Cultural reimmersion

Next up on the racing docket, 5,000 meters this Sunday night at the New England Championships on the campus of Bentley College in Waltham.

Yes, 5,000 meters, none of this 5K road race crap - not this weekend, anyway. 12-1/2 laps of tartan-laced torture hardly even resembles the 3.1 miles of pavement pounding practiced by weekend road warriors hoping to score a quick paycheck. Hell, I don't think the two are even related. Distant cousins, at best.

It's not even worth trying to explain the differences between the two unless you've experienced both for yourself. Believe me, track racing, by its very nature, is much more nerve racking than road racing. There's no guy wearing an orange sleeve on his jacket with a gun in his hand telling you to take your marks at your local weekend 5K. Until you've crouched behind the half-mooned starting line with a dozen or so other brave souls, been spiked by a high back kick or had the taste of pennies permeate your mouth two laps into the most uncomfortable merry-go-round ride of your life, this mumbo jumbo will likely remain Greek to you.

For me, I'm just trying to relearn a little bit of the language before I completely reimmerse myself into the foreign culture of track again next spring, which is why I'll be rockin' my trusty ol' road flats on Sunday night instead of a shiny new pair of spikes. That, and I want to be able to run on Monday morning.