Running: The College Years

(The running saga moves into college, preceded by parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15.)

I don't think anyone minds that I've waited so long to continue the saga of my running career. Writing about high school was easy. College, not so much. I've thought about it several times in recent weeks and just haven't been inspired to write. Here's my best shot…

My college running career consisted of a few peaks and far too many valleys. It's that way for a lot of people. We rule the roost in high school, then find a crueler existence at the next level. Some of us get bogged down in studies. Or parties. Or any of a hundred other things. None of that applied to me. I really did try very hard to become a good college runner. It just didn't happen.

I'd slam out several weeks of awesome training, only to be sidelined by injury (freshman year track, senior year cross country). I redshirted my sophomore cross country season, then had track wiped out by mononucleosis. Junior year cross country wasn't too bad. Then I tore my hamstring during indoor track (at a K-State meet, as if I needed another reason to hate K-State), which screwed up outdoor track. In the wink of an eye, I was a senior. By that time, I was interning at a Topeka television station and more focused on graduating and getting a job than on running. After an injury-riddled senior cross country season, I visited my coach's office and told him what we both knew: it was time to hang it up. He was surprised/impressed I'd lasted as long as I did.

For as frustrating as the overall experience was, I came away with plenty of great memories: racing the 1500-meters in a field that included Olympian Steve Holman, becoming a letterman and a member of the K-Club, the annual commando game next to the Kansas River and the pre-cross country season camps at Rim Rock Farm. Met people who will be friends for life. Best of all, I can always say I wore the pink and blue.

That period of time also taught me to appreciate the success that was to come. When I graduated from KU in May of 1996, I was pretty sure I'd never run competitively again. Little did I know.