New Term!

I must first and foremost apologize for waiting upwards of a month before writing my first instalment of the new term – and it has now been around three months since I last worked on my blog at all. Things have been much busier than I had anticipated and, in all honesty, I didn’t really feel that there was much to write about. This is largely due to the fact that I haven’t been able to do any running, thanks to an injury that I sustained on my first session back with the group. I don’t consider myself to be a particularly ‘unlucky’ person, but this was really heart-breaking. I’d been looking forward to training with the squad over the Christmas break for many months and now, when I finally had the chance to do so, I managed to ruin it. I think I can probably take on about 90% of the blame for this injury though; I took a week off from running after my arrival back in England and then decided to go and run a half marathon, before an extended fartlek with the group the following evening. This was a level of stupidity that only men are capable of, and it meant that I’ve had to spend the next seven weeks twiddling my thumbs. Nevertheless, I must say that I really enjoyed the short time that I got to spend at home. Seeing how much everyone in the group improved – and how much a lot of them had grown! – was really fantastic. I’m looking forward to returning in the summer: hopefully I’ll actually be able to get some running done!

This was not actually my first injury of 2020 – I suffered a month out with a foot problem back in June. This second injury was in my knee and was being caused by an extremely tight IT band and by the sounds of things it had been a long time coming. I couldn’t physically run until a few weeks ago, when all of my treatment finally started to break through. There are some lingering problems, which seems to vary day to day, but over all I’m feeling okay. I’m going to start building my training back up slowly, which is just as well because I feel extremely unfit. If I had to guess I’d probably say that I’ve been running in some form or another for around ten years (poor Oberon started much younger than I did!), and this is the longest that I’ve been unable to do anything.

The 300 metre indoor track at North West Missouri State.

This has made me realize two things. First is that I’ve really undervalued my sport and the role it plays in my life. Not only have I felt extremely guilty these past couple of months, but I’ve also felt extremely jealous of other peoples running. Every time I see someone on Strava post a fast time trial or a proper long run I wish I could have been there and done it with them. Our sport is not like any other – it requires a lot of pain and discomfort. My teammates have a saying – “our sport is all the other sports punishment.” Yet I can’t help but love it. The second realization that I have had is about the importance not just of running but of injury prevention. Both of my injuries this past year have been relatively minor, but I really don’t want to keep getting them. It is very important that runners take their drills and strength and conditioning very seriously: these are the ways that your body can keep up with the massive adaptations that running causes. The more running you do, the more of these drills and exercises you should be doing.

Figured I may as well show off!

The indoor season is drawing to a close: our Conference meet is this coming weekend and the national final is the weekend after. With a bit of luck, I hope to compete at Conference, though I don’t think I’ll be particularly good unfortunately. Still, it will be a step in the right direction. This season has been a truly remarkable one for Bethel: we have seen records falling right and left, and we have a raft of athletes who could potentially qualify for the nationals. I’ve actually written an article in the Bethel Collegian about the season so far – I’ve attached a link at the bottom for you.

In running, as we all well know, there is no off season. We’re already thinking about the outdoor track season. I’m very tempted to try my hand at marathon running this term. I only need to run a half marathon to qualify for Nationals, and I seem to have the best bet of getting there through this event. I also have the small matter of the cross-country nationals in April to think about. This of course was postponed from the Fall term because of Covid, and it could fit in very well with my training for the half marathon.

However, whatever training I have been doing has been somewhat curtailed by the recent weather. Kansas has been plunged into a nightmarish hell over the past week. Things have got as cold as -24 Celsius, though they’ve probably averaged about -15. This is absurdly cold, and I’m very grateful for the ski coat that I got for Christmas – an excellent piece of foresight by Sarah there! It’s so cold that weather warnings have been popping up on my phone, informing me that (should I be exposed for ten minutes outside) then there is a high risk of frostbite. I imagine that Judas and Brutus in Dante’s Ninth Circle of Hell, condemned to be eternally frozen by Lucifer's icy breath, have not felt as I have this week. Then again, I think I might have experienced worse. I shall never forget my childhood self, probably about the age that Oberon is now, being forced to race in freezing rain at Sefton Park. It was so cold that I was crying, though Sarah was naturally unsympathetic. Those were the days.

The Creek on our Campus has frozen solid!

And a Happy Birthday to Oberon - I've given him some special mentions! He must be at least six of seven years old by now. 😉

BC Collegian_Friday, February 12, 2021_Volume 109, Issue 7 by Bethel College - issuu