Ultra running

16April08

A beginner’s perspective:

Several weeks ago I went home to visit my mom. For some time now, these visits have followed a particular pattern. She is in the process of trying to sell her home; the house I grew up in, that my parents bought in 1968. In preparation, mom has been setting aside boxes of my childhood junk, photos, dolls, ballet recital outfits, 3^rd grade poetry, and such, all for me to sort through and take home with me. I’m not big on sentimentality I guess, because given the choice, most of these things end up in the trash next to the garage. Certain that I’ve made a huge mistake and that I’ll really want that tutu someday, mom goes outside, sifts back through the trash and puts most of these things back into my box and sets it aside, until my next visit home.

During this particular visit, I found a photo in my box that brought a strange comfort to me. As I continued to look at it, I began to smile, and then I laughed. I thought, “wow, I really understand you now.” The photo is from about 1972, maybe 1973, and captures 7 little girls sprinting down the track at our local high school. It’s from my fourth grade track meet: the 100 yard dash. I’m the smallest girl in the photo, but only because I’m so far back in the pack that I look about half the size of the others. The photo has caught my pigtails defying gravity; I’m running as fast as I possibly can, one knee and one arm high in the air. As I held that photo in my hand, I distinctly remember running SO FAST! Like the wind! Yet, I finished dead last. Clearly not sprint material, that moment marked the birth of an endurance runner.