Today, I've decided to channel my inner Rose Tyler and begin my post with this: My name is Raegan Davis. This is the story of how I died. The only difference? In her case, she meant faking her own death. In my case, I mean running out of energy towards the end of practice. As I mentioned in my last post, I injured my leg and was acting as a pseudo-manager for a little over a week. I had to miss Tiger Run, but was able to come back to practice this past Tuesday. We began at Seneca park, doing sets of 1.4 mile "hill loops" then finishing off with a trail run. Trails are, for the record, my absolute favorite place to practice. There's always something to look at, you don't have the sun beating down on you and, best of all, trails are never flat. There's always just a little bit of an incline or a log to skirt around to keep things interesting.
So, my assignment for the day was to run one hill loop, then the course, as it was my first day back. I was determined to prove that I was still a good runner. Thus, I ran ahead of my group, something that I have done before and had no trouble with. It was fine at first- I just told myself that I wouldn't let anyone pass me. We were nearing the very end of the loop, up the final hill, when one of the girls in my running group passed me. I tried to stay with her but only exhausted myself even more. Eventually, I decided that I simply did not care. She finished a couple of seconds before I did and I wondered for a moment if I had suddenly become a horrible runner. I am nowhere near varsity here. In fact, I was only on it at my old school because I was fairly fast and the coach wanted to reward the girls who had been on the team for all three years of middle school. Looking back on my times, I see that I was running 7 minute, 44 second miles, which is definitely not as fast as the varsity girls here and is also quite a bit faster than my 9:19 average of today.
In theory, if I can find a way to channel whatever made me run faster last year, I should be able to run the 5K meets in about 23:12, which is a time that would have gotten me a varsity letter in the Tiger Run and could get me one in my first meet- The Rumble in the Jungle meet coming up next Saturday. The only problem? Well, in addition to the change in distance, I really don't know what I did so differently last year. Since Tuesday, I've been trying to pace myself with faster girls, as that was one thing that I did. Still, it didn't feel like I was improving. Then, we ran a tempo run.
Typically, I run tempo run on my own. Today, however, was our first progressive tempo run, so I decided that I would stick with the group. The worst that could happen was that I got a slower time and could cross running with a group off of my list as a strategy that did not work for me. The first mile, we went slowly on purpose, clocking in at about 9:40. We figured then it would be easy to go faster in the second mile. But, when I heard that time, almost 30 seconds slower than usual, I panicked and ran. When I think back on this moment, I picture myself not so much as a runner, but more as a headless chicken, taking off with all the energy that I could muster and squawking all the while about getting a better time.
In the end, most of my friends passed me. Again, I tried to stay with them, reached the point where I no longer cared and went back to my own pace. In convincing myself that it was okay to let them pass me, I figured that I have something that I was born to do (though I'm not sure what it is yet). Some people are born to be runners. And just like when I find out whatever I'm best at and pursue that, other people have already found out that they're the best at running. There are girls on our team who have innate talent and dedication combined. I'm not saying that you can only be good at one thing. I'm saying that right now is when we find out which "one thing" we are going to put more effort into than everything else, be it the school musical, the science team, cross country, etc, and work at it with everything.
I've watched the elite girls running. Not only are they the best, but they have fun with it and they make it look easy. One can see these girls at practice, working as hard as they can and laughing, too. I think that, for me, running has never been that. It has always been a latter of sorts that I have to struggle up in order to reach my goal. And, as I finished that tempo run, it suddenly clicked for me. Last year was different because I stopped caring. While I ran, I used to remember of the different reasons why I loved running. I used to picture things that made me happy and stare at the scenery around me. That's when my times started getting better. Believe it or not, that tempo run was my fastest yet. The next day, I ran faster than I have in a long time and did the entire course with a smile.
Even though I probably wasn't "born" to be a great runner, that doesn't mean I can't get there soon. Now that I have my strategy, I can't wait to test it out. That's why I'm chalking this week up as a win. I may not be the fastest any more, but I'm back on the team. I may not have beat my friends in the tempo, but I beat my time. I may have run straight into a branch at practice, but you know what? That was the best run I've had all season! More than anything, I just have this feeling that things (i.e. my time) can only get better. Personally, I can't wait for Monday's practice and I can't wait for Rumble in the Jungle. Creasey Mahan Nature Preserve won't know what hit it.