Dear Running: Taking The Good With The Bad

Dear Running,

Am I able to take the good without the bad? 

If you had asked me that question four years ago I would have immediately said of course. It's a good thing I'm now four years wiser because I now know that's the furthest thing from the truth. 

I first started running in elementary school and found myself drawn to the competitive nature of the sport. Naturally, I just had to join the cross country team in middle school. Cross country was never something I was very keen to sign up for, which is why I quit after seventh grade.

Running after school in an oversized cotton t-shirt at 4 o'clock in Florida's heat was not something I enjoyed. In fact, I could not understand why anyone would enjoy that. I thought that if you enjoyed running you probably felt amazing every day and it came easy. Essentially, taking all of the good with none of the bad.

Fast forward to my freshman year: I decided to join the cross country team to stay in shape for lacrosse. After getting a small taste of success my freshman year, I knew I wanted to go all-in with running. Sophomore year approached and running was the sole focus of my life. It wasn't until a disappointing season that made me question everything I was doing.

Long story short, I find myself at a new program my sophomore year track season. I immediately drop my times in workouts and races, and my running was the best it had ever been. I felt like nothing could stop me. And then the bad starts happening.

Growing pains start approaching and left me constantly walking a fine line with how much I could train. COVID was certainly by no means a saving grace, however, it did take the pressure off of pushing my body through some pain. The spiral of growing pains lasted almost the entirety of 2020.

The injury was foreign to me, so I was left lost and confused. I was able to regain strength at the end of my cross-country season to win my first state title. Finally, the good starts happening. Going through a year full of trials made me appreciate the state title more than anything. 

I knew I had to carry the momentum into the track season, and I started to make significant gains at the beginning of the season. I start running times I never could have imagined a few months before. I was experiencing good after good. Then the bad happened.

Right before my biggest track meet of the year, Brooks PR, I realize I had been training and racing too much in an aggressive pair of spikes, but it was too late. A minor flare-up in my foot that was only supposed to last two weeks turned into an over two-month problem. I questioned how I could let something so seemingly avoidable happen to me again. 

After a long cross country season of navigating through adversity, I finally felt like myself again when the season began to close. At the Eastbay South meet I felt a feeling of accomplishment when I finished, knowing I had finally run a cross country PR, and that I felt the most like myself in any race that season.

Happiness was flooding within until I realized my nightmare came to life: the dreaded 11th place at an Eastbay Regional meet. The bad hits once again. After walking away from the race I knew that this rejection was simply a redirection. I'm a big believer that everything happens for a reason. Although none of us may know the reason for our redirections, we find out eventually.

The beautiful thing about running is that there is always another opportunity. This not only applies to running, but to life in general. This past year, every time I stepped on the track or cross country course I left knowing more about myself. I now know that the highs are so much more special when you go through the lows to get them.

Adversity is inevitable for every single athlete, but you know what they say: it's not about how you start, it's how you finish. 

Caroline Lehman 

Cambridge Christian '22

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