Within a relatively short period of time one begins to discern whether or not any talent is present, and thus whether to adjust the dreams upward toward an Olympic medal or downward to midpack obscurity and competitions with the self and the clock. I realized early on that my station was the latter. Everyone s a winner stuff. I desperately wanted to win something a horrible plastic trophy, a useless medal, a hideous wall plaque to have some recognition for the agony that racing often was. The fact that I wasn t very good at running made the pursuit of prizes that much more dear.
Nobody ever talks about trophies.
Most runners fast ones, anyway are too cool to admit they want them. When I mention the subject to elite or semi-elite runners, they act like they have no idea what I m talking about. My husband, Bill, is a very good example. He then looks confused and says something like, Oh, just this plaque. He will then take said plaque and put it in a big box in the cellar and when the box gets full, he ll take it to the dump.