Track

The track team has often been overlooked in the history of Westminster, but I believe that is about the change in light of our State appearance last year and because we are going to have around 40 runners for this year’s track season.

About a week ago it was in question if we were even going to have a coach this year, but to our delight Coach Cochran decided to put up with us for another year and coach the track team.

Track is a sport of not only physical toughness but mental as well. When you are nearing the end of your race and you need one last burst of physical exertion, you have to convince your body that it can and will endure the pain of going faster and hopefully in turn winning the race. If runners are neck and neck it usually comes down to which runner mentally wants the win the race more and not necessarily which runner has better physical fitness. This fact of mental toughness as well as physical toughness is why you cannot just simplify track to“running.”

Also one of the main deciding factors in determining who will win a race is essentially who can endure the most pain. The reason that you experience pain when you run is because lactic acid builds up in your muscle, causing you to feel pain. This “pain” is the main reason that people do not like running in general. One of my favorite quotes pertaining to track/cross country is from Tanya Rodgers – “Run until you can’t take another step – then keep running!”

This year I am sure will be a step in the right direction and since Coach Cochran is back it will be a much larger step than it otherwise would have been.

By Gregory T. Benson