Not from the book. Those pieces aren't ready yet, but here is something from way back when; a personal essay class in which I really had to attack writing. Which was fun and scary and insane all in one small 75 minute period three times a week. This was a running/writing piece I had written. It's two parts so we will get to the next one another time.
It was a perfect day. Yes, perfection is boring and predictable, but this was just too perfect. It was a crisp, cold, sunny day in November. It was one of those fall days that looked warm, but wen you walked out the door you got goose bumps on your forearms and a shiver up your spine. There wasn't a cloud in the sky.
I had no idea what was to come. Only a week before I had woken up and knew I would not be running at the District meet. Unfortunately, one of our girls was unable to finish the race the week before and I was next in line.
On this fateful morning I would be toeing the line with almost two hundred other girls from throughout the state looking for the same thing: a championship.
Waking up, I glanced around the room seeing my roommates rousing too. We could feel it in the air. Something exciting was going to happen on this day. Something no one else could do. No one, but us. Turning to one another, we smiled.
Getting ready for the morning shake-out was eerie. The silence was deafening. Was it nerves? Right as we were about to step out the door, I laughed. There was no real rhyme or reason, but to just break the silence. It was goig to be an interesting day.
Upon reaching the end of our run at the playground, Patty turned to us and said, "Go free." We slid on the slides, swung on the swings and monkeyed around on the monkey bars. After about ten minutes, we returned to the hotel to get ready for the meet. My stomach was churning, but I had to keep it under control. My team was counting on me.
The bus pulled in the parking lot. We were all unusually quiet on that 20 minute rise. No laughter, not chatter, just focus.
Everything was starting to move in slow motion. I couldn't let it get that way, not yet. I had to be focused on being calm. This was the team we had built. It took awhile to finally believe, but it had come together, finally, unexpectedly.
Only four months earlier, sitting on the Lakes High School gym floor, Patty had challenged us, "Who says you can't be a top four team?" Shocked, we all looked at each other, tried to hold back rolling our eyes and said, "Ok, Patty, if that what you say."
We had committed. She trained us that way. Forced us to look deep inside ourself and fight. Fight for that next place. Fight for the last ounce of energy.
We began the warm-up by finding the secret sanican that no one else knew about. That the Gig girls. The next thing I knew we were headed to the start line, spikes in hand, ready to do battle. Fifteen minutes until show time.
We had finished the hokey pokey and our sweats were in the garbage bag headed back to the tent. We finished our strides and waiting on the line for the starter to give us our instructions. Looking down the line, there seemed to be hundred of girls. When I looked straight forward, onto the course, it all disappeared. There were no longer any spectators. No other girls, just me and my teammates. Just a tidal wave of bright blue. We were the only ones on the course. The sound of my breath and my heartbeat were all I could hear.
The gun went off and we shot. The rumbling of hundred of feet climbing the hill was a shot of adrenaline through my system. I made myself smile at the top of the first hill just like Patty had told us to. I tried to relax and race with Karly like I had been told, but I went by. I was passing people, but hadn't even made it to the first mile. From there I flew. I passed people in twos and threes. No one could stop me. I just ran and hard and kept going.
With 1000 meters to go, I knew I had to lay it on the line. It was decision time. Will you quit or will you be strong? Patty had asked us everyday. She prepared us for this moment, although we didn't realize it until we got there.
I ran past the fence to make a turn. Matt was there. I couldn't hear anything he was saying. All I knew was that he was yelling. Nothing was going through my mind except getting the next girl ahead of me.
When I came around the far side of the fairway, someone behind me said, "Come on Meaghan, let's go." So I went.
Two more girls.
Three more.
I topped the hill to the finish. It was time to move again. Only one hundred meters left. I don't even think I touched the ground. Finally, I felt my body hit the line. I hadn't seen my time; I just knew my entire stomach wanted to come out of my mouth. I didn't know what place I was. I didn't see anyone I knew. Everything was rushing to me. The feelings, the smells, the emotions. I had no clue what was going on, but I had finished and I needed my team.
Just as I was about to blackout, Patty caught me. I finally heard the noise around me. People were crying and cheering. Until that point, I had been deaf to everything but my heartbeat and my breath.
After we had all cooled down, we had to wait once again. We were waiting of the results. No one knew what was going to happen, we were all just hoping for a top four finish.
As the announcer was about to begin, Patty turned me around and grabbed me into a big hug. All I could hear her saying was that she was proud of me. I could hear the lump in her throat forming. I asked her what was going on. She said I had been our number six runner. We had tied Bellarmine. Their number six had only been ten seconds, ten places ahead of me. They had won on the tie breaker.
It was a bitter sweet ending. We had tied for first in state. We were second overall.
As I ascended the steps toward the top of the podium, I heaved a sigh. I was even supposed to run in the meet. I was suppose to be the number eight runner and on that day I was the number six. Only four months earlier we weren't even supposed to be a top four team. We hadn't believed enough. No one had. When we finally realized, we fought. Just like Patty taught us.
It was a perfect day. It was a great day to run and a great day to race.
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