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Lead Stories: Sunday, July 20, 2008

Jon Rankin: Because You’re the One I Love
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #13)

Posted May 26th, 2008 at 2:14 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/

Every time I step on the track I ask my self this simple question: why? I ask my self again and again why I put my body and mind through all this trouble and pain. And before I know it I hear Coach Cruz yell ‘GO!’ and I’m off without a second thought or answer. I just start running. Occasionally I’ll hear the voice of a teammate as I run by or the sound of the wind howling past my ears as I put one leg in front of the other as fast as I can. All the while hoping I don’t cave in before they give out. And before I know it the workout is a blur or the race is over, my erratic heart beat has slowly subsided to a subdued pitter-patter and I come to eventually find that I’m still in one piece. And as I cool down I think back to the question that always plagues my mind before every race and every workout: why? And the only answer, in the midst of all the heavy breathing, drowned out voices and splits that have no meaning, which seems to unveil itself to me, is that running is the one thing I love most. And that’s why I’ll never stop.
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Jon Rankin: If I Had It All
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #12)

Posted May 7th, 2008 at 6:00 PM by Jon Rankin

Section: Elite Athlete Blogs, Jon Rankin

Before I took a nap this afternoon I thought about how tired I was from what turned out to be a very challenging interval session I had earlier this morning. Basically, as I sat on the edge of my bed I wondered why it was so hard. I mean, I was running pretty hard and quite fast, but I didn’t think that the workout warranted the type of reaction that my body exhibited. One of the first thoughts that I had as Coach Cruz described the workout to me was ‘this could be a great workout if I could hit the times.’ In retrospect that would be asking a lot more of my body than it was willing to give me on this day.

To say the least the workout wasn’t a great workout. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. So, what if the workout had been the ‘great workout’ that I was hoping to have? Would that have changed anything? . . . . . . Maybe. Maybe not. No matter the case, I did learn that, to have the type of expectations I had about my ability to execute a great workout upon hearing what the session would be, I had some clues as to my mental state:

1. It didn’t matter to me that I was tired coming into today’s training session.
2. It didn’t matter what I had done in the days prior to this day.
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Jon Rankin:
Somewhere Only We Know
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #11)

Posted May 1st, 2008 at 10:30 AM by Jon Rankin

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics, Elite Athlete Blogs, Jon Rankin

It’s the end of April and the weather here in San Diego is getting hotter and hotter. I’m grateful for the warm weather, but boy, anything over 90 degrees makes things a little tough for training. However, as hot as it has been I do believe that it must be a blessing in disguise because I’ve been told that the weather in Beijing, China is particularly warm . . . Well, all of the athletes living here at the ARCO Olympic Training Center here in Chula Vista, California are adjusting and making the most of everyday no matter the weather conditions.

I’ve actually been on the opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to weather conditions. For nearly eight days a small group of track and field athletes from the Chula Vista ARCO Olympic Training Center travelled to Eugene, Oregon for a sneak peek at the Olympic Trials venue at Hayward field on the University of Oregon campus.
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Jon Rankin:
A Letter to the Goddess of Victory: Falling In-Love
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #3)

Posted January 2nd, 2008 at 4:00 PM by Jon Rankin

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Elite Athlete Blogs, Jon Rankin

TFS Elite Athlete Blog Series JON RANKIN 425x75 EDITED Welcome to the official blog of rising U.S. track & field star
Jon Rankin; the inaugural member of TheFinalSprint.com’s
Elite Athlete Blog Series. Make sure to check back every other Wednesday for Jon’s latest entry.

Jon Rankin at the 2007 Continental Airlines Fifth avenue Mile I assume you heard it at least one hundred times already, so bear with me as I say it to you one more time:
‘Happy New Year!’ to all of you.

In this entry I will be sharing a letter from my newly minted journal. It’s a letter that describes how I feel about the sport that I play (I want to achieve all that I’m capable of achieving) and also, a girl that has helped re-ignite my passion for life—a passion that I thought only existed in dreams before she won my heart.

I write this letter and will write any subsequent letters to a Goddess known as Victory. In these letters I personify the word victory because in sports victory and the idea of victory is talked about so much that it sounds like it’s something tangible, something that can be touched; and sometimes, even someone that is real. Victory is unique because the concept behind victory and what it really is goes beyond finishing first. I’ve gained a greater sense for the broadness of the definition and meaning of the word from a mentor of mine, Mebrahtom (”Meb”) Keflezighi who tells all that he meets: “RUN TO WIN.”

The interesting thing about his mantra is that it sounds like he is saying run to get first place, and that’s all. But what he is really saying is that you must run in such a way that you’re always giving your best. If you can do this then you’re truly “running to win.”
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