Well, I don’t know about yall but I had a rough weekend. Here’s a recollection of how it has gone so far:
Friday, Samuel, Rico, and I were planning on leaving Sam’s house on the north shore to drive to Houston, Texas. We were racing the next day at the Nike Cross Country South Regional. Since we weren’t pulling out until 9:45, I had some time to get in a squirrel hunt near his house. My first disappointment in the day was not killing or even seeing any tree rats, even though I could here them and see their dug-out holes in the ground. When it was time to go back to my car, I could not find the trail I entered the woods in and got lost for about 5 min or so. It was pretty scary actually because everything looks the same! I managed to get to Sam’s by 10.
As we were driving, the admissions decision from one of top schools was released. My 2nd disappointment was not getting into this university, along with many other of my friends who were certainly qualified. While I was upset, I had much to look forward to the next day: racing against the best competition in the southern United States and running a fast time to impress the college coaches.
My 3rd disappointment came as I was doing my pre-race jog on the course at sunset. The race course consisted of three loops around a soccer complex. So boring! Also we can’t seem to get away from the mud! Even though it hasn’t rained since Monday, the course was somehow still wet.
My last disappointment came this afternoon during our race. There were 200 boys in the championship division. The 5k race started with everyone going out super fast and multiple people shoving, tripping, and getting pushed along the barriers. I managed to stay on the edges away from all the madness. I was on pace for a good race until the 0.75 mile mark. I came upon a pile of mud there. Two boys in front of me slipped and fell. I slowed down to catch my footing so I could jump over or go around them, but the people behind pushed me into them. I fell on top and one their spikes went into my calf and quad. Sure this was painful, but then I was trampled on by all the other runners. I was spiked even more. Somebody’s actually went into my heel causing a huge gash with lots of blood. got back up to run the rest of the race, I was so mad that I think I got more adrenaline. Rico was fortunate to avoid this catastrophe. I could see him putting distance on me. With my anger, I think was able to fuel my mind and body with enough energy to try and catch up from the 20 second delay. The next 2 miles I passed up numerous runners until I finally caught up to Rico. I was sprinting toward the finish when then I saw a flash of purple pass me up 10 yards before the finish. Rico had out kicked me and finished a second ahead of me. After catching my breath and making it back to our parents, my gash in my achilles was actually more serious then I thought. I am actually on my way right now to go get stitches/glue to seal the wound.
So yeah, my weekend was not the best. I think there needs to be a circle of Hell for the squirrels when they don’t cooperate, for admissions people who deny students from admission, directors who host meets at bad locations, and runners who push others into the mud and spike. Haha JUST KIDDING. But this is how I feel after all the Ls taken these past two days. Thanks for reading my story.
1 comment:
I agree with you that this weekend was pretty dissapointing for essentially the same reasons! First of all, I was also deferred by the University that you did not name which was really surprising because I thought that I was also extremely qualified. Although it was not one of my top choices, I really liked the school and want to have more options rather than fewer when it is time to decide where I want to attend college. Besides, I could change my mind within the next few months to make that school one of my top choices. A few moments later, I remember jogging the course with you and Rico thinking that it was a pretty nice course, despite muddy, only to be very dissapointed to arrive back at the starting line without even running a full mile. Out of everywhere in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Mississippi, this was the chosen location for one of the most influential cross country meets in the country? There is a soccer complex five minutes from my house that would be much more suitable than the race venue because it is much larger. Finally, my race this morning was a big disappointment for a similar reason: I was also pushed. Unlike you, I was not surrounded by people because this was later in the race. About two miles into the race, I was passing some guy on the inside during a turn and I suddenly found myself on the ground. I am still not sure if I was actually pushed or just tripped but I have never fallen during a race before. The more I think about it, the more I think the guy I passed deliberately pushed me out of frustration because he was loosing contact with a chase pack that I was trying to catch-up to. In addition, we were in the woods with no spectators so he did not have to worry about disqualification. I quickly got back on my feet with a surge of adrenaline but developed a terrible cramp and could barely run. I had no other choice than to drop out for the first time in my life because I was fading so badly and felt like I could not even run faster than my warmup pace.
I also think there needs to be a circle of hell for meet directors that design loop cross country courses on muddy terrain and runners that deliberately push other runners out of frustration. The later deserves to fall into the deepest levels of Dante’s hell.
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