Jon Rankin: Wages of Love
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #8)
Posted March 12th, 2008 at 6:00 PM by Jon Rankin
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Elite Athlete Blogs, Jon Rankin
Welcome to the official blog of rising U.S. track & field star Jon Rankin; the inaugural member of The Final Sprint’s Elite Athlete Blog Series. Be sure to check back every other Wednesday for Jon’s latest entry at http://jonrankin.thefinalsprint.com/
The warm sun of San Diego can spoil the most hardworking of souls.
Over the last few weeks I’ve been drenched by rain a handful of times. Outside of those few days of showers I’ve been lucky enough to experience arguably the best weather in the world. I would describe the type of good-weathered days San Diego’s been having as “beach days.” With the constant shining of the sun my soul has been rejuvenated. Although my last entry was a little depressing I didn’t want to hide from everyone the tough times we athletes experience on occasion. It’s a challenging life we lead. On a daily basis we ask the most of our hearts, bodies and spirits. Some days it can be very depressing when your best isn’t that good. This “depression” I mention is the price we pay for our love of our sport and our dreams. We’re never satisfied with anything less than all we’re capable of doing.
In all honesty, I’ve trained really well these last few weeks but I’m not disillusioned with my current circumstances. I’m working hard to continue to prepare for the Olympic Trials this coming June, but still have a lot of work left to do. With that said I’m very eager to begin competing in order to sharpen up my currently rusty track racing skills. This weekend’s San Diego State University (SDSU) Aztec Track Invitational will be my first opportunity. I will most likely compete in the 3k or 3000 meters and a few 800 meter races. (This may sound like a lot of racing, but we’re approaching this meet and many others like this meet as a day of training.)
After the SDSU Aztec Invitational we will be working toward competing in a few more local competitions in order to gear up for my first significant race effort in mid-April at UCLA in the Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational. I’m very excited about competing at UCLA because it’s my Alma Mater. It’s always special to go back home and perform for the fans that watched my career mature during my collegiate years; it will be very special to return as a professional athlete and give, what I hope will be, a great performance.
It’s a slippery slope we climb when trying to determine the best approach to take when training for a track season. It’s especially challenging when considering what the end of this particular season holds for all Olympic oriented athletes: a U.S.A. Olympic Team position. My approach to this year’s season will be somewhat different from previous years because the emphasis will be on peaking at the end of June rather than for the mid-to-late-summer and fall months. In other words, the most significant prize this season is a place on the U.S.A Olympic Team. It would be premature and a little presumptuous to look beyond the weeks of June 27th thru July 6th. So my coach and I will do everything we can to raise my level of fitness and strength in order to be in peak form for the trials. If we are fortunate enough to make the team we will utilize the weeks remaining after the trials and before the games to prepare for the games.
The 2008 Olympic Trials will be my first Olympic Trials experience. I don’t have too much experience preparing for such an amazing and momentous event, but I have a lot of faith in all of our training thus far; and I’m excited about all of the work we have left to do to prepare. It’s very scary training so hard everyday and not knowing for sure what the exact results of that work will be, but it’s also very exciting. I truly love what I’m doing. I know this because whenever I ask myself if I would rather be doing something else I find that the answer is always an emphatic ‘NO!’
Every day is hard. But I couldn’t imagine a better day than the hard days we experience while training for the Olympic Trials.
Every day we pay the “wages of love” for a dream, a dream that may very well come true at the end of June. Regardless of the outcome, it’s a small price to pay for the possible realization of a life’s work.
Check back on Wednesday, March 26 for Jon’s latest entry at: http://jonrankin.thefinalsprint.com/
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Tags: elite athlete blog, elite athlete blog series, jon rankin, professional running blog, san diego, the final sprint elite athlete blog series, thefinalsprint.com elite athlete blog series, training
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March 12th, 2008 at 8:28 pmJon keep up all your hard work and your dreams will all come true, hope to see u soon ,best of luck in all your track meets.i believe in you.
love mom
March 18th, 2008 at 12:16 pmJon, We have been trying to follow your success when ever we can find a newsbite. We are so excited for you. We wish you the best of luck and will keep following your endeavor. God Bless.
April 8th, 2008 at 9:05 pmFondly, Barb Stewart
(your 5th grade teacher)