A hill, on the other hand, is not.
A hill, whether paved or on a trail, is immovable and vastly unyielding. It laughs in the face of an athlete's futile efforts, effortlessly coaxing gallons of sweat from their backs to quench its thirst. A hill is something immense, insurmountable, invincible.
But when you reach the summit, you are the invincible one.
Today's track practice involved one such hill. Our coach (who I assume would rather remain anonymous) informed us that we would be running 6 intervals up and down a straight stretch of hill, then 6 shorter repeats around a block on that same hill.
My hamstrings, calves, and brain were protesting. My first thought was, that's crazy.
But I didn't think it would be impossible. Because our coach hasn't led us the wrong way yet.
Had I been running on my own, I probably wouldn't have picked a hill. On the off chance that I would have, I probably would have done maybe 3 repeats. Assuming that I wouldn't have given up after the first one.
Having our coach permits us to let go of our own laziness and follow the plan that she's set out for us. It's so much easier to keep going in the face of agony, dehydration, and sweat when it's with the group of amazing athletes that I have the privilege to train with. And it makes it all worthwhile when our coach gathers us up after our last repeat and tells us she's proud of us.
It's a lot of pressure on her. With our trust on her shoulders, she has the burden of making sure the workout she's planning is enough to challenge our limits, but not to overtrain or injure us. She somehow finds a way to challenge our mental toughness and our physical capabilities, every single workout. She successfully sees our potentials as what they really are, and not what we see them as. Since I've started training with her last summer, I've improved in leaps and bounds, and astounded myself with my own abilities.
During workouts that she's assigned, it's occasionally gotten to the point where I've wondered why I do this. Why do another hill repeat when I could go home and stare at a computer screen for 12 hours? Why eat a vegetable when I could be binging on ice cream and cake?
It's these moments of agonized reflection that I've become stronger, so much stronger than I'd ever hoped to be.
So, thank you, Coach. Thank you for all lf the time, energy, and patience that you expend on us students. We may not show it often, but we depend on you so much. We may be the ones crossing finish lines and summitting mountains, but you're the one carrying us to the start.
Your student,
-Celina