Goings on at my running club have led me to consider that which I am; an athlete or a runner? My coach, bless his little cotton socks, always says that I am an athlete. He has been saying this for some time now but I never believe him. So, which am I really? And why don't I accept what he says? According to Dictionary.com an athlete (ath-lete) is: a person trained or gifted in exercise or contests involving physical agility, stamina or strength; a participant in a sport, exercise, or game requiring physical skill. Another web source (adapted slightly) says that, 'an athlete is the one who exercises every day. An athlete is the one who white knuckles a rest day because he/she wants to get out on the road and run, even though their body needs a break. An athlete practices to be better. An athlete is out there competing, even though they know they will lose. Even though they know that there is no stadium full of people. Even though Runners World would never put them on the front cover, even if they were running in the nude for charity.'Well, I have to admit that I do recognise some of these qualities in me but there are others that I reject totally. For instance, I might be trained but I ain't gifted. I don't have much physical skill either - my school football games would testify to that! Got to say, at my age, I don't have much agility either and as for 'white knuckling' a rest day, well there is no chance of that happening. I do train and practice to be better - that's why I pay shed loads of money to my coach. If I admit to 'competing', well it will be with a small 'c', as I tend only to compete against myself; it's safer that way. Sometimes in races however, I do start to compete in the real sense of the word but only near the end, as by then I've got fed up with the same guy overtaking me and me overtaking him time and time again. A particular skill that I do have is pacing. Pacing myself that is, not pacing as in running at a particular speed for mile after mile. My pacing, comes with age. It's a survival technique that allows me to wind up my running effort over distance - if I am okay for the first mile or so, then I'll increase my pace a bit. It goes on like this until I find myself overtaking those who have given it their all from the start line and are now dying on their feet. If I find myself flagging, then I'll slow it down a bit. After all it's only me that I am really running against. What races do I like? Well I don't like 5K's. They require you to die on the start line and continue dying until you cross the finish line, finished, spent and in my case on the edge of passing on. I'm ambivalent about 10K's, as they require effort too but at least you get a few more miles to wind things up a bit. I quite like half marathons, as they are more sociable. Same goes for marathons, except that they can get hard as time and distance goes by. Now, I do like ultra events. They require a degree of intelligence to be applied - not that other races don't. Over ultra distances (my current max distance is 100K) you have to have a proper plan in place. You have to pace yourself and you have to have the stamina to keep going. To keep going in ultra's, you have to walk at times, especially up hills, and walking allows recovery which is fine by me. Ultra's also offer you a sense of adventure and exploration; adventure in being out there, exploration as in getting in touch with your mind, body and soul. Ultra's quite often have check points too where you are required (not always though) to stop, take on food and water and be medically checked before being allowed to continue on once more into the wild blue yonder. All this helps to break up the mileage into manageable chunks and that in turn allows you to keep going. That can't be bad, can it.
So where is this all leading? Well to my mind, athletes are more likely to be found participating in track and field events, i.e. in an arena or out on a pure cross-country course. They are more likely to be very competitive, have a degree of talent and have the ability to focus intently on their goal. Me? I'm just for enjoying myself, especially running off road trails. I also enjoy the other benefits that running brings; fitness, fresh air, relaxation, a chance to be out in nature, opportunities to explore and find previously unknown places. In response to a question about why run instead of hike, David Horton said at the outset of his mammoth 2,700 mile run along the Pacific Crest Trail: 'I'm a runner, not a hiker.' Well, I'm a runner, a social runner, not an athlete and I don't want to belong to an athletic club thank you very much.
