Embracing New Horizons
A glimpse from my run/hike on the Skyline Trail in the Blue Hills Reservation in Boston
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Perhaps it was a coincidence, or maybe it was a subconscious choice, but I began my long trail run yesterday just as the US Olympic Marathon Trials began. I brought my phone and ear buds with me so I could follow along with the livestream. I hadn’t really planned on tuning in. Honestly it wasn’t even really on my radar until recently, as I’ve just been buried in schoolwork. I’m not familiar with many of runners and I’m not as invested as I’d been in previous years. But as it got closer, I had to kind of kick myself, like “Liz, you love running and the Olympics, of course you have to watch!”
So I got the livestream going, tapped the start button on my watch, and off I went. Prancing along the trail (yes, prancing, there were many rocks to navigate), with my forever-hero Kara Goucher commentating in my ear, I started to think how it’s probably not a coincidence at all that I find myself out on the trails during this significant race. For me it symbolizes the life that was before and the life that became. Four years ago in Atlanta, I was still in what I consider the “before”. I felt compelled to go spectate at the US Olympic Trials to cheer on my friends, and in a way say “farewell” to one dream (qualifying for the Marathon Trials), and “hello” to a new one (setting a record on the AT). That same weekend I ran the first thirty miles of the Appalachian Trail from the southern terminus as a training run, mostly in the dark with brain-freezing temps, the frigid wind whipping into my face as I darted along a ridge with an epic orange and magenta sunrise, on the precipice of a new chapter.
If there’s any takeaway I have from the last four years, is that life can change rapidly, with no guarantee that things will just go back to how they were before. In a way, I’ve been viewing my life as it is now as temporary, as in, “Oh I just have to put my head down and finish school, then my life will be normal, then I’ll get to that thing I’ve been meaning to do.” But that’s a while from now, and who’s to say what will happen beyond school? What even is normal? What I’m getting at is, the time to do the thing is now, not later. Now!
I’ve been mapping out my year with some race/FKT goals, along with making myself a training plan so that I’m as prepared as possible going into them. Reality is starting to hit that these are challenging goals I’m making for myself, and they’re going to come up very quickly. Though my life looks different than it was four, eight, twelve years ago, it’s evident when I dive into these speed workouts and long runs that I’m still the same fiery person that gets a thrill from the challenge, the desperate gasping for breath, the fatigue, the muscle soreness, the getting up in the morning and doing it all over again.
As I was listening to the Trials broadcast, two parts stuck out to me the most:
Friends and teammates Clayton Young and Conner Mantz went 1-2 in the men’s race, sealing their spots on the Olympic Team going to Paris. In a pre-race interview, Clayton said wholeheartedly about his friend, “A win for Conner is a win for me.” In a post-race interview, Conner shared that during the race he was starting to fade, and anticipated Clayton would want to break away, and even told him to do as much. Clayton said something along the lines of, “Not yet, just stay with me,” and he helped his friend along. This was significant, because in order to make the team, they had to run under a particular time standard to secure their spots on the team. It would have been much harder for Conner to run that pace alone. This, to me, was a beautiful example of camaraderie and teamwork. The way up is way better with friends.
Secondly, I was thrilled to see Dakotah Lindwurm, who I’m a fan of for her can-do attitude, make her first Olympic team. As she crossed the line, she was embraced by the women who finished in the 1-2 spots; the official US Olympic Team. Then shortly after, the fourth woman Jess McCain crossed the line and collapsed on the ground. She simultaneously had the race of a lifetime (four minute PR, 4th place in the most competitive American field, not a sponsored runner), while juuust missing out on a spot on the Olympic Team. All three women went right over and gave her a big group hug; I was so touched by this. They all know how much work it took to get there, and the significance of what was at stake. Then shortly after, Sara Hall crossed the line in 5th place, also collapsing to the ground, her Olympic dream unrealized. I’m having a hard time describing what I felt seeing this, but just empathizing with the wide array of emotions captured in that scene, and the mutual respect these women showed for each other.
Moments like this, to me, are what the sport is all about- the humanity of it all! It’s hard not to walk away from this weekend feeling excited and inspired, and in a way, reminded of how long I’ve come in my own winding journey… and with more still to come.
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