The day before RMAC

Another season is reaching its peak. Here in Durango the teams of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference are converging to test themselves over the 8k distance. For some, tomorrow will be about championships. For most, RMAC is a chance to see where one ranks amongst the best conference in Division II cross country.

Everyone is guaranteed one more race this season at North Central Regionals but that is a far distant prospect today. For now, all the mental energy is being poured into tomorrow's race. A year of training, of doubts, of successes and pains will all be up for evaluation.

The question is not one of fitness. The question deals more with toughness, with discipline and desire. Tomorrow is a test of the spirit. Who will reach deep for the intangibles that seperate those with fitness from those who rise above the relative weekness of their bodies and land in an unknown land of achievement set aside for the courageous?

This land is the essence of transcendence. It cannot be begged or bargained for. It is reached only when motives are pure and the mind is clear, entrenched in the task at hand. To struggle against oneself and demand success from the onlookers is to admit defeat from the onset. This ideal must be transparent in order to be fulfilled. The runner must go within himself, explore the limits of his soul, shatter those concepts and continue on in giddy assurance that this is only the beginning. "There is more here, I will do all things."

As the white peaks in the distance sit patiently, we runners do the same. The work to this point has been done. Tranquility must be found today and carried into tomorrow. The spirit we choose to run with is the spirit with which we choose to live. An expression of self awaits. A masterpiece in 5 miles.