Try this exercise: don’t think about anything. Don’t think about your goals or your barely-effective sports bra, or that the Fruit Loops you ate at 6 a.m. are inching back up your throat. Think only about what is directly in front of you. Do this for 19 minutes and 59.67 seconds.
A team sport is largely a mental game you play against your opponents. As an NAIA-ranked cross country runner, Mary Erin Imwalle doesn’t have that protection. Her opponents are abstract; they are her insecurities and her physical limits.
And to win is to systematically control them.
While it may have taken Siddhartha Gautama six years to achieve this mental clarity, the mass communication junior from Mobile, Ala. has budgeted herself two hours. She isn’t locked away in some Tibetan monastery, but on a bus in Clinton, Miss., with the rest of Loyola’s cross country team. Coach Al Seither doesn’t say much for the ride and neither does Imwalle.
It’s now 6:45 a.m.
Her race at the NAIA Region XIII meet doesn’t start until eight, but her cerebral opponents have already begun to taunt her.
They throw at her everything that might go wrongand ask her what brilliant excuse she’ll use if she performs poorly.
They know all her weaknesses, as she is well acquainted with theirs. She has faced them at every meet since the ninth grade and hasn’t gotten this far without the strength and discipline to combat their unrelenting pessimism. She tells them everything will be fine repeatedly.
One hour till the race.
Now try this: run alongside 51 people but remain completely isolated. They’re next to you, behind you, and more pressingly, in front of you. Don’t worry about their name, rank, or the last time they went to church. Judge only their speed and your speed, and let each mile pass you while gauging the distance between your legs and the 5,000 meter mark.
Mary Erin can do this with stoic excellence. She’ll thank God when it’s over. She’s come in sixth place. It will take her to the NAIA Nationals in Louisville, Ky., for the second time.
When she realizes that the lagging 45 have been staring at her back for most of the race, her aggressors will sulk to the back of her mind.
It feels pretty good to exceed your running peers, but to battle your own demons and come out the victor creates an inimitable gratification.
Nicole Mundy can be reached at [email protected].
