Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Learning How to Run


As I stepped on the ground, I was immediately attracted to the sound of the gravel pushing against the rubber bottoms of my blue and white Pumas. Underneath my feet was a brown, wet path of sand and dirt waiting to be stampeded by eager, adolescent teenagers. Each grain of sand was ready to be disturbed by the spikes of the energized, anxious athletes, moved by the gushing, moist wind, and abused by the harsh, metal hurdles that were dragged across the track without care. Crunchy, hard, and grainy-- the individual pieces of “track sand” entered the soles of my shoes as I bursted out sprinting with all my might. Vibrant rays of sunlight peeked through the cloudy sky as I was praying to reach the end of my drill. Cool and relaxing, the spring mist sprayed my soft, tan skin, making it almost bearable to endure another lap. I glanced behind my shoulders and realized that I wasn’t the last one. I felt as if I was indestructible. Behind me, I saw three sprinters struggling to make it past the finish line that I had somehow managed to get across. As I approached the end of my sprinting drill, I caught my breath, paused, and looked around. I saw people cheering others on. I saw grass being stepped on by careless teenagers. I saw motivation in the returning athletes who wanted to succeed once again.

The Casa Grande track is known as the place where football games, graduation, and physical education activities are held. It is also famous for the vigorous, weekly practices that the track stars endure. The general track area consists of three parts: the field, track, and bleachers.

There are many other “less important” areas such as the shot put pit, long jump pit, and snack bar as well. After getting dressed, I immediately went towards the green, muddy grass where we all carry out our routine group stretches. After inhaling the fresh Sonoma County air, I stopped to adjust to the environment and people around me. The football field-- green yet dry, old yet sturdy, overused yet tough-- is very traditional and useful. Casa students of all ages run, skip, and slide on it, not thinking about the outcomes of their actions. Even though workers spend hours fixing it up and preparing it for seasonal football games, it ends up looking like a “natural” field by the end of the day.

Around the field is a 400 meter long dirt oval, commonly known as the track. Although most official, athletic tracks are made of rubber or tar, our aged track is traditionally made out sand and dirt. Plain and simple. Although a rubber track is less harsh on the ankles and knees, a dirt track is better for conditioning sprinters and long distance runners. When preparing for a meet, the dirt track is embellished and marked with white chalk; the chalk marks suggest running measurements so that the runners know where they must begin or end. Modern rubber tracks usually use chalk temporarily until they are ready to paint them. Occasionally, one will find cones or place markers; these represent where the runner should start, how they should pace themselves, and where they should stop.

Along the track is a metal fence where the hurdlers gather and begin their stretching routine. Leaning against the wall are the hurdles: the hurdle height that is thought to be the best for girls is thirty-three inches, which is at junior varsity level. The hurdling races are very different: there is the 100 meter and 300 meter. Along the straightaway of the track, the hurdles are set up for a full flight 100 meter race. Ten hurdles, all straight and strong, are lined up about six feet away from each other. Each hurdle is precisely placed by using the bright, yellow markings distinguished along the edge of the track. These marks indicate the “professional” spacing of the hurdles. After completing our set of soothing leg stretches, I realized that today would be the day I got over my hurdles. On your mark. Get set. Go. These words meant everything in a racer’s mind: it determined how well your reaction time is, it stated when you should prepare yourself, and it personified a switch in your mind that told you when to go. As I was running across the track, my feet managed to hop over the first couple of hurdles, but towards the end I began to lag and my fragile knees scraped against the harsh, wet, metal contraption. As the race came to an end, I dropped onto the field, trying to get my body back to its normal self.

As I recovered, I looked around aimlessly and found myself interested in the shot put pit. The shot put pit is filled with a deep maroon-colored sand. The pit is surrounded by long pieces of wood, protecting the sand form falling out and keeping the ball surrounded. As each muscular athlete picked up the heavy ball, the mood of the environment around them changed. Everyone became focused and paid little attention to anything else besides the person throwing the shot-put. Raising her arm, a girl threw the shot put using all of her force. Quickly, everyone’s eyes followed the ball in the air and abruptly blinked as it halted and buried itself in the sand. As I watched, I couldn't have helped to notice the long distance runners passing by as if they were gliding through the air.

Three girls, all sophomores, especially caught my eye as I was standing up from my rest. One girl, tall and blond, was accompanied by her best friend; these girls would occasionally complain about the amount of running they did. Just for the day, they had simultaneously run three miles. Every once in a while they would pause and take water breaks; but I had overheard that they did not like taking too many breaks because of how the coaches used to “scold” them.
This only happened when they were not truly working their hardest but claimed to have “pushed it to their limits” to the coach.

Standing in the middle of the field were the three male coaches. The hurdling coach, a fair man dressed in sweats, was very demanding. By examining the way he was dressed, I could assume that he was a man of the middle class. He ordered us to run, jump, and stretch at any given moment. Sometimes, he would alternate between his workout programs: some days he would be tough, and others easy. By observing the way he spoke, I could also assume that he used to be a teacher of some sort. The other two coaches were very laid-back and liked to have a good time: they laughed a lot, worked with the athletes very well, and helped any newcomers. Their body language also suggested that they were carefree but also liked to help others improve their fitness levels. After working out for two hours, seeing how each athlete performed, and observing how the coaches treated athletes, I packed up my belongings and took a nice satisfying jog home to end the day. I realized that track was a great way to interact with others while benefiting for myself as well.

-Raveena

2 comments:

  1. Very good job showing the feeling and atmosphere of the track.
    -- Daniel

    ReplyDelete
  2. You did a really good job at describing and showing the feeling and atmosphere of the track as well as the track team. Well done!
    --Daniel

    ReplyDelete

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