Eric

Competition

In many ways life is a competition: working to get into a better college than your peers, working to get that big promotion over everyone else, trying for better test scores, for a toner body, even trying to beat your friends at Risk or Scrabble (or maybe that's just me), et cetera, et cetera. I was not a very competitive person in my youth. In fact I was just a pudgy little kid who played video games all the time and dreamt of someday being able to tie my shoes without getting winded. Then I started running with my dad and I found a drive to do something more. At first, running was just to lose weight, then I discovered I could actually be pretty good at it. In eight grade there was this dude who everyone worshipped as a practical speed god at my middle school. I dreamt of beating him at our one and only cross country meet. The year before, in seventh grade, I thought I would pull out something spectacular. However, the race rolled around and I was promptly disappointed. In retrospect, I was still chubby and hadn't put in near the work it would take to beat this guy. He had talent out the wazoo. He was cut and toned and just--fast. On the first day of eigth grade, he and I just happened to be assigned seats next to each other during the first class of the day. He would talk, I would listen. I could feel the drive in the pit of my stomach. I wanted to win that race this year. On race day, the gun sounded and we were off. We went back and forth and, in a sprint to the finish, I won. I couldn't believe it, nor could basically anyone at the school. The feeling I had inside me was incredible, something I wanted to experience as much as I could from that day forward. I worked my ass off and became a moderately successful high school runner and college runner. Not only did I taste success with running, but the competitive drive and the discipline associated with it spilled over into other areas of life, my grades, my relationships with people, my dreams, even my sense of humor. I owe who I am today to running and the man who started me down this path, my father.

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