Running alone

2004-10-28 - 9:45 p.m.

Even though about 6 people showed up at practice tonight, it was still fun.

I feel a little bit awkward, though, because I seem to have a different ethic than a lot of the guys on the team when it comes to working at practice.

Lately, the turn-out's been pretty low, and we spend the first twenty minutes (at least) standing around and waiting for people to show up. It wasn't a problem when the sun set later, but nowadays that only leaves us with a thin window of actual light.

So, for the last two practices, I've shown up on time, chatted with the guys who were there for a bit. Then, after about 10 minutes, if nothing's happening, I change into my shorts and cleats, spend a few more minutes talking and stretching, and eventually I just start doing the cardio part of the practice by myself: run laps, run up steep hills, etc. Once everyone else gets started, then I join in with them.

The main part of it is because I've been skipping the gym lately, and I want to stay in shape: rugby's a rough game and I suspect that if I'm not in the best possible shape by the time we go to New York (still pending, I'll know tomorrow), I could be facing an American emergency room with a broken arm or something. I don't have a serious problem with facing hospitals, but I've heard some horror stories about the US medical system, and I'd rather not verify them first-hand.

Anyway, I worry about the fact that I'm the only guy doing these warm ups. I don't want people to think that I'm stuck up or something (because clearly there has been a time warp and I am back in junior high), but I really don't want to spend my Monday and Thursday evenings standing around in the cold bitching about how no one's around.

Monday, there was a new guy there, and after twenty minutes of no one doing anything and a rather low turn-out, the new guy left and said he'd come back another time. I kind of have the feeling that if instead when he showed up, even if there were only a few guys around, we all started doing simple drills and warm-ups, he might have stayed the entire time and the whole team would have been the better for it (the guy apparently played a few years at the college level in BC).

Anyway, because I'm still the new guy to the athlete-culture world, I'm not comfortable enough to articulate this stuff without stepping on peoples' toes (which I don't want to do just yet), plus it may be that I've figured the purpose of "practice" all wrong.

All I want to do is get in shape, learn some skills, and hang out with likeable people who like me. Should that be so difficult?

Anyway, because of all the running and the other running and the running up steep hills many, many times (over twice as many as anyone else, because I started early)...I have high hopes that I might get to sleep before 3am tonight.

Cheers,

The Magus

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