Conclusion

This blog was a great opportunity to reflect on myself and a culture that I have become deeply imbedded within. The track and field culture is a vast group of people with a common goal à to succeed. An athlete is not easily defined, but I feel a sense of camaraderie when I meet another track athlete, even if our events and personalities are completely different. “We bleed the blood, in the same mud” as my coach told us during the season. We all know the hardships one another goes through in this sport and we all know the benefits and rewards that result from those hardships. Through this blog I have gained a better understanding of why these rewards are as satisfying as they are and also a better understanding of how my body and mind functions. This blog was a great experience that has allowed me to further understand a large part of my life, which I love. I have also gained a larger appreciation for the athletes and coaches which this lifestyle is involved with. The level of dedication and effort I have witnessed is nothing less than spectacular. I have come to realize what is important to me about running, and I even think that I have found ways to make myself faster and stronger. In this sport which requires more guts and determination, every athlete that I meet inspires me, and every one of them makes me want to give it my all.

Heart

To go along with what I said about there being a true team, a true team cannot exist without heart. A successful track athlete cannot exist without heart. Success in my mind is not measured in first or second, but in self worth and self improvement. If you can find a goal and you can hit that goal or surpass it, then you have succeeded. But the goal has to be realistic, and one that you have to work for, one that requires heart. My senior year I was in bad shape, both literally and figuratively. Senior slump was hitting me twice as hard as everyone else, I was stressed about applying to college, and I would literally get sick from anxiety and I wouldn’t be able to practice. I was in the worst running shape that I had even been in during high school, and I was only able to make it to 4 out 5 practices a week at the max, and I could only get through about 3 of them a week without cramping or throwing up. I was an ugly sight. Yet somehow I was able to run the fastest I ever had. I dropped time in every one of my events with the worst running form I had ever had, I even set a new school record while i was as it . I was sloppy and weak, and yet I did the unthinkable and improved myself. My only explanation was that I was running off “heart”. I knew it couldn’t have been that I was stronger. I had originally thought it was because I knew how to run better and thus my form was better. Pff yea right, after watching myself run I realized I had taken about 10 steps back with my running form. But I couldn’t allow myself to do poorly because everyone was counting on me. My team high school team may not have seemed like a real team but they were friends and they were counting on me to lead them. I realized that it was this determination that allowed to me to push my body passed its current limits. After coming here and thinking back I realized that if I could get to that same point, minus the misery, but with the same heart, now that I have a team to push me, and now that I’m in the best shape of my life, that I can accomplish great things. I found that every one of the track athletes that I have competed with and against here in college, has given it their all, they have pushed it to the limit with body, mind, and heart.

Team dynamics

When you think of track, team sport doesn’t usually come to mind. Why? Is it because almost every event is individualized? Well I used to not feel as though it was a team sport, well I thought I did but I hadn’t realized what a team was. In high school I ran track for 4 years. Cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track, 3 seasons of sports every year. Each year I found myself making a strong bond with only about 3 or 4 of my teammates at a time. This was because we were the relay team. Some of my fondest memories from high school track were from the relay team my sophomore year. I felt this way because this group was the small part my high school team that was there to run. The ones that had the will to do what it took. My senior year I found myself without this group. Although my team had over 150 runners, I found myself to be the only one that was truly dedicated to track, and I couldn’t form my group of friends that had formed in years past. When I was looking at schools Wheaton stood out among the rest a lot for me because of its track team. When I came here I realized what a team really was. In high school the team was maybe made up of 10 kids, men and women combined. Sure, there were +150 runners in the program, but they were there because it was somewhere to be. Here at Wheaton I realized, everyone that was here wanted to be here because they wanted to run. They wanted to run on a team with other athletes as dedicated to the sport as they were. A track team is made up of dedicated, hard-working, with a common goal in sight. My high school team had no goal. My senior year, in my district championship meet, I had what was probably the most heart breaking moment of my track career. I heard the overall scores announced and our women’s team had won the championship, and the men’s team had come in 5^th place. Correction, I had come in 5^th place. I was the only person to score points on my team. I watched as the women jumped up and down screaming grabbing their trophy and even how the winning mens team did the same. I saw maybe one or two men on my team who were disappointed that we lost. It nearly made me cry, because I realized that the girls were a true team, and out of my 4 years and 12 seasons of running, I had and never would experience that in high school. I nearly gave up on track which had become the center of my life throughout school, and I was only going to try and use track to get into school and not take it seriously once I got there. That was until I visited this school and found a true team that I could be a part of.

