View Workout (Marty Grover)
This is it
April 23, 2011 (Morning)
Exercise Type: Run
Comments:
Conference: 4x8 and 5k. I don't know what my time was, I never checked it....I may never look at it, because to me, its irrelevant. That race was irrelevant. I am writing this after the fact, and when I look back on this meet, I'll remember two things:
1) We beat NYU in the 4x800
2) More importantly, we beat NYU in the meet. There were unbelievable performances across the board. Our throwers were unreal, Ty rocked those hurdles, CKells ran very well in a stacked 5k field, and Jurcak ran more events in one day than I ran all season. The team is going to be unbelievable next year, I'm so happy for them.
If I were leaving a team in shambles, I'd feel awful. But I'm not. I'm leaving a team that's poised and confident. They know they can compete with anybody if they put the work in. I can only hope that I made some contribution to the fighting spirit of our team...and I'm willing to bet that I did.
As for me, I'm done. Perfectly content with it. These past 4 weeks have been a struggle. My quad feels like awful, I may have tweaked it at W&J, but that's in the past. It hurt every time I ran. My body is telling me I need time off, and I'm going to listen to it. I can finally rest...finally.
I was so angry for the longest time, especially after what happened in XC. I looked back, and I thought I should have been on that Conference team. The fact is, I should have been on it, but I wasn't meant to be. I had bigger things in store. What happens if I run Conference? I get a t-shirt, maybe run a decent race, then we still don't get to nationals because I'm out of shape and still can't crack our top 5. What happened when I didn't run Conference? I go to Edinboro, party like crazy for Halloween, then go on a 14.5 mile long run at sub 6:30 with their top guys that literally had me shitting blood afterward. Either way, talking to them, they seemed confident in my talent and that I could be as great a runner as I want to be. I then realized the confidence that MY team had in me, and how much my team needed me. From that day forward, I was a man possessed. Coming back, racing, and winning that first 3k in an all-out battle against Carter made me think "this is it, I'm here, it's my time. Nobody's going to take this away from me again."
Only those who attempt the absurd achieve the impossible.
My 3k at conference....that was by far the single greatest moment of my life thus far. I let it all out with 3 laps to go and was fueled by the cheers of my teammates. It was unreal. It was me. That day, I was the man. I was the guy they were all rallying behind. The noise in that building still echoes in my mind. What I felt when I crossed that line was shear joy and relief. Pure euphoria. That meet was going so terribly, and then I pull off what they consider a miracle. There is so much satisfaction to be had when you picture a future achievement in your mind over and over again, and then that event occurs exactly as you pictured it.
I wouldn't change a thing from last XC season. They can take their XC Conference t-shirts, I'll take my Bronze medal and all the great memories that go with it. That single race completely trumped all my failures in running. It made EVERYTHING worth it.
So I've decided that this will be my last lengthy log. I'll still log, but probably just distance/time and a few notes. I'll keep running, I have a very long running career ahead of me. It isn't even close to being over. I want to win the Pittsburgh Great Race, get in a solid half marthon and eventually do a full marathon, hell, who knows, I may even try for a Sudeck XC Championship.
Collegiate Running Career: Done.