Days gone by...

[Double]

We roll into Mohawk High School on a blustery spring day for a dual meet.  We mostly stay in the bus as the wind is cold and howling.  The opposing coach comes in and asks if we want to contest the 2 mile relay or pass.  Our coach informs him it is mandatory this year.  No love lost there.  They want to conserve every point they can and maintain their 71 straight dual meet wins at home record.  They have the horses as they are a strong distance team, but we have a couple good 440 - 880 guys who can haul the mail, me and my little brother.

My brother is concerned running the third leg, but we remind him that is their weakest leg.  Get as close to 2:10 as you can and let Miller turn the jets on from the anchor.

I lead off with a 2:06 over the cinder track and stay within 1-2 seconds of Murphy.  I see it is windy as hell and wonder how the heck am I going to beat his fresh brother in the mile about 20 minutes later.  My brother does his job well and hands off to Miller about 5 seconds back.  Miller anchors a 2:00 flat and barely nips Marvola at the line.  Put those 5 point in the bank. 

The mile comes.  A few of us are still hung over from the relay.  We are the poorest distance team in the tri-county, but I lay out a plan.  I am purposely going to try and keep the pace slow.  I instruct our tattered team of 5:20 - 5:30 milers that they are to stay with the lead pack to the half...no excuses.  Then I want every single one of them to sprint to the lead and hold it for as long as they can.  I will lead the charge out ahead and you fight them off as long as you can.  If I win, we all win.  Make them crawl around you.  I also lie and tell them Murphy told me he has run more miles than our school buses this year.

This mostly works, but freakin' Murphy (the fresher one) is coming like he has a nuclear accelerator on his back.  I am usually oblivious to any yelling at this point, but Linton from the sidelines somehow screams that I have to sprint with 110y to go or all is lost.  I hit the tape and when I do, Murphy blows by.  Bank us 5 more points, but they do get 4 for 2nd and 3rd.

The meet is close.  We match up well with them.  I know, I had the pen and paper out the day before and simulated a mock meet.  We have to win the relays and I have to win everything I run.

The 2 mile is lackluster.  The ten mile track workouts pay off.  I win going away and they seem content knowing they will easily take 2nd and 3rd.

The outcome of the meet comes to the mile relay.  Traditionally we are strong here.  However, our ecclectic mix of 440 - 880 guys means they have been working all day.  In another to the tape race, we win and take down the streak.

On the way home, I thank Linton for screaming at me.  He said, "I knew we had them when they came marching out in military unison chanting '72...72...72."

[Ryan]

Priceless...

[cesar]

Ditto the above.

Double, you could write a book with all the experience you have.

[Ed]

He really should write a book.

[ksrunner]

I saw this marked as "New" again, and at first I thought that Double had posted another story. I enjoyed that story and would like to hear more if anyone else has some.

I'll share one of mine. The races in this story are not very dramatic, but in hind sight, there may have been more to this day than I realized.

During my time at high school, cross country was down. Most meets we did not field a full varsity team. They also started spring baseball and softball my sophomore year at high school, which fairly well decimated the track team. The track team was made up of few dedicated track and field athletes and a few people who were just there to get bit of exercise or maybe an easy letter. Most of the best athletes went out for baseball and softball. I think that my high school experiences would have been a bit richer if there had been more of a team atmosphere.

I was always a better track runner than cross country runner. I was in the middle of a very good season when we went to the Emporia meet my senior year. The cross country 5A state champion was in my league and I raced against him most weekends and so far, I was undefeated. We had never gone to the Emporia meet before, so I didn't know much about the competition. Going into this meet, we planned for me to triple in the 800, 1600, and 3200 so that we could gauge whether or not I might qualify for the state championships in all three events at the regional meet. Most meets, I only ran the 1600 and 3200 and a couple of times I ran a leg on the 3200m relay just for some added workout and perhaps to try to psyche out my rival. I am not really clear of the reason. Coach said to run it and I did. That race came immediately following the 3200m. We didn't have a competitive team, so there was no competitive reason for me to run.

After we got to the meet, my coach found me and told me that we were not going to triple that day. He'd been talking to the Emporia coach and found that the 6A state cross country champion was there. So, instead, we decided to run the 1600 and 3200 and go head-to-head with him.

I really don't recall a lot of detail about the races. The 1600m went pretty much according to my favorite script. I tucked in behind the leader and with 200m to go, I went around him and never looked back. As I recall, the race was less challenging than my almost weekly contests with my league rival.

A short time after the 1600m, my coach found me and told me, "Take it easy at the start of the 2-mile. Whatever you do, don't take the lead." This exchange was very odd. First, this advice was totally unnecessary. I never ran from the front unless I was clearly the fastest runner in the race, and it took someone pointing it out to me before I would think of myself as the clear favorite. Second, my coach had NEVER given me any race advice before. I didn't make much of it at the time though.

