My introduction to "running as a sport" came in the form of a 5-day track camp that was organized by the local high school coach. For three hours each day, we ran a little and practiced field events. I realized that I sucked at all of the throwing events, but was half decent at the jumping ones. I also liked hurdling. On the last day, we had a mini meet. I ran the 100m, 50m hurdles (I think), and did triple jump. I thought my friend was crazy for running the 200m because it was a whole half of a lap.
The next week, I went to the track and ran 4 laps without stopping. I had never run a mile before in my life. However, after a week of camp, I felt I was ready. So, I just didn't stop. Then, I swam my fall season. I spent a lot of time looking in the pool at meets, but not a lot of time competing. In the few weeks between the end of swimming and the beginning of track, I ran a mile loop from my house a few times a week. During this mile, I took some black licorice jelly beans with me "for energy" because it was sooooo long (if only I had marketed "sports beans"). I have no idea why we still had jelly beans in like November, but we did. I should also point out that I hate black licorice jelly beans.
I started winter track as a sprinter and hurdler. Winter track was interesting. Our track was around an indoor basketball court. It was 4 lanes wide, 11 laps to the mile, and it was not banked. Men's and women's track (each 50+ people), either men's or women's basketball, and sometimes cheerleading would all practice at the same time in the field house. It was crowded to say the least, and super fun when you were hurdling and a basketball rolled across the lane. But, we figured it out.
As it turned out, I wasn't half bad at indoor hurdles. I even managed to run varsity a few times in some unimportant meets, and was part of the shuttle hurdle relay that year. The shuttle hurdle relay is one of the craziest races ever in my opinion. It really makes no sense to have a hurdle relay, but oh well. There are four hurdlers from each team, with a pair starting at either end of the straightaway. When your teammate crosses the break-line, you start. Anyways, I got a pair of spikes for this race. They were Asics. I loved them. I felt super fast.
So, I should point out my track attire at this time, because its pretty funny to think about now. My first week of track was spent wearing some manner of Converse cross training shoes. Chuck Taylors would probably have been better. After deciding that I was going to stick with it, my parents brought me to Bob's and I got a pair of Nike sneakers. Yup, Bob's. For those of you not from MA, or New England, or wherever Bob's stops, its most similar to Kohls probably. I have no idea if the Nike sneakers I had were actually running sneakers, but they were certainly better than the Converse cross trainers. They were white and navy and turquoise (turquoise is my favorite color), and a size 6-1/2, which means they were probably way too small.
My favorite running shorts were a pair of soccer umbro shorts because I had made the unfortunate mistake of tying a knot in the waistband of my uniform shorts during the first meet. While this helped when I was running, I knotted them once they were over my hips. I never got the knot out and had to jump into and out of my shorts every time I wore them after that. I also did not run in running tights that season. My favorite pair of pants were "Reading Pants", which were basically fleece-line track pants with a red and white stripe down the side (Reading is the name of the town I grew up).
One more weird thing... you got a number at the beginning of the season. This was your number for every meet. I was #460.
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