Vastness of Track

I have come to realize that there is no simple way to define a track and field athlete, because track and field athletes come in all shapes and sizes. Tall and skinny, short and stocky, average and toned, large and strong, if ever there was a sport for everyone, track and field would be it (as long as everyone is willing to work). In each event there is an ideal build, but this ideal build doesn’t work for everyone. It is the ideal build for one person in one event so that they can fully reach their potential. As a 400m runner I see a wide range of athletes just in my event. Tall, short, stocky, skinny, distance runners, short sprinters, mid distance runners, long sprinters, being the longest sprint, a quarter mile around the track takes more than a fast pair of legs. I have seen runners be any where from 110 to 220 pounds and run the 400m dash. Some of them will do better then others and some already have. The great part about track is, someone who is mediocre in one event could be amazing in another. Just this past weekend, a girl on my team was put into the steeplechase, a 3000m race with horse jumps in your way. She had never done it before, and she was put into it so that our team could try and score some points towards the championship. She ended up getting second overall at the NEWMAC championship meet in an event that she had never even looked at. Needless to say, every one was impressed.

Why We Do It – The Runner's High

“If you have to ask us why we run, then you will never know”. Although the majority of my high school thought this was one of the worst, most nonsensical quotes they had seen, it makes more sense then they could imagine. When people ask me why I run, I truly don’t know how to answer them. I used to say “it’s because I’m good at it.” But for me that couldn’t be it. I’m not alone in this respect. Many track athletes hate running, but they love it at the same time.

“The will to win is nothing without the will to prepare”

I believe this quote, sums it up fairly accurately. As track athletes we love to compete, we love to win, we love to sprint, we love to fly, but we hate to run. I cannot imagine that there are many people out there who say “I want to work myself really hard in practice, but I don’t want to race or anything”. Even during a race, you can be in a miserable amount of pain, but you struggle to beat the guy next to you, or you push yourself to beat that next time. And you thought it was bad during the race. Just wait till you cross the finish line. BAM! Slap to the face, punch in the chest, and enough acid in your stomach and muscles to disintegrate a shoe. And then they call your time, and you realize that you have just got a personal best by a half a second, and suddenly you’re on cloud 9. I’ve never been so happy about a period of time that small in my entire life. Even if I just ran so hard that I made myself sick, nothing can bring me down because I’m floating on thin air.

Tolerance

As runners, training is constant, and as a result so is pain, soreness and exhaustion. I used to believe that as you get into better shape, the pain and soreness isn’t as severe, but what I have come to realize is that it’s always there. In fact, it probably doesn’t get better, but worse. What makes me believe and feel that my body isn’t in pain? Experience. Through experience my body has learned to numb out some of the aches and pains that accompany running.

When I stop and think about it for a moment I realize, that I don’t just ache a little bit in one spot. I feel like a big, black and blue mess from head to toe. An achy shoulder which pops with certain motions, a constant ache from two previously broken big toes that never fully healed because of running, tender shins that even when lightly poked can cause excruciating pain, knots in the outsides of my calves, burning in my chest from hard breathing in cold weather. The list could go on, yet on the average day, the list doesn’t even exist. Why don’t I feel the pain? I believe it’s because none of it is harmful to my health and wellbeing.

Over time as a runner, my body and mind has been trained to let me know what feels bad, and what feels really bad, and then what feels not so bad. It has taken the lesser two and simply crossed them out. By experience I have learned what feelings are simply uncomfortable, but will not affect my running and what feelings are signals to stop. In the end the tolerance and experience we gain is all worth it. The hard work pays off and results are there.

Sleep

6am practice. 8am lifting. 5am bus time. All reasons why, as a track athlete, the “all nighter” is out of the question. The average person requires about 8 hours of sleep per night. An athlete needs at least this much in accommodation for muscle recovery and general exhaustion. Time management plays a crucial role in the success of college athletes. Much like eating habits, sleeping habits play a large role in how an athlete may perform. Marking the time to sleep as well as engaging in all of the other activities during your average day can be a tricky task. When you are tired and under-rested, your body is at its most vulnerable. A lack of sleep can hinder the bodies recovery after a workout, and will also leave you ill-prepared for the next, thus increasing the chance of injury two fold. Track coupled with a college workload can provide a killer schedule. This means that on top of being a hard worker both on and off the track, athletes must have good time management skills. It is hard enough to do well with one of the two, but in order to do well in both, athletes must be well rested. Whether it’s knowing when to get ready for an event, or knowing where you have gaps in your schedule to fill up with work so that you can get to bed early, athletes need to have further discipline in order to protect their bodies, and succeed in both competition and academics.

