Friday, December 13, 2013

#Reverb13, Day 12: Free writing

Throughout the month of December, I’ll be participating in #reverb13: Reverb is a way to reflect on the past year and project into the next year with a prompt a day for 31 days.

Day 12 – Free writing
Write for five consecutive minutes on the word “jump” as it pertains to this past year. No editing. Set a timer. Just write.

Jumping makes me think about jumping, literally.  I posted over the summer about the awesome all-comers track meets hosted by one of our local running stores.  For six weeks in the early part of the summer, there is a track meet one night filled with everyone from age 3 to about age 75.  While they do separate heats for the little kids, the overwhelming majority of adults are way out of my league.  Admittedly, I could probably beat a fair number of them if the "random" event one night was longer than a 10k, certainly if there were a random 15 mile run or something, but I'd by far at the bottom end of the runners out there competing in events like 800 meters, 1000 meters, the mile, the 100 meter sprint, etc. 

It's so disheartening in some ways, but honestly, I still love it.  There's something about being at the track with all those people, feeling like you're dying and running your heart out.  I guess I should have tried to run track or something in high school.  I always make an effort to start in the slowest field, the announcer sometimes specifically calls it "the distance runners' heat".  And he's also let me run with the master's women (over 40) even though I'm not over 40, because there is a significant dearth of women between ages 25 and 40, most women running are high school or college aged track runners. 

Anyway, two years ago, I made an effort to compete in the long jump at the track meets.  This past summer, I did that again, set a new PR, and this year, I also attempted the high jump twice.  I really, really, really suck at the high jump.  I can't seem to master the one-footed launch, let alone getting over the bar, even when it's really low.

The whole endeavor has been humbling.  Especially when I excitedly PR in the long jump and then ask someone random (a running friend, a coworker, someone at boot camp) how far they think I can jump with a running start and they'll say something like "10 feet," and I have to admit, no, I PRed but uh, I'm not even close to 10 feet.  I think I was excited to get over 6 feet the first time.  The only thing that sucks about it is getting sand EVERYWHERE.  And when it's 95 degrees and you're already sweaty and fall forward into the sand, it sticks to you like crazy.

Anyway, I'm proud of my literal attempts to continue to jump in 2013, despite my lack of talent.  It's fun and it's a new challenge, and that can't be a bad thing! 

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