"On the fourth day, God created lights to separate light from darkness and to mark days, seasons and years," The Bible. On the fourth day of the week, Yehonatan Katz (Hebrew for "Gift from God") created the Rec League Legends to separate athletes from muggles and mark wins, close wins and blowouts.
Most weeks, I am concerned with (1) the victory and (2) the margin of the victory, but this week, I want to have more of an impact on the Dartmouth world of sports. I want to bring together Dartmouth athletes and truly create an Athlete's World beyond Homeplate during preseason. As it says on the nickel, "E Pluribus Unum" "Out of many athletes, Division I."
I contacted runners Elizabeth "Lizzie" Short '12 and Peter "Peter" Jankovsky '12 about a potential summit to discuss joining forces against all of the non-athletes on campus.
"Aren't you the Rec League Legend? Why don't you show up tomorrow morning for a run? Floren parking lot 8 a.m.," Jankovsky replied.
"Yeah, let's take him to Freshman Hill," Short added.
Now, I hadn't been told to meet in the parking lot since high school hockey games, and I hadn't been called a freshman since freshman (and some of sophomore) year. So these responses burned like that Big Red wrapper still on your forehead from fourth grade.
I dashed off a response:
"I intended this e-mail as a humanitarian effort on my part to bring athletes together, but you two have revved up my athleticism, and I'll see you in the a.m. Oh, by the way, I am the only winner of the Iron-Hills Conference Freshman 3K, Morris County JV 4K and Giralda Farms 5K in New Jersey cross-country history. Never call a Legend out of the Rec League. Never."
With less than 12 hours to prepare, no possible workout could help me physically, so I had to trust my natural running abilities and train mentally.
I began by Googling the two runners to learn their strengths, weaknesses and Junior prom dates' names.
Short comes from North Reading, Mass. the Northernmost stop on the Reading Railroad. She grew up on Park Place, but the family recently had to mortgage it off to pay for their hotel chain over on Baltic Avenue. Short was involved in a nasty bout with the NCAA after it was revealed she passed GO nearly 300 times on training runs and collected over $60,000 dollars. Luckily, she had stored away a "Get Out of A Jail Free" card and the NCAA backed down.
Jankovsky hails from Stamford, Conn., and attended Westhill High School, home of the Fightin' Vikings. He spent much of his Westhill sports career playing soccer, even earning the nickname Pete from a few close friends. But after a nasty pillow fight with the Easthill women's golf team and ensuing jog from the police, Jankovsky realized running was his gift and joined the cross-country team.
Like Short, Jankovsky captained cross-country, winter track and spring track his senior year. Also like Short, he attends Dartmouth.
After nine hours of Googling, I headed to bed, feeling mentally prepared for the morning run or at least ready to drop some awkward names. I awoke at 7:00 a.m., then went back to bed. I awoke again at 7:55 a.m., laced up my Asics Gel Dirt-Dogs 2 and jogged over to Floren. I asked a few girls along the way if they could "direct me to the Floren elevated parking garage." They were impressed but had no idea.
Jankovsky emerged from the locker room with a big ol' cocky grin. Short was nowhere to be seen, though, and I started to worry that maybe, just maybe, she only thought of me as a friend. But thankfully, she sped in on her bike at 8:07 a.m., apologized to me twice and changed in record time.
We left the parking lot at a very brisk pace and headed towards the golf course. I felt good, I felt strong and I tried to impress Short with official running terms like "CP," "Splits," "Cool-Down" and "Water." Short definitely giggled once, but Jankovsky warned, "Talking takes up energy, Katz. Be careful." Grenade.
We cut through the golf course and into Pine Park, where I was still right there with the Florenites. We went up a hill, and I scoffed, "Was that Freshman Hill?" It was not. We turned a corner and Jankovsky said, "Here it is."
I took off and had a good 2 or 3 strides on the two "official" runners. The Hill wouldn't quit though, my legs tightened and I slowed to a glorified walk. I made it to the top, pumped my fist but then saw Short and Jankovksy waiting for me 20 meters ahead. We took it easy on the way back to the Floren parking lot, and I passed out in the track locker room. The End.
Special thanks to Lizzie Short and Peter Jankovksy for showing me the Run DXC lifestyle. And thanks for paying for my breakfast at the Hop afterwards, Pete. Best of luck to both of them and their teams this season. Until next week, WWLD. What Would Legends Do.
