Sophomore Andrea Keklak entered the 2009 All-State meet as the top seed in a stacked 800 race. Keklak had defeated almost all of the top 800 runners the previous week in the Division 1 meet, which for the second year in a row provided virtually all of the top seeds.
When the gun went off the runners went out hard and Keklak was tripped up, causing a restart to the race. These early falls can have a couple of different kinds of affects on athletes. Sometimes it can benefit an athlete if they can keep their composure, as it spikes the adrenaline. For others it can offer a ready excuse, and excuses are dangerous when it starts to hurt later later in the race. Its easier to let go when there is a safety net to catch you, "I could have gone faster but [fill in the excuse]...".
Nobody would have blamed Andrea if she not run well, or at all, for this was no ordinary fall. As she fell she was inadvertantly kicked under the chin by the heel of another runner and suffered a mild concussion. However after being checked out by the meet trainers, she toed the line again. In the second lap she escaped from being boxed in, rounded the last curve, and took the lead in the homestretch before being caught by another impressive sophomore, Margo Gillis of Newton North, in the final meters, ending up in second. It was a gutty race.
But she wasn't done yet. The adrenaline could have carried her through the first race, but I'm sure her head was hurting quite a bit after she cooled down. Again she could have begged off, but she insisted to the trainer and her coach that she could still run, so she went out and anchored the LS 4x800 to their second consecutive All-State 4x800 title, holding off Newton South in the final straightaway.
The performance reminded me of a story I had heard about her in the stands a few months ago. I don't know how much it has been embellished (in fact I might embellish it myself for good measure), but its a good story regardless.
When Andrea was in middle school, the Keklaks were leaving some family event somewhere when Andrea and her little brother decided to race across the parking lot back to their family van. Her little brother, being two years younger, got a head start. Off they raced. The little brother, being a smart young lad, slowed in the final couple of steps to avoid crashing into the van. Not Andrea though - she ran full bore into the side of the van, bounced off, and slammed back onto the pavement, knocking herself cold and earning her first concussion while running.
She won of course.
It just goes to show how important the mental aspect is to this sport. Talent is useless if you can't take the pain. Running is hard work. It hurts. I'm sure all sports can argue how much effort and hard work go into their endeavors, but distance running is unencumbered by other distractions like putting the ball in the goal, or catching a pass. It is only about the effort. It is summed up by one of my favorite T-shirt slogans: "my sport is your sport's punishment".
When my daughter Emily was in sixth grade, she started running in a couple of youth meets. In her first outdoor 400 she won the race, finishing in 67 seconds. I had no idea whether that was fast or not back then, but it seemd pretty good to me. The next month she entered the New England Junior Olympics and her time from the earlier meet got her into the top section. It was our first experience with these meets, so we got there a little before the meet started, not realizing how long these JO youth meets take (the answer is "foooreeeverrrr"). There was a bigger crowd than I expected, especially given that the weather was much like it has been this June: 60 degrees and drizzling. Unfazed, Emily and I watched heats and heats of different events for a range of age groups. Little did I realize that Emily did not eat lunch, saying later that she was too nervous. When her event finally rolled around at 3 pm she had not eaten since 7:30 that morning. She also could hardly contain herself she was so excited.
The gun went off and Emily went out like she was shot from a cannon. She passed the first 200 in under 30 seconds and by the time she entered the home straightaway she was easily 30 meters ahead of the field. She started to tie up at that point, but with the lead she had she could jog in and win it.
And jog in she did. About 20 meters from the end she really started to bonk. And then she lost her balance and fell. The crowd was really getting into it now as the rest of the pack was quickly descending upon her. I remember one club coach she had never met was right next to the track yelling encouragement to her "Get up, you're almost there! Get up!". Emily immediately started to her feet again, but staggered a second time. However this time she stayed up, and wobbled across the finish line somewhere in the middle of other runners.
After the race, she felt sick and began vomiting. I remember stroking her hair as she lay on the bench next to the garbage can with her eyes closed, and thinking "well, she'll never want to run track again after this experience - I wonder what other sports she might like". Not only was she in physical discomfort, but had fallen in front of a large crowd - something that most sixth graders would magnify into some unbearable embarrasement.
But on the way home she was able to keep a bagel down and started to perk up. She sat up and looked over the back seat and said, "when's the next practice?".
And then I knew I had a runner.
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