07.02.08
a skink’s tale
While digging in the garden, I happened upon the perfect visualization/metaphor for when you know your racing season has come to an end. I was using a sharp, pointed shovel to really turn the earth and on one fierce downward thrust, I unintentionally chopped off the tail of a blue skink (lizard). The tail-less lizard skittered off, while - to my utter surprise and disgust (?) - the lizard’s tail squirmed a flopped around of its own volition for quite some time. Now, what does this have to do with the season’s end? As I was watching this grisly scene, I thought of Asher at his high school nationals race and of Brent tacking on his marathon at the end of track season. Both runners were like the tail still going after the season had been cut off. Asher managed to eek out an 800m and a 400m PR at the local all-comers meets, well after his regular high school season had finished up, but hanging onto intensity for a mile against the best freshmen in the nation was a too-tall order. And Brent, bravely jacking his mileage up for 5 weeks after his 10,000m PR at Penn Relays way back in April, must have known it was a long-shot to race a fast marathon. He went for it though, as did Asher, and THAT is what each of these athletes should take away from this season. Yeah, they flopped around in the end - like the skink’s tail - but they were still going, still striving, still fighting for their dreams.
Now, here’s my question … will that tail ever grow back?
Related Posts:
Diana said,
July 3, 2008 at 5:05 pm
I don’t know anything about biology, but I think the lizard’s tail will grow back. Metaphorically, though, the tail DEFINITELY grows back. It depends on how much has been cut off; often the less that is left, the longer it takes to regenerate. But at some point, it regenerates. I think Brent’s post suggests that his “tail” is already back.
skink said,
July 17, 2008 at 6:53 am
[...] a skink’s taleI was using a sharp, pointed shovel to really turn the earth and on one fierce downward thrust, I unintentionally chopped off the tail of a blue skink (lizard). The tail-less lizard skittered off, while - to my utter surprise and … [...]