The Contender

When I was growing up, I had a selection of "inspirational" quotes tacked to the wall beside my bed. One of them was this excerpt from Robert Lipsyte's The Contender:

"Everyone wants to be a champion. That's not enough. You have to start by wanting to be a contender, the man coming up, the man who knows there's a good chance he'll never get to the top, the man who's willing to sweat and bleed to get as high as his legs and his brains and his heart will take him." (35)

It's not great writing, but it's a good message-- especially for someone like me, who has always been good at quite a few things without ever being exceptionally great at anything. Last year, I ran over 500 miles and participated in 8 road races, and I still haven't managed to get to a race pace under 9 minutes/mile. Running far has always come easier to me than running fast. Last year, after I completed the National Half Marathon, there was no real goal except to keep running. Part of what helped me keep running was the Annapolis Striders running club, which hold races in my county every 6-8 weeks.

A few weeks ago, I officially joined the Annapolis Striders. This year's goal: qualify for the Championship Series. There are 8 races in the series, and to qualify, you have to run in at least 6 of them. The distances are 5k, 10mi, 10k, 1mi, 8k, Metric Marathon (26.2k/16.3mi), 5mi, and 15k. I ran half of these races last year, so I am also hoping to improve on my times for each of those. I'm also hoping to get under a 9 minute race pace so I can begin working my way toward an 8 minute race pace.

People sometimes ask, "How come you like to run?" It's simple-- to see how high my legs, my brains, and my heart can take me. Because, as the quote continues, "It's the climbing that makes the man."