Chris Derrick: An Unusual End
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #2)
Posted May 29th, 2008 at 12:30 PM by Chris Derrick
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Elite Athlete Blogs, High School, Chris Derrick
Welcome to the official blog of Chris Derrick; the 2007 Gatorade High School Cross Country Runner of the Year and 5k record holder! Make sure to bookmark chrisderrick.thefinalsprint.com and check back every other Tuesday for Chris’ latest entries as he completes his senior year of high school running and begins his NCAA career at Stanford!
The last month or so since the Arcadia invite has been for me a really low key time in my racing. I haven’t really had any races to get worked up for or to treat as anything more then glorified workouts. This was supposed to be my downtime to train hard and charge up for my final glorious exit from high school track. My last chance to test my limits, set records, place my mark, etc. But then I got mono and, instead of a fitting climax, I just kind of hit the rising action and petered off somewhere to a denouement.
My symptoms began last Wednesday or Thursday when I began to get abnormally tired and just generally feel like dog doo-doo. I ran the 3200/1600 double at my sectional meet where I had been hoping to run around 8:45 for the 3200. When I nearly fell asleep a little over an hour before my race and doing strides was a serious labor I knew I was in trouble. I didn’t push extremely hard in the race, although I did push, but still it was one of the worst races of my life. Not so much because of pain but frustration at running slower than my 5k pr pace and feeling like I was struggling. I ended up running 8:58 which is actually faster then I had run the year before but was also completely demoralizing. I seriously considered scratching the 1600 but at the time I thought that this was just a passing bug that I would be over by the time state came so I thought I would just gut it out. I ended up feeling much better the second half of the 1600 and actually ran 4:14 (2:11-2:03) to win by 3 seconds. That got me in a better mood (one that was interrupted when Danny Pawola played a practical joke and told me Kevin Havel had just run 8:44/4:14), but I was still ridiculously tired.
I spent the next 2 days sleeping with a short painful run in there and then tried to come back on Monday (most of which I also spent sleeping). My workout on Monday still felt weak and sluggish but I tried to brush it off, the same for my abbreviated easy run on Tuesday. That day I got a blood test for mono and the next day it came back positive. I thought about running for about 5 minutes until I talked to my coach who told me I was an idiot. I pretty quickly agreed and decided with about 99% certainty to drop out of the state meet. I reserved the possibility of running until Saturday morning when I scratched from the two mile but the idea was never more than a dim hope in the back of my mind. My decision boiled down to three things: 1) I didn’t feel like I had anything to prove and I definitely didn’t want to go out with a DNF or a loss, 2) I got a lot of information that said that running could prolong recovery for a very long time and I might never get back to top form again, and 3) I just flat out didn’t feel like racing. This might seem odd but all the fierce emotion that I should have been feeling, all the fierce conflict and desire to compete was squashed by the fact that all I really had the energy to do was nap and play Pokemon. Thinking about anything else just made me even more tired. (Speaking of Pokemon, I rocked blue version and am now in the process of taking down gold, in case anyone was wondering.)
Perhaps the worst thing that mono has done is not end my season but rather make this last week of high school a very detached, apathetic experience. I’ve had a lot of momentous things occur in the last week: my last day of high school, my last state track meet, my last trip with my teammates, my last lap around my high school track, my graduation. I can only feel the slightest emotion for a lot of these valuable experiences since I feel suppressed by fatigue-induced apathy.
In the end I think I view my decision to end my season with that same sort of dull feeling which I guess I can aptly summarize with: sh*t happens, sometimes it just stinks a little more than others. And considering how much I love running, love to compete, love to run fast, that is very unusual indeed.
- Chris
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Related Stories:
- Nick Symmonds: Season’s End
(Elite Athlete Blog Entry 21) - Chris Derrick: NON and Return to Running
(Elite Athlete Blog Entry 4) - Chris Derrick: Good News
(Elite Athlete Blog Entry 3) - Josh Cox: Miracles 50
Part II - The End of Faith
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #9) - Chris Derrick: Perseverance
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #1)
Tags: chris derrick, college running, college track & field, high school, high school running, high school track & field, high school XC, ncaa, ncaa track, neuqua valley, Neuqua Valley High School, stanford, stanford university, the final sprint elite athlete blog series, thefinalsprint.com elite athlete blog series, track and field
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The Final Sprint
that really sucks you caught mono. You could have devestated at the 2 mile at NON. I thought the pokemon thing was funny though.
May 29th, 2008 at 12:25 amApathy, especially generated by fatigue, is one of the worst things that can happen to the goal-oriented. I know that in such incidences, fear of worse-case-scenarios can cause one to wonder, “Will I ever get out of this funk?” It may help to hear (read) that it definitely won’t last forever.
I really look forward to what you do on and off the track in the future. Best of luck, and keep your head up.
May 29th, 2008 at 11:54 pmChris, your cross country and track performances have amazed me this past year. Your accomplishments in running and in school are really, frankly speaking, friggin’ awesome.
I remember just a couple weeks ago thinking to myself how neat it would be to run in the same race as you when the great Craig Virgin’s record was broken. In any case, I wish ya the best of luck at Stanford and get well soon.
May 30th, 2008 at 2:02 amwow, i wish i could have the worst race of my life and still run 8:58. you’re an amazing runner
June 1st, 2008 at 7:55 pmThat really stinks that you couldn’t go to state or NON. I think that between you and German Fernandez, that could have been one epic race.
September 18th, 2008 at 4:06 pm