By BEN MCCARTY
News staff writer
May 10, 2008

The Hood River Valley distance running team could have had a day off on Thursday.

The track at Henderson Community stadium, where the team usually practices, was being used for a middle school meet.

But the distance runners don’t need a track.

On a typical afternoon, no matter the weather, you can spot them running along the road, around downtown, or maybe stopping (briefly) to catch their breath in the school parking lot.

And Thursday was no exception to the usual routine.

But that just comes with the territory in a sport where the mental conditioning that develops over running mile after mile is just as important as the physical training.

It may just seem crazy for high school kids to give up large portions of their week to pound the pavement for hours at a time, but they are not crazy, just dedicated. OK, maybe they are a little crazy, but in a good way. One has to be of a slightly different breed to get enjoyment out of running for hours everyday year-round.

And every second that comes off their time, every time they start crossing the finish line feeling like they could do another mile instead of feeling like they are ready to pass out, brings enjoyment.

“There is a direct relationship between how hard you work and how much you improve,” HRV distance coach Kristen Uhler said as the team went through its pre-run stretches on Thursday. “They get gratification from the work.”

The team is preparing for its part of the Mount Hood Conference district meet next week, where it will try to continue a strong distance running tradition at HRV.

HRV consistently qualifies runners for state in both cross country and distance running in track. Last year runners Leo Castillo and Erin Jones traveled to University of Oregon for the state finals, and both Castillo and Jones, along with several of their teammates, will likely make the trip again this year.

However, it is not the possibility of winning a state trophy that drives them, but the opportunity to improve each time out.

“My favorite part of each race is the last part, where I get to see how tough I am,” senior Alex Van Slyke said.

It’s that last part of the race where the distance runner’s second gear kicks in.

They go from calculating how hard they should push each lap, trying to pace themselves with the rest of the pack and figuring out where they need to be to have a chance at the end of the race to transform into sprinters for the last 200 meters to the finish.

Distance runners need a different mentality from sprinters. There is not much glory in running around in circles over and over and drafting behind a pack of other runners.

It does not have the the same sensation of blasting out of the blocks, running as fast as you can and leaving ones’ opponents in the dust.

If you perform poorly, you can’t escape the eyes of the crowd as easily either.

If you fall behind in a sprint, you might finish 5 or 10 seconds behind the leader.

If you fall behind in a distance race, it can be a lonely experience as you stumble to the finish line by yourself minutes after everyone else in the event has cleared the track and the next group of runners are waiting impatiently by the starting line for you to finish so they can start their race.

“It takes real guts to do it,” Uhler said. “There is no one else to pass the ball off to.”

But in the last few hundred meters of the race, the distance race goes from a strategic chess match to the sprint, and the mental state of “How long can I last?” switches to “How fast can I go?”

At that point it boils down to how much energy the runner has left in their legs and how much confidence they have in those legs as they push to the finish.

“I go in knowing that I’ve worked harder than the person next to me and that I can do it,” Rachael Mallon said of her approach to the final stretch of the race.

To prepare for the final kick, and the thousands of meters before it, they run. And run. And run. And run.

Many runners in the sport average upwards of 50 miles a week.

“After awhile you don’t even think about it, you just do it,” Castillo said.

And after they make it to the finish line, their lungs burning their hearts pounding and their legs shaking, was it all worth it?

“The runner’s high after a really good run is just an amazing experience,” Mallon said.

For the distance runners, those few minutes of euphoria are well worth the pain, the time, and the tired muscles.

“For them it’s a year-round thing,” Uhler said. “That’s what makes the difference between a good runner and an average runner.”