A simple twist of faith

Some final thoughts on fifth-year senior Conor Shelley’s remarkable ICAAAA-qualifying 10km from last Friday night:

All winter, I believe there were exactly two (2) people on God’s Green Earth that still had faith in Conor Shelley’s ability to race fast: Coach Pete (that would be me) and Conor Shelley (that would be him). That’s pretty much it. Otherwise, Conor was Conor – the goofy dude over there that everyone, even freshmen, like to rag on.

As the indoor season progressed and each race fell a little short of the intended mark, my faith was still there – but it was not as strong.

By Friday night’s 10km, I’ll admit that my faith had eroded to the point where I openly wondered whether sophomore Joel Moss (who ran GREAT, by the way!) might give Conor a run for his money over the 25 laps. I knew Conor was in shape, but, well …

Before the race, Conor asked about a race strategy. I shrugged and said to go out at “Rolek pace,’’ which is roughly 73 seconds per lap. As he was walking toward the line, Conor gave me instructions: “No splits tonight, Pete. Just tell me if I’m going too fast or too slow.”

What ensued over the next half hour was a thing of beauty, a race I’ll never forget. Conor committed to running with the leaders at what we thought might be a bit too peppy. He hung on till the end and got himself a nice, fancy PR.

Once he recovers, it’s on with the rest of his final collegiate season. Let’s hope each race can equal that one, because it was a pretty neat 25 laps under the lights.