I arrived back in Eugene in early October, eager to begin my second year with the Oregon Track Club and the final push toward the highly anticipated 2012 Olympic Games. Last time the Games took place, I was a sophomore in college and while I did participate in the Trials, I didn’t REALLY participate. I was tired from a long college season and was left on the starting line star-struck by the athletes around me. Two World Championships and four years later, I am coming into this year from a very different place. Already, the last few months of training have been highly significant for me, but not in a very traditional way. The physical training and routine has become amazingly easier this time around but without any race results or big workout PR’s, it has not been in these areas that I have noticed the biggest changes. My travels and exposures to world class athletes have taught me more about what it takes to become a champion than what to eat for breakfast. I have seen very talented athletes fall short and other, arguably less likely ones, rise to unexpected heights. When you get to a certain level the difference between 1st and 5th rarely comes from VO2 or lactate thresholds. As cliche as it might be to say, I am finally beginning to understand what is really meant when people say it comes from somewhere much deeper. This year, I want to know where that is. And what that is.
I want to figure out, without a doubt, if I have that IT inside me. If this running thing is for really me. If I am for this running thing. Am I really good enough to compete at the highest level???
Not just compete, win.
And this career, this pursuit that is more than just a lofty goal but a lifestyle. Do I really love it enough to commit like that? Can I be truly happy making the necessary day to day sacrifices??
I am about to find out.
