In the beginning of 2008, Eric Damtoft made a New Year’s resolution, which was inspired by another B-CC runner at the time, Matt Davey-Karlson: Run every day. Now, more than 740 days later, Damtoft, 17 and a B-CC senior, has kept his promise. He has run every day since.
``A couple of times I was really sick and only ran a mile,’’ he said after a short after-school run with his teammates on the B-CC indoor track and field team. ``I remember one day last year I had to leave school in the middle of the day and couldn’t really stand up, I had so much stomach pain. But a few hours later, it got better, and I ran a mile.’’
``I wanted,’’ he said, ``to keep it up.’’
As the B-CC track team prepares for the county championship races on Jan. 25, Damtoft stands as an example of commitment to his teammates. He has been running his whole high school career, being a member of the cross-country and indoor teams all four years. He also plans to run his fourth outdoor season this spring.
``Eric was on the cross-country team that won the state meet two years ago,’’ said head coach Chad Young. ``He brings some of the spirit of that team to this year’s squad. The younger guys and girls don’t understand that to win like we did it takes a lot of work, and holding each other accountable. He has a lot to share with the younger guys on what it takes.’’
Damtoft said part of his motivation is that he simply enjoys the sport.
``I really like running,’’ he said. ``Once you get into the race, you start out competing against your own time. Then you get to know what the others are running, and you want to keep sort of improving and getting better.’’
So he has. In his freshman year, he ran the mile in about 5 minutes, 30 seconds. Last year, he set a personal record of 4:44. So far, this year, he is running the mile in about 4:50. He also is a member of the 4 x 800 relay team, which has a shot at running in the state championship.
To qualify for the mile, he faces tough odds. He must run about a 4:40.
``It’s going to be a lot to drop,’’ he said, ``but I’m trying.’’
No comments:
Post a Comment