Know Thyself

Xsprinter, from the name itself, is a former track and field athlete who began his so-called running career in 1997 as a sophomore representing his obscure alma mater in interschool athletic competitions against senior students.  Not surprisingly, he lost his individual sprint event but managed to secure  two bronze medals in the relay events because of his faster teammates. Two years hence, he’s back with a vengeance, ensuring that he won’t graduate  without an individual award, snatching a Silver for his 400-m dash effort but not without some embarrassing if not comical experience where he almost crawl all the way to the finish line due to fatigue and exhaustion causing his knees to buckle and almost lose the silver with the eventual bronze medallist almost overtaking the “lampa” athlete.  

He also competed in highjump, but unlike his sprint events, ended up empty handed, blaming his childhood friends by making him believe he’s the best leaper in their luksong baka contests not knowing the bar is set at higher standard in actual athletic meets

Unfortunately for him, no scouts were interested in recruiting his service for their college team, so Mr. xsprinter consoled his bruised ego    that someday his time will come and concluded that they (the scouts) simply  have no eye for talent. In four years in college (okay five because of an extra semester), the closest thing he got to sprinting is running from one classroom to another lest he’ll be tagged as tardy by his professors.

Upon learning about the existence of an Intercollege competition in their university, he wasted no time filling out the registration form and positioned himself in the innermost lane of the oval in the second heat. Now, the competition was like a Jones Cup kind in a way since it’s a one round event where the times of the runners in all heats will be determined and the fastest three will end up in the podium.

He ended up second in his heat, silently hoping he's faster than the 2nd placers in the other heats to at least secure a bronze. And surprises, he luckily snatched  a silver because his time was better than the top finishers of the other heats.



And that was the last time he had a podium finish.



Now, he's joining runs ranging from 3k to half marathon without the slightest illusion of outsprinting the Kenyans. The long term goal, if time permits him to train, is to finally run a full marathon and at least one ultra, hopefully the BDM 102K (Yeah, being a self-confessed  history buff, that's the best way to complement passion for running and history).


This blog is primarily a journal of hi journey in this sport but would occasionally include his other passions including but not limited to other sports like  basketball, boxing and iron pumping and may sometimes tackle issues of interest like history and politics.