Despite this blog’s focus being on rugby, the fact of the matter is that we support all sports. The rugby lifestyle will lead you to just want to get better in any athletic competition. Rugby is a brutal sport, and is the ultimate test of speed, skill, power, and determination. But that doesn’t mean that other sports can’t be explored as well.
For me, Track & Field is my follow up passion to rugby. More specifically, the hurdles. The 110 hurdles have a way of making you feel like the ultimate athlete. So, what if you can run 100 meters in 10 seconds, can you run 110 in 14 seconds with 10 huge hurdles in your way? I loved the hurdles from the moment I first ran the 110’s in a track meet. I took last place in my heat but I was determined.
Any true rugger knows what it’s like to be obsessed with training. Every spare moment is an opportunity to bang out a few push ups or air squats. This experience with the hurdles was the beginning of that for me. I would get up early each day and do as many sit ups, pushups and air squats as I could. Then I would go to classes until I would lead the hurdlers in their warmup and training, following which I would join the sprinters for their workout, and then I would go to the gym for 1-2 hours afterward to strengthen every important muscle for hurdlers. I worked almost constantly.
When it came time for me to run the final meet of my career. I was running against the top men in my region. It was the preliminary round, and I ran the fastest time. I was so excited that I had a chance at qualifying for state, I couldn’t contain my excitement. As I readied myself for the race I walked to the coveted fourth lane on the track. I did a few tall hops and crouched down as I dug the spikes of my left shoe into the blocks followed by my right foot.
I listened as the announcer yelled “SET,” and I lifted my butt to the sky with my hands just millimeters behind the white start line. My nerves were going crazy, every scenario went through my head in the instant between the announcers “set” and “GOO!” He screamed it as he shot the gun into the air. I shot off the blocks, a few feet in front of the next fastest runner. I enhanced my lead with every step, and then leapt as the first hurdle quickly approached, my front foot made it over by centimeters, just the way coach had taught me. As my front foot started to reach for the ground, I brought my back foot forward, and it caught the hurdle.
I tripped and rolled in my lane, scraping every inch of my back. I stood up quickly almost perfectly in stride but it was useless, I was in last place. I pushed hard to try and get back in the game. I passed one person, putting me in seventh place. Then I was in sixth, fifth. One hurdle left, I was inches behind the fourth-place runner. If I could pass him I would still qualify for state. I pumped my legs, ran the last hurdle perfectly and practically dove over the finish line. It was a photo finish. My coach and I walked over to the screen, and my heart sank as I saw his head go over the line under an inch before mine did.
Later that day, I looked at the times that were listed on the announcer’s box. Even though I didn’t qualify for state, I still had the fastest time in the 110 hurdles at that meet. But I felt like I had accomplished something despite not qualifying for state. I had put in a lot of work, and it ultimately showed. No matter what your sport, there’s no feeling like putting in that work until the very end.
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