Some of you know I represented the United States at the 2009 Masters Track & Field World Championships in Lahti, Finland.  The first week of August seems like so long ago, when in fact, it wasn’t.  Since then, I’ve completely tapered off on training. Completely.

So why the pain?

What is amazing to me, and something I tried to hide in the Lane 8 blog posts before traveling to Finland, is that I was actually able to compete at all.

“Then why put yourself through all this”?, is a common question.  Roger Bannister, the first human to break the four-minute mile barrier, said it best:

“I sometimes think that running has given me a glimpse of the greatest freedom a man can ever know, because it results in the simultaneous liberation of both the mind and body…..  The runner does not know how or why he runs.  He only knows that he must run…..  We run, not because it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves”. — Roger Bannister 1956

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Here’s an article with Alan Webb’s story from that day.

By the way, the great Jim Ryan held the previous record for 36 years.   This was a monumental day in High School Track & Field.

The winner of the race was Hicham El Guerrouj, from Morocco, the world record-holder, who ran 3:49.92, the fastest mile ever run in North America.

Amazing things happen all the time.  We often forget that they can also happen to us, and do happen to us, but we don’t recognize them because they are not record-breaking feats.

Carpe diem, jeff noel  :)

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