The 'Drama Queen' runs her last high school race...

Saturday, June 4, 2011

“Second call…girls 1600 meter,” came over the PA stadium in Jesse Owens Stadium in Columbus. It was almost 5 p.m. and Kim and I had been sitting in the stadium watching races since 9:30 a.m. It went quickly for me though, probably due to the anxiety of this moment.

I’d been working with Marie for four years. Until last fall, she’d never had a running season end quite like she would have wanted it to. That trend could continue now or it could change forever and this was the final chance…her last high school race.

As I had been the previous week when she’d qualified to the state meet, I was strung out with anxiety. There is nothing a coach can do at this point…the training, race strategy, and motivational things have all been done. The gun goes off and they run…and you watch…and you wring your hands and pray for the best.

I’d started the day at 6 a.m. Sleep was impossible for me in Alum Creek State Park probably because of the trains near by. I did sets of push-ups and dips before heading off to the shower. It would be the only workout the day would allow and I’d missed yesterday’s, as well. We packed up the camping gear…I’d slept under the stars so that was easy…and headed for Bob Evans. Eating Paleo was a challenge, but I handled it nicely with a vegetable omelet and a blueberry smoothie. I figured that would be it for the day with the exception of some fruit we’d packed.

We were in the stadium for Division III at 9:30 a.m., but the meet was delayed when lightning was spotted in the distance. Kim and I killed time in the Ohio State Baseball Stadium when we found the gate open and were looking for a place to get out of the rain that never came. I have a bad habit of trying door handles and found one open to their batting cages. We slipped inside and spent some time taking our swings.

We were called back to the stadium in 30 minutes and finished watching Division III and then Division II. I realized as the time drew closer for Marie to run, I wasn’t paying attention to the races on the track as I usually do. We’d spent some time with her prior to the meet, but I couldn’t stand to sit near her and make any small talk…I needed to be pacing and moving to distract myself.

“Final call…girls 1600 meter run. Final call.” And there it was and there they were…15 of Ohio’s fastest girls walking across the infield to the starting line. In a few minutes the gun would fire and 5 minutes after that it would all be over and I could stop this silly anxiety and get on with the rest of my life.

When the gun sounded, Marie moved out exactly as planned. She was in the middle of the pack as the completed their first lap, but when I looked at my watch, I was shocked to see that Marie had come through in a blistering 70 seconds…and was falling back! She continued to fall back through the second lap and clocked 2:28 for the half…her fastest half mile in a race to date…and was dead last! My worst nightmares were coming true. I saw a disaster developing and knew what a blow it would be to her and how it would demoralize her and cast doubt over a season wasted and what had gone wrong. She continued at the back of the pack for another 200 meters and now, with only 600 meters to go…appeared to be finished.

Yet something about the way she was running told me to wait…to watch. She picked off three girls at the back of the pack as they approached the gun lap and rounded the first turn and moved to the backstretch…in front of us. Clearly Marie was having none of being so far behind and in a matter of a couple of powerful strides, was running all out…and catching runner after runner. She went into the final turn and raced down the homestretch in tenth…then ninth. As I watched her from across the track, it seemed as if the other girls weren’t moving, she passed them so easily. She ran out of track before running out of gas, but managed to pass two more runners and take sixth in the state with a personal best time of 4:59.2…shattering the school…and her sister’s…record.

The top eight runners in every race are honored by standing on the podium to receive their medals of accomplishment and status as All-Ohio runners. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone smile as broadly as Marie did when she took her position for her sixth place finish. My fears were allayed and her high school career would be deemed a success. A year of hard work and dedication to a goal had proven to her that although she couldn’t change history, she could clearly learn from it. Congratulations Marie…I’m going to miss coaching you.