Athletics during the Pandemic – a runner’s experience
Ben discusses the exciting experience of returning to seasonal athletics as the pandemic subsided, and how returning to Carleton spring term of 2021 was thrilling as a student-athlete.
Ben discusses the exciting experience of returning to seasonal athletics as the pandemic subsided, and how returning to Carleton spring term of 2021 was thrilling as a student-athlete.
After spending the fall studying abroad and the winter doing an internship, it had been a full year since I had been on Carleton’s campus. I missed Northfield, my professors, and the courses, but most of all I missed my teammates. I run on both the cross country and track teams at Carleton, and we had that strong, unique bond that comes from athletics. Our fall and winter seasons had been canceled, and it had been months since we raced through the arb together as a pack. I assumed our return to competition would have to wait until next fall. But, after a long year of negative developments, there was good news.
The season was on.
“The physically distanced and outdoor nature of spring season sports will allow for varsity athletes to return to competition in April.” I could not believe it. All of a sudden, my return to campus during spring term was more than just a return to academics. It was a return to a world that I had lost to the pandemic. It was a return to afternoon practices, to team dinners, to cheering each other down the homestretch of races. In a way, it felt like the first baby step in the return to normalcy.
For the season to be safe and successful, it would take discipline. Masks. Social distancing. Weekly testing. Without a doubt, I knew that we were up for the challenge. I trusted my teammates, and I trusted the Carleton community to be conscientious and thoughtful of each other.
Restarting the work-life balance.
One thing I love about Carleton is finding a new routine each term and really getting into the groove. For this spring, my schedule included a lot of variety. My mornings were spent analyzing Japanese ukiyo-e prints in my in-person Art History class. My afternoons were spent running intervals around the track at Laird and finishing up coding projects. Come night, I would watch Spanish documentaries and learn new Spanish vocabulary so I could discuss Spain with my classmates the next day. Was I busy? Absolutely. But when you are in the moment, it does not feel that way. The variety of classes and experiences Carleton offers is compelling rather than cumbersome. After not being on campus for a year, I realized that it was not an individual piece I had missed – such as running or my computer science courses – but rather the Carleton experience as a whole.
A happy ending.
The season was a success. I worked hard and qualified for the conference meet in the steeplechase along with two other teammates. Come race day, we crossed the finish line 1-2-3, a Carleton sweep in the event. As we stood together on the podium, we could not help but smile. I grinned from ear to ear not just because of my second-place finish, but also because of what it meant to be here. We had worked hard to keep ourselves and each other safe from COVID-19. I had finally returned to the work-life balance that I loved, and with the recent announcement of Carleton’s in-person plans for the fall, I look forward to more fast races, interesting classes, and smiles.
Ben is a rising Senior from Boulder, CO. He is majoring in Computer Science and minoring in Spanish. Outside of academics, Ben is a long-distance runner for Carleton’s Cross Country and Track teams (his favorite event is the steeplechase) and he also plays the drums for The Megs, a student band that covers Australian punk rock music. Meet the other Bloggers!