Scheduling meets for a junior college track team can be challenging. Darren was doing his best to get the CMC squad into competitions for the season. The first meet on the schedule at CU-Boulder was postponed by weather. So the Spank Blasing Invitational at CSU-Pueblo was the team’s first outing.
Unlike the previous year there was no 10K event for distance runners, but it was replaced by a 5K as the first event of the morning. Darren asked if I could take Nate, Harrison and Paulo to our house in Westcliffe, then bring them to the meet in the morning. This would make for a less early morning for those running events later in the day, as the drive to Pueblo from Leadville was easily three hours. Paulo could warm up for the 800 shortly after Nate and Harrison ran the 5K. I agreed with this plan, knowing this would also mean better pre-race meals and sleep. Nate and Paulo would ride the team van back to Leadville after the meet.
We enlisted Mary to keep track of the lap split times. I would serve as on-track coach. Darren really wanted to see Nate and Harrison run in the 16-minute range and we knew they were both trained and capable of doing this if everything went well. There were 47 men entered in the 5K, so the field was split into two separate heats. With almost all the runners being from NCAA D-2 or NAIA schools, it was going to be difficult competition. In fact, more than half the field was seeded at under 16 minutes. But with near-perfect weather and an elevation of 4,848 feet, this was a good opportunity for Nate and Harrison to join that club.
Their section had 20 runners and the top seed was 15:01. The refs situated Harrison second from the inside lane, and Nate to the far outside of the start. However, from the gun, they both running together and started out conservatively. In this way they picked up a few places and after the first lap. The field had broken into a lead group that was running 15-minute pace, a chase group of 16-minute runners, Nate and Harrison, and a few runners going 18-minute pace trailing after them.
Around and around they went, stride for stride. Each time they passed the timer Nate and Harrison were within a second of each other. I was concerned that Harrison was running on the outside in Lane 2, which meant he was running farther each lap, probably costing him a second or two each time around. However the energy between him and Nate seemed worth the extra effort so I just stayed quiet.
They went through Lap 7 together, then suddenly I could tell Nate’s legs were giving out on him, and he fell back dramatically. Harrison was now on his own. He moved to the inside lane and tried to maintain the pacing he’d had with Nate. I felt awful seeing Nate falter like this. I encouraged him to keep going while still urging Harrison to maintain pace.
With two laps to go I was about 100 meters up the track when I heard Mary yell to Harrison “One lap to go!” She had somehow miscounted the laps. Harrison bolted into kick mode, running that lap quite fast only to find upon finishing that he still had a lap to go.
He came to a near stop on the track, stammered a bit, then continued on. It took him a bit in the curve to get back up to speed. When he finally cross the finish line for real it was in 17:32. He ran over to the end zone of the field and fell to the ground screaming. I ran over to console him and was soon joined by Nate. However, Harrison was in another realm and not returning soon. I realized that Nate and I were applying moderate physical pressure to restrain him as much as to comfort him. But he was not calming down. Suddenly he broke away from us, jumped up and ran out of the stadium.
I found myself still kneeling in a stupor of helplessness and frustration. Harrison had just run a PR for the 5K, two-thirds of it in Lane 2, and with a serious mischance just before his final lap. We would never know what he could have run but I’m pretty sure his time would have had a 16 in front of it. I eventually picked myself up from the Astroturf and went to look for him. I walked out into the parking lot but he was not to be found. A woman asked me if I was looking for my son and I said yes. She said he had gone for a cooldown run with another runner. I was confused.
The other runner turned out to be Mateo Luna of Colorado Christian University. He had run 15:09 for 10th place in the 5K. After running a great 5K he saw Harrison in the parking lot, still on the throes of his tantrum, and asked him to go on a cooldown run. Cooling down with Mateo provided the avenue for Harrison to reset. It was a very kind gesture of empathy and turned the day around for Harrison and everyone around him.
Mateo’s random act of kindness saved the day, and, in the larger picture of our society, transcended something more important than athletic accomplishment — the concern for another human being’s well-being.
Notes from The Blur
I managed during Spring Break to not worry too much about going back to school the following week. However, I still had mixed feelings about returning. I realized I only had a few weeks left until graduation. However, this ended up triggering more anxiety than normal, partly due to knowing my college experience was going to end soon, and I didn’t have a clear pictures of what was next. Before I knew it, I was back at CMC and the season’s first track meet was the following weekend.
It was great to have Nate and Paulo spend the night at our house, but I was sort of disappointed that the rest of the team would be arriving later and would not be able to watch us race.
I felt strong running alongside Nate during the race. Then I had to manage my own pacing when Nate dropped back. When some faster guys lapped me I tried to go with them and this helped. After the snafu with my mom telling me I had one lap to go, when I really had two, I was really frustrated but recovered and was able to finish. But then I came completely unglued. I took my watch and glasses off and threw them, then laid on the ground screaming. Everyone was trying to get me calmed down and explain that I had run a PR, but I just got up and ran away into the parking lot.
I tried to find my mom’s car so I could have time to myself. As I was looking for the car, a runner from another college asked if I was OK. I explained my frustrations to him and he offered for me to cool down with him. During the cool down, he told me his name was Mateo and that he was from Colorado Christian University. When we got done, I found my mom and returned to the track.
A short time later, we all went to a restaurant across from the stadium. I had calmed down somewhat, but I still felt bad because of the mistake and the way I handled it afterwards. After eating, we went back to the track. When the rest of the team arrived, I felt anxious to see them, and it took a while until I felt like I was ready before I walked over to see them. I told them I ran a PR, but I also told them about my problem after the 5K. I was in a slightly better mood, although not completely because I was still upset about my mishap and mostly my meltdown afterwards. One time I walked up to the fence and put my head down on it. Brooklyn noticed this and walked over to cheer me up.
I watched my teammates run in their afternoon events. There was a discussion about me running in the 4x400 relay if Nate was not ready to go. So I warmed up again. It was later decided that Nate was able to run, which caused me to get upset and have another outburst. I really wanted to run this relay to redeem myself, but it also triggered my OCD because it seemed illogical to not race after I had warmed up. After settling down I did realize it was important for me to think of other people and let them try again instead of just thinking about myself all the time. At last it was time to go. We took a team photo and I said bye to teammates and went home with my parents.
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