Welcome spring back, everyone. Last Friday it was sunny, then rainy, then sunny, then cold, then warm. It’s safe to say spring sports can begin. The official start is still a few weeks away, but break out the batting cages anyway. Tape up those lacrosse sticks. Lace up those running shoes tightly.
Truth be told, running is the only sport that should truly matter this time of year.
Baseball, softball, golf and lacrosse have their place, but c’mon! Baseball requires three hours of continuous sunshine. In Oregon? In March? Get outta here! Meanwhile, softball is more high maintenance than your last girlfriend, and golf and lacrosse are the least spectator-friendly sports on the planet.
Watching a race is to watch an epic unfold – a continuum of action. There are fewer breaks than a carbon chain.
In baseball and softball, players pause after every pitch. Players use “chatter” and give hand signals. Golfers meander through open pastures and wait for the wind to die down before attempting a shot. Lacrosse is simply a big game of keep away.
These sports are mentally taxing, require body control and strength and are among the more difficult sports available to high school and collegiate athletes – but it’s not running.
A few years back, former Oregon State basketball coach Jay John would threaten the team with a 5:45 a.m. practice if they didn’t perform. Their punishment: running. The players woke up before dawn, put on their sweats and walked over to Gill Coliseum. At 5:44 a.m., ask them what they would rather be doing. The reply: anything but running.
Anything? Push-ups, somersaults in a forest, pumping gas in January, moving a neighbor’s furniture, taste testing Russian cigarettes? You name it, and they’d rather be doing it.
Runners know it, too. Especially distance runners. Distance running is physically and mentally challenging. It takes heart, courage, passion, drive, determination, a desire for endorphins and a high threshold for pain. Runners tackle 800-meter intervals, tempo runs and whistle fartleks on a weekly basis. It isn’t for the weak-stomached or queasy. Or the out-of-shape.
While running is a punishment for the athletic world, the athletic world is a breeze for a runner. It’s too easy, they say, a walk in the park. A runner couldn’t work up a sweat in nine innings – or in nine holes for that matter.
Just take a look at their swagger as they walk around. Has there ever been a distance runner that wasn’t a little strange? Former University of Oregon runner Steve Prefontaine was a spectacular runner. He ran from Eugene to Newport for fun! Chances are Pacific runners Dylan Taylor and Whitney Nelson are similar.
Distance runners suffer from the same complex gymnasts face. Racing is about perfection and hitting splits. And like gymnastics, watching runners can be breathtaking because they make the most difficult task look effortless.
Other sports may take more skill at first glance. They may command the attention of the crowds, but they are far from physically demanding. That’s why runners aren’t in the limelight. Running isn’t clean – it’s gritty and forceful. It isn’t sexy.
Hicham El Guerrouj – the first man in 80 years to win both 1500-meter and 5000-meter races in the same Olympics – wasn’t sexy. It was overdue. He was the first man to do it since “Flying Finn” Paavo Nurmi in 1924. Maria Runyan – who finished eighth in the 1500-meter at the 2000 Olympic Games – didn’t capture the attention of America, just the hearts of every paralympic athlete. She was blind after all. Running is Rodney Dangerfield – no respect, I tell ya.
But this time of year, it should be respected. Even revered. Outside of the level of training the athletes go through, in Oregon, it might be the only spring sport that offers fans a guaranteed start time with no delays and no pauses in the action.
Leaving fans plenty of time to stay under an umbrella in the cold, rainy, sunny warmth.
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