Food

Food –> 8000 calories a day. That’s about how much I consume. How do you eat so much and not get fat? I hear this question far to often to wonder why myself. The answer: I burn off all the calories. Being a track athlete as I have learned, is one of the toughest and most demanding of endeavors. One of my favorite quotes about track, especially because it pertains to my event, was by a professional football coach, which one I forget but he said something along the lines of “the most difficult thing I’ve ever seen someone do, was sprint 400m all the way around the track.” In track we push ourselves to the limit everyday, and work every part of our bodies. The result: an appetite equal to that of a grizzly bear. But with this ferocious appetite and highly demanding training, making the choice to eat that burger or piece of cake becomes much more than just deciding you’re in the mood for something tasty. It becomes the decision of increasing the possibility of injury. Due to the high level of strain, and constant trauma we put into our bodies, as track athletes we have to by more aware of our eating habits. I used to believe that because of my increased metabolism I could eat anything and it wouldn’t affect me. This is only partially correct. Sure I may not put on any weight, but an unhealthy diet can have devastating results. A poor diet can increase the chance of injuring oneself. Pulling, tearing, bruising, breaking, and straining a muscle can be the end of an athlete’s career. Earlier this year I witnessed two of our athletes pull their hamstrings before our indoor season had even started, and a third athlete during our first indoor track meet. The first two were unable to fully recover over the 7 month season, and the third was able to return for the beginning of the outdoor season, only to re-injure himself the first day. He was out for the whole season.

Sprinters VS Distance Runners

Inside the track & field cultures there is a often times a distinct difference between the personalities of distance runners and sprinters. Quite naturally, their personalities match their running style. Sprinters run all out, all the time, quick sharp and powerful movements, mirroring their mentality, often times being ADD, sprinters are usually quick thinking, witty and hyper, talking and moving around at a fast pace. Distance runners are usually a little more laid back, often times acting upon thought out logic as opposed to acting on impulse and emotion. The difference can even be measured down to body structure, heart rate, and habits. For example my brother is a distance runner, even when he is not in shape, his resting heart rate is around 45-50 beats per minute. My resting heart rate even when I am in top shape, is around 75-85 beats per minute. This leads me to believe that sprinters are naturally more on edge, naturally veering towards fast twitch actions, and having quicker reaction times. This would explain the hyper attitude as well, as opposed to a more laid back and relaxed attitude. I have found this to be true not just within my family but within the track teams I have been involved in and also those of friends and competitors. During my 4 years of track and field and also cross country in high school I met many runners from other schools, and became friends with several of them. I found that most of them fit into the molds of sprinters and distance runners fairly accurately. One of the few exceptions to this that I have come across in my experience as a runner, is a one of my teammates from high school. She ran sprinting events, and loved them but didn't quite feel right running sprinting events. Even in college, she found that she didn't fit in the other sprinters on the team, and that they didn't really accept her into their group. She has now discovered a passion for distance running and competes in long distance races. After discussing with her why she didn't think that she got along with the sprinters and why she got along so well with the distance runners I asked "maybe its because you are truly a distance runner at heart?". My friend now wants to rejoin her track team as a distance runner, which she believes she will enjoy much more.

Black Dominance in Track

In my blog I wish to further my understanding of Track & Field culture, and also the basis for several Track & Field stereotypes. My own experiences in track and field have sparked my interest for finding out more about its culture. When I run, I don't think about my surroundings, who I'm racing, or what the other runners times are like. I think about how I want to beat my last time, and run faster than I have before. When I ran in high school, I found myself an outsider in this respect. Most of the runners on my team would look at everyone they were running against and size themselves up against the competition. I found that the competitors most feared were the black runners. I would win a race and be happy about my time, but some of the praise I would receive from teammates wouldn't be about my time or simply my victory but it would be "wow you were the only guy in your heat that wasn't black" or "you beat the black kids!". I thought of these comments as offensive and ignorant. I didn't like the connotation of the white kid who is faster than the black kids, and I also disagreed with the assumption that just because they are black, that the other runners were faster. Even as a senior after I had distinguished myself as the fastest runner in our district in several events, my teammates were still amazed that I was faster than the runners of a different skin color. Underclassman would even approach me and say "i have a bunch of black kids in my heat, I'm going to get smoked" and other such comments. By this point I had noticed that the majority of the top sprinters were black athletes, but I still didn't believe that that was the cause for their success. If people merely looked past color, they would notice that the top athletes were all in phenomenal shape, regardless of skin color. They are amazing athletes who have worked above and beyond the rest to achieve a status of greatness.