I didn't need to worry about taking the lead. When the race started, I was cut off by my teammate. It's a good thing that I am not a sprinter. I usually start slow. No one wanted to lead that first lap and as we come out of the turn at the top of the home stretch, I look at my coach in disgust as there is a lot of vertical bounce in my stride at this slow pace. Generally, the slower the pace the better for me, but this was ridiculous. My coach indicated that I could take the lead. So, I move out and take the lead as we complete the first lap. No sooner do I do that than the Emporia runner hurries past me and into the lead. The race is once again following my script. The race ended pretty much exactly like the first one and I remained undefeated on the season.

After the race, I hear more of the story from my coach. Apparently, the Emporia coach had told my coach, "We were hoping that Gomez (my league rival) would come to give [their runner whose name I don't recall] some competition." My coach told him that I'd beaten Gomez, but apparently their coach was unimpressed. My coach then came to tell me that we were not going to run the 800m. After the 1600m, my coach found the Emporia coach again and was told, "Well, the two-mile is really his best race." It must have been after this exchange that my coach found me to give me his advice for the 3200m.

I don't know what was said after the 3200m, but I cannot help but wonder if money might have exchanged hands. It's not that I think that coaches commonly bet on the outcomes of high school contests. It just appears to me in hind sight that there may have been more riding on this race than normal. Otherwise why would he feel the need to give me advice that was downright redundant. I don't even remember him giving me so much advice at the important meets like league, regionals, and state.

I'd love to read other's race stories. I probably have a few stories with more interesting races, but this is the first story that came to mind.

[Andrew A.]

Pretty cool! 

[Ryan]

Good story. I have so many stories I could tell but I'll start off with one of my earliest breakthrough race memories.

Freshman year high school, cross-country season. We had a good team and I had worked my way up through the JV ranks until I was on the verge of making Varsity. The week before Conference, I made a stupid mistake that cost me the Varsity spot for the Conference meet. I had one more shot to make Varsity. If I did, I would earn a letter as all team members who ran at the Sectional meet (Varsity only) got a letter.

Conference was in Barron that year, the home of our big distance running rivals and just up the road from us. Coach got clearance for us to preview the course a few days before the meet. He took I believe our top 9 or 10 runners. I was 8th or 9th at that point so I got to go. I knew going in that I was going to be hoping to lead the JV race by some point so I was paying very close attention to how the course was laid out, as well as visualizing myself leading the race nearly from the gun.

On race day, everything seemed right. If I recall correctly, it was a perfect day for a race. A sunny October day with cool temps and no wind. The varsity race was already completed so I knew what kind of time I needed but that didn't matter, I wasn't going to have splits on the course. I was just going to bust my butt and I'd know when I crossed the line whether or not I made the team. Knowing that the first turn, at around 100-150 meters, was a right turn and our team box was on the left side, I chose to start on the right side of the team box. As the gun went off, I started my usual way, hard but controlled. At about 100 meters, I looked to my left and saw a teammate off my shoulder and another off his shoulder. I looked to my right and saw...nobody. It looks like I'm already in the lead and my starting position choice worked out perfectly. As soon as we rounded that first corner, I was a step ahead of everyone.

Really, the rest of the race wasn't all that exciting. I remember my teammates cheering me on as I built a commanding lead over everyone. I wasn't running against them, though. I just kept picturing our 7th runner a step ahead of me. He was the one I was racing. Around every corner, over every hill, down every straight, I just kept picturing him one step ahead of me. At times, I could swear I actually saw him there. The whole time, I just kept pulling farther and farther away from the rest of the field. Finally, I crested a hill and was just looking at a long, gradual downhill into the finish line. I gave it all I had, trying to sprint as hard as I could on legs that were as fatigued as I've ever experienced them. I almost stumbled a few times under that extreme fatigue but I managed to keep my legs under me. I don't remember my finish time as I crossed the finish line but I remember that I had made our varsity team by about 30 seconds. I apparently left nothing to chance. Then, I turned to see the competition come in. Nobody there. Waiting, waiting, waiting. Eventually, a teammate crests the hill and makes his way in, 1:02 behind me. Following him was another teammate in third. If I remember correctly, we went 1-2-3-5 in the JV race but we didn't have a 5th runner as our final JV runner for some reason (I believe a disciplinary reason) had to miss the meet. Our varsity team won their race and our JV team, one member short of a scoring team, dominated our race with the runners we had. I qualified for the Sectional meet, earned my first varsity letter, and finished 6th for the team at the Sectional meet.

[Ed]

These are great stories and something that new runners can learn something to use in their furture races.

[Double]

I like to read them also because I lived it.  I lost many close races, but rest assured they felt the effort.  In track I felt it was my job to pound the mile, so our 800 guys had someone doubling in those events a little waxed.  In the day at small schools most distance guys ran at least 3 distance races.  No wonder we were tuckered out by the end of the season.  There was little time to train during the season.

[Ryan]

Double, I definitely find those stories fun to read, also. Like you, I've lived these experiences so I can almost feel myself in those stories. They are very powerful.

As for losing those close races, I almost shared the story of a race from my freshman year of college instead of my freshman year of high school. A very similar scenario but the tables were turned. Maybe I will share it when I have the time to write it up.