My Running Story

So I ran into a girl yesterday, and she said that she seen me running. She was like "your so fast but you always talk bad about yourself and running." Like people might think that I suck or something..

The truth is, I ran for EWU, and that's a D1 program. Speed is relative, sure I was the man in high school. Didn't even have to try to win most races, pretty much number 1 or 2 in the area. I got 7th at 1-2-3A state in Cross country and like 14th in the 4A 2-mile and 1-mile. That's Alaska though.. I could say all day that I should of won state in cross, but I didn't.. I didn't try that day, just didn't push myself. That's the hardest thing you know, knowing I didn't finish a race tired. I had a game plan all year where I would go out hard, but at state I was afraid to take the lead so I hung onto second, and felt like I was in a daze as I slowly got passed by a few runners at a time.

I came out here to EWU my freshman year as a walk on, without doing any running the previous Summer at all. So I was just a redshirt. But I got better all year, and worked hard. Came on as our number 14 runner, and left my freshmen year as I'd say our number 6 or 7. Coach Dan Hilton always tried to break me my freshmen year. He'd say "Your not in High School anymore!!" Which was true, I went from being one of the best in my state to one of the worst on the team.. If I was getting beat by the rest of the team at practice he'd make me run with and pace the girls. That embarrassed the hell out of me. If I did good in a workout he'd ball the rest of the team out for letting me beat them. Instead of congratulating me for working hard, he'd be mad at everybody else.

At the end of my freshmen year he told me "Lose 10 pounds or your off the team." I said "Even if I'm top 5", and he said "Even if your top 5".. So I trained all Summer, and worked hard. I was training with a Kenyan who was ranked top 50 or 100 in the 1500 in the world. I had like 4.5% body fat, but I just didn't look anorexic enough I guess.

But coming back from my freshmen year my car broke down in Canada. So I couldn't make the tryouts, when I emailed coach telling him I'd be a week late. He told the rest of the team the next day at practice "Dru quit.." I guess I let my pride hold me back from forcing my way onto the track team for indoor which was just 3 months away. After that, I would still be training.. Until eventually I stopped running really. Started dating a short Italian girl, gained like 30 pounds.. And Then one day coach Dan Hilton quit.

After Hilton quit, people on the team started talking to me. Like you should make the mighty comeback. I mean I started feeling like a fat boy, and my brother L Moe would always talk to me when he had a few too many drinks in him. Like, "Your gonna look back and be like, I should of stuck with it." and then L Moe would start talking about his glory days of Skiing and what not haha.. So the next Summer I started training again. Got up to about 70 miles a week, but I was still feeling too heavy. I didn't really trust my legs anymore. I went to tryouts thinking I wouldn't make the team, and ended up with everybody like "Dam, Dru doesn't run for 2 years.. And then comes back faster then when he left.." I lost like 40 pounds in a couple of months, but I was losing muscle too. Because I was losing weight so fast.

I started PR'ing in every race, but didn't really know what I was doing. We don't really do track in Alaska, so when track came around I didn't really ever like it. I started getting good torwards the end, because I was going through the breakup. I would just go all out everyday in practice, hoping that the fatigue in my body would take some pain from my heart. I was kind of a psycho.
Nah scratch that I was hella psycho. But that Psycho made me get into real good shape.

The next year during cross I came back faster.. I'd hit my previous year's PR on slow courses. But I always want to be faster, and I still feel so new to running again, that I'd just be improving more and more every race. Learning new things, new tricks, new strategies all the time. I rarely ever walked away from a race happy, because I knew I could always do better. Or I'd pick apart where I could of did things differently.

Track season came, and like I said I'm not the biggest fan of track. But I started PR'ing everytime I raced. Won races against all of the smaller schools so I started gaining confidence. But at the same time I was mad that I didn't see competition good enough to get me a qualifying time to conference. I went into conference as a wild card, and PR'd again, in triple digit weather. I think it was around 105-107 when I raced. I was racing with people way faster then me, but I didn't let that heat or anything else get into my head. I know I'm only going to run as fast as I'm capable of running. That's how I relax, worst case scenario is I don't give it everything I have. My friends on the team were laughing like everybody was scared of the heat, and I'm dancing at the starting line waiting for the gun to go off.

When I look back at conference I can see my mistakes and pick them apart. Some wierd things happened that I hadn't seen all year, so I didn't know how to react. If I trusted my legs more I might have gone 10 seconds faster. But when all was said and done I PR'd in 105 degree weather. Ran D1 track for EWU, had a lot of fun, challenged myself, and learned a lot.

I still feel kind of robbed by Dan Hilton, and if I see him I might punch him in the face. But don't think I suck at running because I say I suck. Speed is relative. I always feel like I have something to prove.. You know, you go all out or be gone. I ain't here cuz' I fell down, I'm here cuz' I got up. Dedication. After my eligibility was up, I'd still be training. But Really I've only been doing like 2 or 3 races a year max. I think somewhere along the line I've gotten scared of losing. Like I said speed is relative. You can be the fastest person on the planet, one day. But the next day who knows how you are. You have to continue to test yourself, it's the only way to know where you are at.

Right now I'm working on slowly getting my miles up so I can get in a few big races this Summer. I've learned to relax and let your training do the talking on race day. Right now I'm running because well. I like to run. And yes, I've got something to prove.

Dru-P (Dominant Runner Under Pressure)