1:58? Or is that the best I’ve got?

Track is tough. I have more nerves and anxiety waiting to do a mile race than I do running a marathon. I could rig and finish dead last in my heat totally embarrassing myself or run perfectly and still not set a p.r. A lot of people do marathons, and ultras, and obstacle races, but not many have the guts to toe the starting line on the oval. I salute any one that has the stones to give track racing a try and I’m looking forward to my next track race. I’ll find out how tough I really am.