Run Fast and Turn Left
To most, the coming of fall means cooler weather, pretty leaves, Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice lattes, and of course college football. However, for runners the coming of fall means one thing and one thing only…cross country season! While cross country stole my heart when I was just a young high school freshman, as all serious distance runners have to do, every spring I must set aside my love for cross country and focus all of my attention on running around a 400 meter oval. As my teammate Preston Jones put it in his most recent blog, “track is the other half of our existence.” This past spring I wrote a poem that explains our sole mission as distance runners when we’re not running over hills and through the woods; we run fast and turn left.
Winter is done, a new season has begun; it’s that time of year.
Dust off the spikes; get in shape, track season is now here.
Records will fall, new goals will be set, around the oval we’ll run;
Some call us crazy, downright insane, but we see it all as fun.
Early to rise, early to bed, all sacrifices we must make;
For the little things become the difference when a championship is at stake.
Mile after mile, hour upon hour, the training can be a grind;
It’s in the midst of adversity and struggle, our true character we will find.
Race day will come, the moment of truth, to put our fitness to the test;
We’ll lace them up, toe the line, and compete to be the best.
Win or lose, it doesn’t matter, we know that we’ll be back;
We’ll walk away, take peace in knowing, we left it all out on the track.
This is our life, it’s what we do, we run, eat, sleep, repeat;
Being a distance runner isn’t for everyone, but in my mind it can’t be beat.
Giving up on hopes and dreams is the same to me as theft;
That is why until the day that I die, I’ll run fast and turn left.
“To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.” -Steve Prefontaine
