Excuses

Track training is every Monday, Thursday and Friday. However, I am excused from the Friday trainings, because currently, on Fridays, the sprinters do pool training. Anyway, I hate being seen as weak. I always push myself so that I will be seen as a fit and strong person. But my legs are always giving in. The first time was when my calves got cramped due to improper warm up exercises. I had to tell the coach and he benched me. Ms Tan, my track teacher said it happens, so I should not worry about it. The second time was when I had a bad stomach cramp and had to tell Ms Tan that I was not going to be able to attend training. She told me to rest and go home. Last Monday, my shins gave in. They hurt everytime I exert force on it. And sprinting exerts a lot of force on your shins, as compared to jogging. So I was again told to rest and the coach advised me to ice it. So I spent my training icing my shins.
I do not know what the coach thinks of me now. Probably hopeless, weak, full of excuses. The worst part of it all is I have to watch my fellow members 'suffer'. I would rather go through it with them. On Monday they did the '100m, 200m, 300m, 400m, 300m, 200m, 100m' drill. They all looked so exhausted, on the verge of fainting. I simply watched with a heavy heart. It was more painful than the throb in my shins whenever I ran.
As a sportsperson all my life, somehow I have always looked down upon people who are weak. Those who give up when there is just a little sore. Those who make up excuses to dodge the strenuous trainings.
Am I that whom I condemn? But I am remorseful. I hate being benched. Am I still the same as those who sit out because they want to sit out. Even when I tell the coach I am fine after icing my shins and that I wish to join the rest in training, he told me to continue icing even at home so that I will feel better the next training. He cares, I can tell. He would rather I sit out one training, than to hurt in subsequent trainings.
I just hope there will be no more of such cases where I appear weak. But what if the pain is really unbearable? Do I still keep going for the sake of my ego? People get hurt, right? Right.
Anyway, I am proud to say that I got a gold for my PFT! So did my girls, Farina and Amalina. Farina and I decided to re-run and it was a decision we did not regret, at all. We improved my a mile! Personally, I improved my 2 minutes and 17s. Mr Ng was so proud of us. His encouragement and Evelyn's 'Press ons' helped me every step of the way. So, if you are a hard -core sprinter and your lungs do not permit any distance beyond 200m, then I have just the solution for you to complete your 2.4km. Do the sprint and recover technique, where you sprint 100m, and recover (walk or slow jog) the next 100m. It works! Trust me. So this teaches us a valuable lesson, never be too proud to have to do second tries because you failed the first time round.

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