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Loose Ends
Torin Koos was a standout runner and skier for the University of Utah, before graduating last spring. He lives in Leavenworth, Washington.
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\r\nLoose Ends
\r\nby Torin Koos
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\r\nOn the way to the university locker for one final time. The room is quiet. And musty as always, and just a little bit sad packing up shorts, shirts and shoes, three pairs in various states of dilapidation.
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\r\nAtop a cork message board a picture of Roger Bannister breaking the tape, spent, the clock stopped at 3:59.4, dominates the room. Below reads the title reads in big block letters, THE SINGLE GREATEST MOMENT. Below, in the left corner runs a picture of Steve Prefontaine at the 1972 Olympic Trials stringing the field out on a cool, damp Eugene day at Hayward Field. One moment Pre looks as if he’s staring right into you, sizing you up for a fight. The next it’s as if he’s in some other world, detached from everything except that moment. A classic. A picture of Emil Zatopek follows to the right, his face contorted in grimacing agony. Damn. One tough bastard. The three picture sequence finishes with Marty Liquori taking Jim Ryan out into lane three to win the Penn Relays. Taking in sights and smells, memories come back.
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\r\nFirst I remember summer six mile tempo runs in Salt Lake City’s Liberty Park. Man those were painful, once weekly exposing physical weakness and testing mental tenacity. I’ll always remember the feeling of getting dropped from the lead pack (it happened most every time) and having to slug out the final miles in a foggy haze. I will also always remember the feeling of fracturing my femur - the longest, largest and strongest bone - my freshman year. Or watching Ski Team teammates Ryan Quinn and Zack Simons ‘moved’ a couch by heaving it through a third story apartment sliding glass window. Or the fifteen mile, 3 a.m. run of mayhem with two prankster-friends that culminated with running through the University’s football stadium with red lights flashing and - no joke, I read the police report in journalism class the next day - sixteen police cars and three firetrucks in hot pursuit.
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\r\nAs once a runner, success takes on a cut-and-dry characteristic. Achievement gets boiled down into hard, concrete terms. Just as Brett Favre is Packer employee #4, or Ty Cobb is Mr. .406, among running circles numbers interchange with names. The Union Jack’s Sebastian Coe is also Sir 1:41.71. Tattooed to my forehead might as well be 1:51.6 or 3:49.68. While skiing soon began to dictate ten months of my calendar, personal records on the track still partially define who I am, what I have done, what I can do. They influence how I view myself, and this makes me cringe. I should be better than this. I am better than that. But I’ve never done better than that. Looking back at the details of those college years I feel sheepish, dwelling on what could have been. I feel the sting of failure, the tug of disillusion on the track . A common cold, followed by a tight calf that turned to achilles tendonitis marked the end of my college days, with more run left in my heart than my legs. Ah, to have a chapter of your life close less auspiciously than it began.
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\r\nTeam Today is a non-profit organization run by, and for, the athletes of the US Cross-country team. The USST is run on a shoestring budget, and our increasing success at the international level is making for increasing demand on our ever-limited resources. To find out how you can join Team Today, visit www.teamtoday.org, or contact Andrew Johnson bode1978@yahoo.com, or Pete Vordenberg pvordenberg@ussa.org. With your assistance, we will be THE BEST IN THE WORLD!
Written By: TKoosDate Posted: 6/24/2004Number of Views: 339
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