11:07

The boy ran a stellar race in his high school track debut Friday night.  What a thrill for the old dad to watch.  Before the race we discussed (he asked – I did not offer unsolicited) where his fitness is and about what we thought he could do.  I told him that while I was quite confident that he was sub-11:00 capable, one never knows what will actually happen in the race.  I told him to try to relax the first mile and that if he came through in about 5:25-5:30 he would have a good chance at a really good race, but if he came through the mile in 5:15 it would probably be a really long second mile.  In any case we talked about maybe setting two goals, 10:59 as an “A” goal and 11:25 as a “B” goal, because he absolutely should not view it as a failure if he didn’t break 11 minutes. 

So he went out and ran a wonderful set of splits, coming through the first quarter a little hot at 77 but settling down for a 5:26 first mile.  After 2000 I could tell (and he so reported later) that he was really starting to have to work at it, but that’s what happens to everybody who runs the 2-mile.  That’s just par for the course!  So, he hung on through those hard 6^th and 7^th laps and ran a nice 83 final quarter. 

In the car on the way home from the school he told me that he never lost focus during the race.  Sometimes, he said, his mind has drifted during races, and on those days he doesn’t usually run very well, but this time his mind stayed on the problem the whole time.  He was ecstatic (as he should have been!) about his time.  He was also ecstatic about feeling like he justified his entry in a varsity meet.  He could hardly believe that he had just run a 2-mile at about the same pace as his mile PR from 8^th grade, and he asked me what his mile PR is now.  Of course it’s 5:26 now, and it’s quite soft at that! 

His senior teammate, Ben, who is an excellent runner and a wonderful team leader told Wyatt after his race that his own first freshman 2-mile was an 11:20, which Wyatt could hardly believe after watching Ben run 4:27, 2:02 and 10:07 in a very strong and astonishing triple.  Wyatt looked at me incredulously and asked me with his expression and body language, but without spoken words, “Is that in me, too?”  I answered him with words, “It is all within your reach, son.  It is all within your reach.”

Most importantly, he said he had fun.  It was a fun race.  His coach thought he didn’t enjoy the race and asked him afterwards if he didn’t want to do the 2-mile next week since he didn’t like it.  He responded that, au contraire, he really enjoyed the race, and so his coach told him that next week he could have it.  That he ran well, that he enjoyed the experience and that he enjoyed the achievement I find absolutely wonderful.  I couldn’t be happier for him.