Push
Surprisingly I woke up at 7 this morning. Last night we had another dinner, with the Winston & Wesley bunch, that went to midnight for a happy new year. I didn't expect to be awake at all today.
My parents won't let go of guests that come to our house when they promote Market America and its products, which they do to everybody whether they like it or not. They began by chatting about parenting, but the end topic always goes back to our business because we try to recruit as many people into the team as possible.
I got woken by Sean, who turned on the bedroom light early, apparently to read a book. Strange. Why did he decide to read so early? It was good for me though, because my parents definitely did not wake me up in time to run.
Since my parents were in their bedroom, I didn't want to interrupt them from whatever they were doing. I prepared some breakfast for myself and walked to school myself. I went on the longer but arguably safer route today, with no obligation to walk past the train tracks. I got there a little late, which was okay, but I was freezing up quite literally. My hands felt immobilized. And I didn't bring gloves.
I didn't see my group when I arrived. The girls were on the track though, training hard. I don't know what time they had to come and train, but they were always there before me. The girls are diligent athletes!
I stretched out a bit, and my team was still not there. Had they changed plans and decided to cancel this practice? Last practice I didn't come, because I had an appointment with the folks at the Apple Genius Bar. Really I should have come because the (not-so)Genius Bar guys were not punctual, but I was not aware of their poor quality. They ran late for my appointment, and weren't able to do anything useful when they finally were able to serve me. Bottom line: Genius Bar's service sucks. Don't go there unless you're buying a new device, for that's about all it's good for. I later went to uBreakiFix, a 3rd party repair store near my house. That store did a great job and effectively solved my problems.
Caf's entire team had already arrived. I thought about asking Coach Caf whether he knew where my team was, but then decided to figure it out by logic. They could be in the weight room, but when I checked there I did not see any bags outside. They could've left for Stillwell park before I came, but if that's the case, other runners would be looking for them too and I couldn't have been the last one to arrive. And they weren't around anywhere on the track. So, either the team canceled the practice, or everyone else was just late. The latter was more probable because not everybody was notified of the cancel if I wasn't, and no other member was lost like me at the moment.
"Good morning," coach called out to me while I was pondering my options. She had arrived with the whole group, at 9:20. I waved my hand. Huh, they must have been somewhere doing something, if all of them were together. I didn't bother to ask what, as we were all starting on the same page, with our usual warm-up routine.
I did exceptionally well this practice, by my standards. I consistently ran ahead of my group, finishing first every lap. We were running 8 laps of 300 meters each. 8 of those hard races. It was like winning 8 races, which felt good. I outran even the veteran runners. Of course, I was running at probably my full speed, while the others were not. But I'm not sure what my limit is, as I always run much better in races, where I actually give it my all (then feel dead afterwards). I just need to keep pushing, running as hard as I can without injury at every practice, to continue improving. Hersh, who was a very good runner, actually chose to use my pace as his target pace, after seeing me run.
"I'm runnin' with this guy," he pointed at me.
"Andes Mountains?" Asked John. That was a nickname he came up with for me. It was cool.
I had the same reaction. Me? A total novice in the Novice group? I guess 300m at 1 minute was a pretty good goal when you're running a whole bunch of them. If I was chosen as a model runner, I can't let down my mates! It was good motivation. I went on to run the rest at full speed, even though it was not what I would usually do. How was I able to do it? Well, I committed. I trained. I made it to all the practices that I was able to make it to. And I ran every one of the 25 minute on-your-own runs that I needed to do when my team isn't there.
On my track schedule was a quote, printed in bold, italic font:
"A man's true character is what he does when nobody is watching."
I looked at the quote again. I smirked proudly.
"...when nobody is watching."
When you do it because you want to, not because you're told to.
Maybe that's how I was able to push past my limits.
Caf's entire team had already arrived. I thought about asking Coach Caf whether he knew where my team was, but then decided to figure it out by logic. They could be in the weight room, but when I checked there I did not see any bags outside. They could've left for Stillwell park before I came, but if that's the case, other runners would be looking for them too and I couldn't have been the last one to arrive. And they weren't around anywhere on the track. So, either the team canceled the practice, or everyone else was just late. The latter was more probable because not everybody was notified of the cancel if I wasn't, and no other member was lost like me at the moment.
"Good morning," coach called out to me while I was pondering my options. She had arrived with the whole group, at 9:20. I waved my hand. Huh, they must have been somewhere doing something, if all of them were together. I didn't bother to ask what, as we were all starting on the same page, with our usual warm-up routine.
I did exceptionally well this practice, by my standards. I consistently ran ahead of my group, finishing first every lap. We were running 8 laps of 300 meters each. 8 of those hard races. It was like winning 8 races, which felt good. I outran even the veteran runners. Of course, I was running at probably my full speed, while the others were not. But I'm not sure what my limit is, as I always run much better in races, where I actually give it my all (then feel dead afterwards). I just need to keep pushing, running as hard as I can without injury at every practice, to continue improving. Hersh, who was a very good runner, actually chose to use my pace as his target pace, after seeing me run.
"I'm runnin' with this guy," he pointed at me.
"Andes Mountains?" Asked John. That was a nickname he came up with for me. It was cool.
I had the same reaction. Me? A total novice in the Novice group? I guess 300m at 1 minute was a pretty good goal when you're running a whole bunch of them. If I was chosen as a model runner, I can't let down my mates! It was good motivation. I went on to run the rest at full speed, even though it was not what I would usually do. How was I able to do it? Well, I committed. I trained. I made it to all the practices that I was able to make it to. And I ran every one of the 25 minute on-your-own runs that I needed to do when my team isn't there.
On my track schedule was a quote, printed in bold, italic font:
"A man's true character is what he does when nobody is watching."
I looked at the quote again. I smirked proudly.
"...when nobody is watching."
When you do it because you want to, not because you're told to.
Maybe that's how I was able to push past my limits.
Comments
Post a Comment