Track superstar

This is going to come as a shock to most of you, but I was not a four letter sports star in high school. I know, I know ... I look like I started at point guard, was an all-city safety, led the swimming team to a state championship, and anchored the hockey team's first line. You might find this hard to believe, but I was not an athlete in either high school or college. I was president of the computer club, captain of the Scrabble team, and was widely regarded as *the* guy you wanted on your Pictionary roster ... but those stories for other days.

I was on the track team ... for about as long as it took me to write this blog. Seriously. A few days after track season started, I saw the coach and innocently asked how the team looked (why I did that remains a mystery to me). He told me I should join the team because he still needed a few more athletes. With a personal invitation like that, I showed up wearing something that might have made me look like an extra from Flashdance (cut me some slack ... it was 1985).

He asked what I could do, and I said, "anything you need to me do, coach." I felt like a stud saying that. He said he needed a miler and wanted me to run four laps around what looked like a very long track. I took off, and my first lap was impressive. I was a blur. By the time I started my second lap I thought it was important to conserve my strength (and my pounding heart), so I walked a little. I'm not sure how long my third lap would have taken had I finished it, because I started thinking about how impossible it was to run a whole mile. When I got to the third turn on that third lap, I just kept walking straight. I didn't look back and I didn't even tell the coach where I was going. Being on the track team sucked.

I'll be completely Frank with you (get it? it's my name and it means "earnest" too ... it's a play on words). I often have moments like that. Times when I just want to quit. For example, just about every time I get on that stepper, I want to call it quits about three minutes in. My legs already hurt and it doesn't feel like I can do it, but I know that if I can suck it up and get to about the seven minute mark, I'm usually good for a full 45 minutes or so. I just have to clear that first block. I've run miles and miles on the treadmill in the last few weeks, and my fastest times have never been my first mile, but rather my second or third.

If you're thinking about taking this fitness journey, but you have experiences like my track career, let me encourage to power through that first and second and third moment of doubt. You are so much stronger than you think are. You can go further than you think you can go.